By Geoffrey Gamble 

We, the Kennett Township Supervisors along with the Township Manager have striven very hard to watch the dollars we spend and to contain the inevitable pressure to increase the taxes already burdening our residents, 26 percent of whom are on a fixed income. 

It is therefore very disappointing when other layers of the Commonwealth’s government do not follow that example - particularly Chester County, whose Commissioners decided to raise real estate taxes by 13 percent - almost five times the rate of inflation. What is the cause of these huge increases year over year? If you look at the County budget, the three greatest increases are for personnel up 10.5 percent (a $20 million increase in salaries), operating expenses up 12.3 percent, and operating capital up 28 percent. As residents of the county, we might ask, “What for?” 

County Commission Chairman Josh Maxwell made a statement saying that the two major “Big Ticket” items in the budget were the purchasing of new encrypted radios for the police throughout the county and the extensive security improvements they are doing to the Chester County Prison in response to the Cavalcante escape. He then added that the prison HVAC/air circulation system must be replaced, and that too will cost. Maxwell went on to say that they need to hire more county child services personnel since there aren’t enough to handle the case load of child abuse in the county. 

On the matter of encrypted radios, I have been advised that Maxwell’s statement is not true - or at least not accurate. The Police, Fire and EMS in the Kennett Region are not scheduled to receive anything. Even if we actually were getting new equipment, the upgrading of the radio equipment is something that is in the normal course of doing business and should be budgeted accordingly. There should be no “surprise” when we need new communication expenditures. 

On prison upgrades, I can only ask why these upgrades weren’t made two years ago after the first prison break which took place, long before Cavalcante made his escape. We are paying for the Commissioners malfeasance in not maintaining proper security at the prison in the first place. If the facilities had been maintained properly, the escapes wouldn’t have happened, and we wouldn’t be paying a huge lump sum now. Another reason for the extraordinary county tax increase may be because the county used one time-only ARPA money to start programs that now require an increase in taxes in order to keep them going. 

Some time ago, former County Commissioner Michelle Kichline said that her Democratic colleagues used the large “one time” COVID money on programs and people whose expense would not be covered in subsequent years, and would require a large tax increase which will shock everyone - and so it has. 

The county programs that the ARPA money funded can be found on the Chesco website - 41 pages of them. Many of these grants are for very good reasons, such as contributions to food banks and efforts to increase the availability of affordable housing.

Others are questionable, such as SILO [Serving, Inspiring, and Loving Others], Holistic Wellness, and 34 tablets for prisons - or prisoners - but at least these are one-time grants. Many other grants look like three- to five-year commitments for which there is no money left over to cover. One of the Commissioners’ attempts in sugarcoating the increase was to compare Chester County to the other counties’ expenditures – Montgomery County up 9 percent and Delaware County up 23 percent - as though that is a validation. 

This is a poor excuse and a weak attempt at CYA. Eric Roe, the lone Republican Commissioner, is no better - and maybe even worse. He announced that the increase contained no pork or anything frivolous and then proceeded to vote against the tax increase anyway! This reminds me of the old story - you wake up a Democrat legislator in the middle of the night, and he shouts, “The answer is that we need to spend more money on it! What’s the question?” Conversely, you wake up a Republican legislator in the middle of the night, and he shouts, “The answer is No! What’s the question?” 

In my three years as a Supervisor, I am still trying to figure out exactly what Chester County actually does for Kennett Township. They don’t maintain our roads. They don’t provide us with Police, Fire or Ambulance services. They do provide dog licenses - for a fee. They do provide voter services, which in this Commonwealth are screwed up half the time with delays in counting and fears of fraud. As far as I can see, the way it works is that we give the county money and then have to kiss their rear ends to get it back, and even then, we never get back as much as we have given them. Their 2025 budget is around $730 million, and these Commissioners each make an annual salary of about $86,000. 

I question whether the county, as an intermediate political unit in the Commonwealth, adds real value to our current government system. I also believe that any government entity that has taxing power is justified in raising taxes to the level of the annual rate of inflation. Beyond that, it carries the burden of proof as to why taxes should go even higher. Chester County has not met that burden. 

Geoffrey Gamble is a member of the Kennett Township Board of Supervisors.