Council approves year‑end budget adjustments, grants and contracts; Linden Street design and federal grant authorized
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Summary
Bethlehem City Council approved a package of ordinances and resolutions amending multiple 2025 budgets, authorized preliminary design work and accepted federal preliminary-design funding for the Linden Street two‑way conversion, and approved contracts for DOT‑mandated testing and climate transition support.
Bethlehem City Council approved a series of ordinances and resolutions Monday to reconcile late-2024 receipts and to authorize consulting and design work tied to ongoing capital projects.
Council approved ordinances to amend 2025 capital and operating budgets across multiple funds, and it grouped many of the routine appropriations into single votes to expedite action. All motions discussed and voted on at the meeting passed unanimously, 7-0.
Key items approved included:
- Amendments to non‑utility, sewer and water capital budgets (bills 1–3 of 2025) (each passed 7-0). - Authorization to contract with Benoni Associates Inc. to perform preliminary engineering and design work for the Linden Street two‑way conversion (agenda item 10b). The council also authorized acceptance of a federal preliminary-design grant of $206,000 toward that work (resolution 10f); final design and construction agreements will be negotiated after completion of the preliminary design. - A contract with St. Luke’s Occupational Medicine for Department of Transportation drug and alcohol testing administration and compliance reporting, at an annual cost of $7,000 (resolution 10a, passed 7-0). - A contract with WSP USA Inc. to assist with transition of climate action plan implementation tasks to the city’s sustainability manager, capped at $20,000 through 12/31/2025 (resolution 10h, passed 7-0). - Multiple year‑end budget reconciliation ordinances for the general fund (grouped agenda items 9e–9m), the golf fund, and the community development block grant fund (final motions passed 7-0).
Council President Miller read the communications and resolutions into the record and members of the finance committee explained that many of the changes reflect reimbursements, grant awards, contract receipts and roll‑over funds from the fourth quarter of 2024; the ordinances reconcile those sums with the 2025 budget and do not, by themselves, authorize unplanned spending beyond previously awarded funds.
Councilmembers briefly discussed project timing and sources of federal funds; the mayor warned that federal freezes and changes in grant portals are creating uncertainty for municipalities and nonprofits and urged caution in assuming reimbursement timing. The Linden Street design will proceed with preliminary engineering; if federal funds are confirmed the city anticipates negotiating final design and construction contracts.
