Throughout the historic annals of our nation’s democracy, there is very likely not one elected official at any level of government who has publicly claimed that they enjoy the act of raising taxes on the people they have been elected to represent. 

In a similar vein, rare is the individual on the receiving end of those hikes who is thrilled to dig deeper into his or her pocket.

Yet taxes – and the gradual raising of them – remains the obligatory hobgoblin that affords a functional government the opportunity to provide essential services. At its most efficient, the proper method of initiating tax hikes is to unveil them gradually, in manageable increments that inflict a pain no worse than that of a harmless paper cut that leaves no permanent scar. Conversely, the most inefficient method of raising taxes is for an administration to pride itself for years on its ability to not raise taxes in an attempt to curry appreciation from their constituents, while behind the scenes – in the un-sexy world of financial analysis and budget spreadsheets – the taxes that build sources of revenue record middling returns while the cost of running the government rises. 

Far too often, a governing body’s refusal to raise taxes amounts to a Ponzi scheme of deception that eventually runs out of money and leads to the ultimate recourse, forcing it to siphon money from other sources in order to pay the bills and, when those sources become depleted, gather their elected officials together to sign off on a huge tax increase, backed up with a sob story rhetoric of excuses and promises that the additional revenue will be dedicated to fix the roads and attract more commercial revenue.

On Oct. 16, just as he had done on Aug. 28, New Garden Township Manager Christopher Himes led the township’s Board of Supervisors on a walk-through of the township’s financial picture. It was well-prepared and thorough presentation that left every stone of the township overturned and exposed, revealing among other admissions that over the past decade, revenue collected from real estate taxes have grown a paltry 7.8 percent, while real estate taxes based on a millage rate of 1.62 remained untouched from 2014 to 2017, and 1.72 from 2018 to 2023. Added up, it represents a revenue of growth of just $110,000.

Translated, this evidence showed that over the last ten years, while the cost of maintaining and improving the township’s infrastructure rose significantly -- while the cost of providing police and emergency services skyrocketed -- the New Garden Board of Supervisors chose to rest on their laurels and stake their political lives on not raising real estate taxes, while this dereliction of their duties went unnoticed by a constituency that was convinced that all was right in their township.

Everybody was happy then, remember? New Garden Township was a municipality of accomplishment and activity, riding high on land acquisitions, the building of a new facility for the Southern Chester County Regional Police Department, the sale of the township’s outdated wastewater system for $29.5 million, and the purchase of what is now New Garden Hills, a generous patch of township that those in office imagined would become a magical kingdom of activity, open space and entertainment. 

While the township is to be credited for these achievements, the party has come to a crashing halt, because halfway through his Oct. 16 presentation, Himes recommended no other recourse but for the township to enact a real estate tax hike, beginning in 2024, that would increase millage from 1.72 percent to 3.9 – a 120-percent rate increase – in an effort to recoup what the stagnant existing rates were generating. In raw numbers – should the supervisors sign off on the proposal -- the nearly 2,400 township households whose home values are between $100,000 and $250,000 would pay $60.45 in monthly real estate taxes – an increase of $33.79 per month and $725.40 a year – a total yearly increase of $405.48 beginning in 2024. Those households whose homes are assessed between $250,000 and $400,000 would see their real estate taxes climb to $92.95 a month and $1,115.40 for the year – a total tax increase of $623.48.

The conversation about whether to approve the rate hike is not over – the board will discuss the issue at its Oct. 23 budget meeting – but the handwriting is obvious and scrawled on the New Garden Township Building wall. The inaction of previous boards to recognize the need to address the widening difference between revenues and expenses has given the current supervisors no alternative but to approve a 120-percent real estate tax increase to township residents.

It’s the price of running a government, but for those who live in New Garden Township, it is a price too high.