Property owners in Delaware County will pay almost 25% more in county property taxes in the modern year.
In a 4-to-1 vote, the five-member all-Democratic Delaware County Board approved the raise Wednesday night, citing the need to maintain county services as federal COVID-19 relief dollars desiccated up, even as dozens of residents accused the board o financial errors, impoverished management.
County officials say the 23% tax escalate equates to approximately $185 in additional taxes per year for a homeowner whose average in Delaware County is $255,108.10. The county’s portion makes up the smallest fraction of most residents’ property taxes. But during more than an hour of public comment, officials faced fierce opposition from residents.
“You’re reaching into the pockets of the hard-working people of this county,” said resident Daniel Murphy. “They’re trying to figure out how to pay your budget while you spend like it doesn’t matter.”
The escalate applies to the district governments in Philadelphia’s suburbs are demanding higher taxes. Montgomery County’s proposed 2025 budget calls for a 9% tax escalate, while Chester County has proposed a 13% tax escalate. But Delaware County is seeking the largest escalate and, according to state data, already charges its residents the highest rate of the four counties.
In Delaware County, much of the escalate in the county’s overall budget is attributed to public employee pay raises. Council members said these raises are key to keeping the workforce in a competitive environment. They said other expenses are crucial to the county’s long-term prosperity.
“Investing in the success of our county requires financial resources,” said Council President Monica Taylor. “We are cutting costs and we will continue to cut costs.”
Council Vice President Richard Womack, who did not vote, said he wants the county to form a committee to examine the budget before voting for the escalate.
“At least we could say we went through a process and looked at it from a different perspective,” said Womack, who is up for re-election next year.
Taylor said the county will form such a committee to examine next year’s budget. She also announced that the county would develop a program to allow residents to defer tax increases and seek to offer tax breaks to first responders.
County officials have maintained that the escalate is necessary to ensure the continuity of county services as federal pandemic aid runs out. When Democrats took control of the County Council in 2020, they found they faced a slew of underfunded agencies and buildings causing sedate structural problems.
Democrats on the council said they have been able to deal with these problems so far using federal pandemic relief dollars and avoided raising taxes until last year. However, as inflation remained high, Delaware County was considering a potential budget deficit if the city council did not raise taxes.
The county raised taxes by 5% last year, but before Democrats took over, Republican-controlled local governments had not raised taxes for more than a decade.
“We didn’t get here overnight. This didn’t just happen overnight. This is the result of 12 years of no tax increases, which was culminated in an explosion in costs and inflation and a reorganization of the workforce after the pandemic,” said councilor Elaine Schaefer.
Community rejection
The council faced a wave of opposition from county residents who said the inclusion of some pandemic relief money in the 2025 budget would likely result in another tax escalate next year.
Republican Party in the media posted the event on Facebook earlier this week, calling on members to attend the meeting and voice their opposition to the escalate. Another resident sent approx change.org a petition calling on the Council to stop the escalate. As of Thursday afternoon, the petition had collected over 1,600 signatures.
“It’s unfair to the residents of the county that we have to foot the bill for this mismanagement, and furthermore, I would say they can’t go back and point to previous Republican councils and say it’s their fault for not raising taxes sooner to complete this loophole,” Michael Straw, chairman of the Media GOP, said before the vote.
As inflation continues to impact residents’ daily lives, many have insisted that the county’s Democratic leaders failed to responsibly manage the county’s finances and needed to make larger cuts to county spending rather than pass the costs on to taxpayers.
They argued that Democrats had spent too much since taking office through actions that included creating a health department for the county, doing away with the jail and incurring gigantic expenses to purchase public lands and county vehicles.
“We would rather keep the money and not have such a wide range of district programs,” said Nick Weston of Wallingford.
One resident, Mike Hoppus of Upper Providence, sided with the council, insisting that the county’s spending was worth the investment and that the council remained limpid throughout the process.
“This council has focused on investing in the community. You have spoken very openly and in detail about all your programs, and I fully support everything you have done,” he said.
Some Republicans have insisted that the county Democratic Party will be punished in the election for the raise next year, when they vote to choose two of five council seats.
“People are noticing this,” Delaware County GOP Chairman Frank Agovino said before the board meeting. “And I fully expect next year to be a tax increase mandate.”
