Chester County residents will see a 13% enhance in the county’s share of property taxes next year after the Democrat-controlled Board of County Commissioners voted to raise rates Wednesday morning despite residents’ opposition.
The board voted 2-1, along party lines, to adopt the 2025 budget, including the tax enhance, after about an hour of public comments from residents urging commissioners to cut costs elsewhere to avoid the enhance. The only dissenting vote was Commissioner Eric Roe, the only Republican on the board.
“Everything in this budget that you see here goes to important projects,” Roe said. “Still, I don’t think Chester County can afford this tax increase.”
The vote comes a week after a 23% enhance in property taxes in Delaware County and a day before Montgomery County officials are scheduled to vote on a 9% enhance. Officials from all counties cited the need to keep public employee wages competitive in the face of high inflation.
» READ MORE: Delaware County raises property taxes by 23% despite community outcry
Chester County’s tax enhance is part of a $730 million 2025 budget that includes additional funding for SEPTA, infrastructure improvements and staff salaries. One of the biggest increases in the county’s 2024 budget is an additional $20 million for staff.
Josh Maxwell, chairman of the county’s board of commissioners, said the enhance was due in part to improvements to the county jail, fresh two-way radios for police and increased investment in the Department of Children, Youth and Families.
“I think prisons, police and social workers are extremely important in Chester County,” said Maxwell, a Democrat. He promised that the tax enhance is not a signal of a bloated government that will raise taxes year after year. The county’s last tax enhance occurred in 2021.
According to county staff, the enhance will result in an additional $104 in annual taxes for the owner of a home valued at $170,000, which is the average for the county. The enhance will only cover the portion of property taxes claimed by the county, typically the smallest portion of a homeowner’s tax bill. Local governments and school districts set their own tax rates.
About an hour before the vote, several dozen residents urged commissioners to avoid a tax enhance. They pointed to the rising costs of everyday goods and rising property taxes in municipalities and school districts. They argued that increased revenue from fresh investments in the county should be enough to avoid a tax enhance.
“I don’t want to take money out of my pocket to put money into someone else’s pocket,” John Nicolas of Uwchlan said of employee wages included in the tax enhance.
Another resident, Daniel Wiser, said he understood the need to fund county services but wished the county had spread the tax enhance over a longer period.
“If we want nice roads and we want nice things, it costs money and we have to accept it. But doing it in such upheaval is very difficult,” he said.
Roe, a Republican commissioner, said he asked county officials to calculate how much the budget should be cut to avoid a tax enhance and was told it would require an 8% cost reduction. The cut, he said, wouldn’t be pretty, but it would be necessary to ensure people could continue to live and retire in Chester County.
But the two Democratic commissioners said they didn’t see a way for that to happen.
“I don’t think I have a choice in this matter about protecting our community and doing the things we need to do to ensure a safe future,” said Democratic Commissioner Marian Moskowitz.
