Carbon County officially moved into green status on Friday, but facing a future without train rides in downtown Jim Thorpe continues to have residents and business owners feeling blue.

“A lot of surrounding towns would do anything to have what you guys have here, but you’re letting this attraction slip through your fingers,” Beth Beers, owner of the Everything Nice Gift Shop on Race Street told council Thursday night. “The trains boost the economy and employ a lot of people, who really like working for them. The ripple effect in the community is tremendous.”

The dispute goes back to 2011 when Jim Thorpe’s tax collector notified the railroad it was subject to the amusement tax. The railroad, however, claimed it was exempt under a federal transportation statute.

The railroad was added to the delinquent tax roles in 2017. A complaint was filed with the local district justice, who determined the railroad had failed to comply with the amusement tax ordinance. The railroad appealed the decision to the Carbon County Court of Common Pleas in 2019.

Berkheimer, the tax collection agency representing Jim Thorpe borough, sought nearly $100,000 in unpaid amusement taxes for the past three years, leading to train’s decision to stop the rides in late 2019, including the popular Santa trains in December.

Soon after the train made its announcement, the two sides met on multiple occasions, with the borough eventually agreeing to drop the lawsuit.

After both sides had seemingly reached an understanding, the railroad did run its passenger service during the Winter Festival in February.

In early May, the borough and the operator of the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway issued dueling press releases both pointing the finger at the other in the continuation of a multiple-year dispute over amusement taxes.

The borough said it had given into the train company’s requests that Reading and Northern Railroad would not make any contribution to the borough toward the amusement tax or any similar contribution; that the borough amend its ordinance to exempt the railroad from the amusement tax; and that the borough agree not to reinstitute the lawsuit against the railroad.

“We basically met all the demands of the railroad,” Council President Greg Strubinger said Thursday night. “The question now is do they want to come back? We have given them what they asked for.”

Reading and Northern, on the other hand, said it needed “an actual agreement with the current borough council that there will be a permanent cessation of legal actions seeking to recover any form of amusement tax from RBMN or Lehigh Gorge (Scenic Railway) for any period of time up until the date of our settlement.”

The railroad also said it was looking for a language change to modify the description of the class of excluded businesses in a proposed borough ordinance that would have exempted it from paying an amusement tax.

Beers and other business owners fear that the ripple effect of the loss of the trains will be felt far and wide.

“If people are parking here, staying here, eating here and shopping here, the business owners are fat and happy so they can support the Little League mom who comes in asking for a donation, or the church who comes in looking for support for the basket raffle,” Beers said. “If we’re not making money, we can’t support the community and pay it forward.”

Moving forward, Mayor Michael Sofranko and several council members pledged to work with the business community to come up with ideas that could benefit the whole town.

“I’d love to have the trains here, but if council doesn’t hear from them, we can’t roll up the carpet and close the doors,” Sofranko said. “We have to work harder together to make sure Jim Thorpe continues to thrive. I’m always open to suggestions to what will benefit all of Jim Thorpe.”