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Lebanon County Commissioners approved a nearly $650,000 Next Generation Farm loan application for the purchase of a Jonestown-based farm operation during their June 5 meeting.
Susan Eberly, president of the Lebanon Valley Economic Development Corporation (LVEDC), said this particular loan requires the approval of the highest ranking county officials, which in Lebanon County’s case is its commissioners.
Eve Beamesderfer, business/finance specialist at LVEDC, said Ryan and Keirstin Hair are buying the 82.46-acre Sycamore Spring Orchard & Farm Market, in the 1900 block of Thompson Avenue, Jonestown, for $1.6 million under the name of RKH Holding LLC.
The farm’s website says, “We are a family owned Farm Market, Orchard and Bakery small business.”
Besides selling produce, the farm also has a facility for rent, according to its website.
“You’ve probably heard of Sycamore Spring Orchard, and they (the Hairs) are a family that recently agreed to purchase the property and take over the role and continue the legacy the Hess family started many years ago,” Beamesderfer said. “Their hope is to expand upon the business – and they’re actually having a grand opening starting today (last Thursday).”
Beamesderfer said the next general loan program would be working with First Citizens Community Bank, who would provide the basis for the loan, totaling $649,000.
The Next Generation Farmer Loan Program uses federal tax-exempt financing to reduce a farmer’s interest rate for capital purchases, such as farmland or agricultural machinery. A loan can be used to purchase agricultural land, make ag-related improvements and for depreciable property, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED), which is the state agency that administers the program in the commonwealth.
Eligible individuals must be permanent Pennsylvania residents who are at least 18 at the time of the application. They also must meet lender’s credit standards, have access to adequate working capital, farm equipment, etc., and must not have had any prior ownership of a substantial portion of land.
The maximum loan amount is $649,000, with no more than $62,500 being used toward the purchase of used equipment, according to DCED’s website.
In other business, commissioners agreed to pay Quincy Technology Solutions Inc. of Woodbridge, Connecticut, for the annual licensing and hosting software for the county coroner’s office in the amount of $21,367 for fees and services owed from 2021 through 2024.
The software system is utilized by the coroner’s staff to input data from calls they investigate throughout the year. Other counties have this program or similar software they use to aggregate information when their services are needed.
This approved payment does not include 2025’s fee, which is $5,929, nor the 2026 fee, listed on paperwork provided to the press as $6,227.
In other board actions, commissioners unanimously voted to:
- Enter into two agreements with Maximus for direct/indirect cost recovery services for the county controller’s office for $3,450 and $10,000 annually.
- Finalize a procedural move that combines the legal descriptions for two county parcels into one for the construction of a tower in Heidelberg Township for the Department of Emergency Services.
- Accept 22 contract amendments totaling $240,624 for fiscal year 2024-25 for the Lebanon County Mental Health/Intellectual Disabilities/Early Intervention department. The contract amendments were accepted with no additional cost to county taxpayers since they are covered under the department’s 2025 budget.
- Approve a hotel tax grant fund request totaling $2,500 for the Drunken Smithy’s Viking Mead Fest 2025 at Lebanon Valley Mall on July 26-27.
- Approve a hotel tax grant fund request totaling $5,000 for the Miss Morgan’s Milkweed Antiques’ “As the Crow Flies” event at Lebanon Valley Expo Center on Oct. 3-4.
- Provide real estate tax exemptions to nine fully disabled veterans or their families.
- Accept the resignation of Ann Thompson from the Mental Health/Intellectual Disabilities/Early Intervention advisory board.
- Remove Richard Scott of Volunteers in Medicine from the Southcentral Workforce Development Board since his organization does not provide any employment opportunities or work-relevant training and development to individuals.
- Pay two invoices related to the upcoming America250PA celebration in 2026. The first invoice totaled $208.40 as submitted by committee chairman Bonnie Lloyd and an invoice totaling $1,089 for the printing of commemorative T-shirts for the program.
- Make numerous personnel transactions during the human resources report.
- Accept the treasurer’s report. The office had receipts of $1,368,091.43 on June 3 and 4 for a total of $7,041,023.91. Expenditures were $3,703,243.06 and the tax claim was $43,303.30, which leaves a balance of $3,257,477.53 as of June 5.
- Approve the minutes of their May 15 meeting and executive session.
After the meeting was adjourned, commissioners convened the assessment board, on which they sit, to consider a real estate tax exemption for the parking lot at Elm Street Mennonite Church, 501 Elm St., Lebanon.
The assessment board members unanimously passed the exemption request for the Myerstown-based organization. It was noted during discussion that the exemption request was similar to others that have been made and approved in the past.
Lebanon County Commissioners meet the first and third Thursday of the month in Room 207 of the Lebanon County Municipal Building, 400 N. 8th St., Lebanon.
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