Friday, December 21, 2012
In final meeting of 2012, Bethlehem City Council votes 6-1 in favor of a $71 million budget and a 7 percent real estate tax hike.
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Friday, December 21, 2012
Bethlehem City Council voted to adopt a 2013 budget with a 7 percent real estate tax increase and a new tax on concert and event tickets on Thursday night, according to The Express Times. Councilman David DiGiacinto was the lone dissenter in the 6-1 vote in favor of adoption, the newspaper reported. Some facts about the $71 million spending plan:
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Sands Bethlehem Event Center 'happy' with changes to Mayor Callahan's amusement tax proposal.
Patrons of Bethlehem's Sands Event Center could be paying more to see a concert or show. Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan sent a proposed amusement tax ordinance to City Council Thursday that has the apparent blessing of large entertainment venues that had earlier criticized the idea. Callahan says the tax on concert tickets and other entertainment is needed to help pay for escalating public safety costs without putting more of the burden on city property owners. In November, Sands Bethlehem Event Center officials criticized a proposed 5-percent-a-ticket tax that would have added a $2.50 cost to a $50 ticket. But the proposed ordinance Callahan sent to City Council was more to their liking. "We worked with the mayor and are happy with the …
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Sands Bethlehem Event Center 'happy' with changes to Mayor Callahan's amusement tax proposal.
- GOVERNMENT
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Thursday, December 13, 2012
Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan sent a proposed amusement tax ordinance to City Council Thursday that has the apparent blessing of large entertainment venues that had earlier criticized the idea. Callahan says the tax on concert tickets and other entertainment is needed to help pay for escalating public safety costs without putting more of the burden on city property owners. In November, Sands Bethlehem Event Center officials criticized a proposed 5-percent-a-ticket tax that would have added a $2.50 cost to a $50 ticket. But the proposed ordinance Callahan sent to City Council was more to their liking. "We worked with the mayor and are happy with the outcome," said Sands Event Center Partner Jerry Deifer in a prepared statement released by …
Monday, November 19, 2012
City Council to begin discussion tonight on proposals to switch to a single garbage hauler and to raise the real estate tax by 8.5 percent.
City Council tonight will have the first of four scheduled hearings to discuss the 2013 budget proposal of Mayor John Callahan. The hearing is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. in Town Hall. With overall General Fund revenue on the agenda, all three of the most controversial aspects of the proposed spending plan are likely to be discussed to some degree during tonight’s hearing: Other items and department budgets scheduled to be discussed during tonight’s hearing include: Council is scheduled to discuss its 911 Fund during a budget hearing on Nov. 27. Trash hauling will be discussed again on Dec. 4 when Department of Community and Economic Development is on the agenda. The final council budget hearing is scheduled on Dec. 17. Final adoption …
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Sands Event Center operator says 5 percent amusement tax is 'ultimately too much for our business to handle.'
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Sunday, November 11, 2012
Mayor John Callahan’s proposed 5 percent tax on ticketed events and shows is “ultimately too much for our business to handle,” a spokesman for the Sands Bethlehem Event Center said in a prepared news release issued Saturday. “One incentive behind bringing our business to the city of Bethlehem was the lack of a city wide amusement tax,” said Jerry Deifer of the Vision Entertainment Group, which operates the center partners with the Sands in its ownership. Callahan announced the new tax proposal during his budget address on Friday. The 5 percent “first responders fee” is estimated to bring in $600,000 in new revenue, which the city would devote exclusively to the police and fire departments. The Sands would be among the most heavily …
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Sands Bethlehem Event Center
77 Sands Blvd, Bethlehem, PA
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Tony
3:01 pm on Wednesday, December 19, 2012
are non profits exempt from the fee or tax? more ›