The New Garden Township Board of Supervisors gave approval at their June 17 meeting to place a referendum on its November ballot asking residents if they would favor an increase in real estate property tax dedicated to the Kennett Library from its current 0.100 mill to 0.200 mill, beginning in 2025. 

The agreed-upon content of the referendum will read:

“Do you favor increasing New Garden Township’s existing 0.100 mil real estate property tax dedicated to the Kennett Library to a total of 0.200 mil, with the revenue from such increase to be used exclusively to fund the operation of the Kennett Library?” 

The referendum will also include a sentence detailing that township residents currently pay a 2.77 mil real estate property tax. If the referendum is passed, the township’s yearly contribution to the library will increase from $82,778 to $165,555 beginning in 2025. Calculated according to household, a New Garden resident living in a home with an assessed value of $174,433 would contribute $34.89 per year, which when translated, equates to $2.91 monthly or 67 cents a week. 

The New Garden referendum is part of a “fair share” tax contribution the library is seeking from all eight of the municipalities it serves, that also include East Marlborough, Kennett, Newlin, Pennsbury, Pocopson, West Marlborough townships, and the Kennett Square Borough.

Over the past several years, New Garden has become one of the most progressive municipalities in providing financial assistance to the Kennett Library, that included authorizing $500,000 from 2021 to 2025 to help finance the construction of the new building in State Street. In 2017, township residents approved a referendum that saw the passage of a 0.100 mil property tax that has annually supported the library in the amount of $82,778 since 2018.

In his comments prior to the referendum proposal, Kennett Library Executive Director Christopher Manna gave the supervisors and the audience a summary of the progress the library has made since it officially opened its new $23 million facility last August, which include such developments as laptop rental assistance to users; increased forms of digital technology; programs in civic and social engagement; partnerships formed with 19 health agencies; increased financial literacy services and retirement seminars; a surge in children’s programming, not only at the library but at area parks and school districts; and film series and concerts in its 110-seat auditorium. In addition, Manna said that the library will increase its service to 70 hours a week, which will include being open seven days a week.

In New Garden Township alone, he said that the number of library cardholders rose from 1,907 in 2023 to 2,467 in May of this year – a 25 percent increase – and that the library saw 2,578 residents visit the library in April, a jump of 300 percent from last April.

Referring to Manna’s presentation, Kennett Library Board President Bradley Peiper said that the additional income generated by the current referendum, if passed, will support the operational needs of the library.

“Chris explained the community impact of all of the programs and services that we provide, and on that basis, in terms of strengthening our community, I think it’s a pretty strong argument for spending 67 cents a week,” he said. “Beyond that, if you look at this as an investment, what’s the cost of an adult literacy class? What’s that one-on-one tutoring cost if you were to go outside for that tutoring? The books and media that we provide. What’s that cost? The museum passes that we offer, the programs that we offer, our reference and tech help, as well as the wireless and tech sessions that we provide.

“If you add all of that up, it’s a little shy of $6 million. We run the Kennett Library with an annual budget of $1.5 million. If you do the math, for every dollar you invest in the library, we provide four dollars back in terms of the value of our services.”

Recent AQUA PA letter to residents, explained

In other business, township manager Christopher Himes gave a presentation that provided clarity and comparative data related to the May 23 letter sent to all AQUA PA customers that notified them of their proposal to adjust their quarterly water and wastewater rates, which the company said are necessary to pay for $953 million in system improvement projects that began in 2023 and will continue through the end of 2025. 

When the rates first went into effect in 2021, township rate customers were assigned to Rate Zone 11, and residents were assessed a quarterly rate base of $136.38, with customers charged an additional $23.25 for each additional 1,000 gallons used up to 15,000 gallons, and an additional $33.43 for every 1,000 gallons used over 15,000 gallons.

Under AQUA PA’s current rate scenario proposal, New Garden customers are now associated with Rate Zone 2, and will pay a fixed quarterly rate of $167.79, and be charged a consumption rate of $12.58 for every 1,000 gallons of water used during that quarter.

Himes said that these figures – which have been validated by both the township and AQUA PA – will reflect savings not only for those customers using high quantities of water per quarter, but for those who use very little water.

“By applying this data to the new proposed rate, subject to changes made over the last few years, the full majority of the people will see a net reduction in their quarterly sewer bills based off of their individual (per household) consumption,” Himes said.

This rate adjustment is not the first time AQUA PA customers in New Garden have heard from the big water giant since the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) approved AQUA PA’s purchase of New Garden’s wastewater system for $29.5 million on June 29, 2017, a deal that was finalized on Dec. 20, 2020.

On Aug. 20, 2021, AQUA PA filed an application with the PUC requesting to increase water bills for its customers by 17 percent and its sewer bills by 33 percent – and 34.7 percent in New Garden Township. The application was approved, and residential water bills for a typical customer using 4,000 gallons per month rose from $69.35 to $81.32, an increase of $11.97 a month.

On Nov. 21, 2022, 200 local ratepayers met with AQUA PA officials at New Garden Elementary School to protest the massive increase they were seeing in their quarterly bills – as much as a 140 percent jump over the previous year.

AQUA PA’s most recent base rate increase request will first require investigation and approval from the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) before it can go into effect, which if approved, will take about nine months – well into 2025. The PUC’s approval process will give AQUA PA ratepayers three opportunities to share their concerns with the agency: submitting comments in writing to the Secretary of the PUC; attending a public hearing; and filing a formal rate complaint through the PUC’s E-filing account that is available on the PUC’s website, www.puc.pa.gov.

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email [email protected].