Chester County Commissioners’ Justification for Tax Hike Doesn’t Cut It!
Chester County Commissioner and Chairman Josh Maxwell in a public meeting on December 18, 2024 told taxpayers that the 13% county tax increase was needed to pay for two big ticket items (law enforcement radios and prison upgrades) as well as a little bit of inflation. Vice Chair Commissioner Marian Moskowitz also blamed the increase on the $6 million security upgrade for the prison and $10 million in new police radios.
Broad + Liberty recently published an investigative article on the need for Chester County’s 13% tax increase. Included with the article are the questions submitted to the county and the responses.
After reviewing the article, the budget, and the questions and answers, here are our takeaways:
FEAR
Commissioners seemed to use scare tactics to quell unhappy taxpayers at a public meeting. They might as well have said, “You must pay more in tax or prisoners might escape again. We don’t want another Cavalcante problem! If we don’t get new radios for the police, then they won’t be able to respond quickly to help you. More people could die!” It’s clearly a time-tested method that works to get the public to submit to government demands.
SHELL GAME
Rather than paying long term expenses over time like they used to do, the county is choosing to pay some, like the radios, out of the operating budget over two years. This serves as a nice excuse to raise taxes. They move money from one fund to another making tracking difficult, while providing fuzzy answers.
JUST-IN-CASE TAXING
The $26.8 million in additional revenue that the tax increase will bring to the county far exceeds the cost of those needed “big ticket” items. Rather than tax the minimum, it seems they may be adding a buffer. The county’s Chief Financial Officer, Julie Bookheimer, puts it this way, “there are always projects surfacing that need immediate attention.”
Cut Expenses? Ha Ha Ha!
Although not discussed in the Broad + Liberty article, we noticed that every category of the budget from 2020 to 2025 has increased, with certain departments having doubled their budgets. For example, Voter Services in 2020 had a budget of $2.3 million, which went to $5.1 million in 2025. Also, Solicitors in 2020 had a budget of $0.5 million, which doubled to $1.1 million in 2025. Why does the county need more lawyers? We’re sure the county tried really hard to cut costs…really!
Bottom line…
We’d like to thank Broad + Liberty for digging into the Chester County 2025 budget. Unfortunately, the investigation leads to more questions. Some answers may need to be obtained through Right to Know (RTK) Law requests. If you have questions on certain budgetary issues, please let us know. RTKs can be filed with the county for further information. We might as well put those county lawyers to work!
As the Constitutional Convention ended in 1787, Benjamin Franklin was asked if the delegates produced a monarchy or a republic. Franklin replied, “a republic, if you can keep it.”
We are trying to keep this republic that we love and hold our representatives accountable to the people. Join us in that mission and share this Update with your contacts!
