By Monica Fragale
Contributing Writer

More than 80 people packed East Marlborough’s municipal garage on Monday, and at least another 30 joined the meeting online, as the supervisors voted to advertise the 2025 preliminary budget.

Most of those in attendance were visibly upset about a proposed tax increase, which would see residents paying more than double what they paid this year to the township. A 392-page petition from East Marlborough residents was also submitted on Monday, asking the supervisors “to seek a more balanced approach to funding our community services,” township manager Neil Lovekin read.

Many who spoke talked of how the tax hike would affect them.

“I moved here from a big house to a small house,” resident Jim Keating told the board. “My taxes are more here in the small house. I don’t understand it one bit.”

“I think the conversation should be where can we be as efficient as we can be,” resident Paul Karcher said. “The last four to five years, the aggregate amount of inflation has gone up 27 percent. Now you’re sitting here suggesting to us to raise our taxes in an incredible amount.”

“I’m here representing neighbors on my street who have come to me over the last week-and-a-half,” resident Rob MacPherson said. “They’re dismayed. They’re angry.”

The three-hour-plus meeting served as the monthly supervisors’ meeting but also represented the culmination of four previous budget sessions in which the rationale for the tax increase was discussed.

“Our goal for this meeting is to clearly communicate to you the details of the preliminary 2025 budget,” board vice chair Ellen Sosangelis told the crowd, adding that a desired outcome was for the residents to “leave this meeting with a clear understanding of … why the tax increases are necessary, and how your township leadership is controlling costs and using your money in a responsible manner on your behalf.”

The 2025 proposed budget is available for the public to review and submit comments on until Dec. 2 – the date of the next supervisors’ meeting when the budget and tax increases are expected to be formally adopted.

Tax rates

East Marlborough is proposing increasing three of their township taxes to help offset expenses in next year’s budget. It would be a total increase of 2.7 mills over the current rate, according to Lovekin. A mill is $1 for every $1,000 of assessed value.

When Lovekin mentioned the amount of the increase, cries of “Wow” could be heard from the audience.

The general purpose tax is proposed to go from 1.05 to 1.75 mills, the fire protection tax from 0.675 to 2.25 mills, and the EMS tax from 0.075 to 0.5 mills. Taxes for the library and open space, and sewer fees would remain unchanged.

Although it had been mentioned briefly in the budget sessions, enacting an earned income tax to help offset the tax hike is not something that could be implemented before 2026, according to Lovekin.

“There’s no earned income tax proposed for 2025,” Lovekin said. “It was a discussion in the very beginning of the process. If it’s going to happen, it would be a 2025 discussion but wouldn’t be implemented until 2026.

One of the biggest drivers increasing the fire and EMS taxes is the 2025 funding for the Kennett Fire & EMS Regional Commission (KFERC).

Fair share

According to the KFERC 2025 budget resolution, which can be found on the Kennett Township website at kennett.pa.us, the commission set funding from East Marlborough at $1.393 million. That represents 25.5 percent of the funding that KFERC is requesting.

Kennett Township, one of the other townships represented in the five-municipality commission, will pay $1.668 million; Pocopson will pay $728,373.33; Pennsbury will pay $681,511.85; and Newlin will pay $129,282.99.

The municipalities are served by the fire companies of Longwood, Kennett, and Po-Mar-Lin, acting under a regional command, and by Longwood EMS.

Recent commission meetings have included discussions on what to do with Kennett Square Borough if they don’t pay their fair share of 2025 funding. The borough withdrew as a voting member of the commission last year, but paid for 2024 fire and EMS coverage based on the fair share formula the commission uses, according to Longwood Fire Chief A.J. McCarthy, who also serves as the regional operational fire chief for the three companies.

According to KFERC data, the borough’s share for 2025 would represent 15.9 percent of the total funding.

The fair share formula uses a municipality’s population data, its overall assessed value, and the number of fire and EMS responses to come up with the funding numbers, according to Alison S. Dobbins. She emphasized that KFERC was responsible for funding, whereas the three fire companies provided the day-to-day operations.

“One of the biggest cost drivers is that fire and EMS is something a lot of people are not used to having to pay for,” said Dobbins, citing a decrease in volunteer firefighters and a need for more paid staff to answer calls. “One of the other reasons is as firefighting has become more complicated, firefighters require an initial 186 hours of training just to get Firefighting 1.

“Another piece is apparatus. In order to fight fire and respond to EMS calls, you need to have the right equipment.”

And that equipment has significantly increased in cost because of the lack of more companies making fire trucks and ambulances.

“This is actually a situation where so few companies are producing these really specialized apparatus,” Dobbins said. “At the end of the day, there isn’t the competition there to help us lower costs.”

Tyler Bowman, an East Marlborough resident and Longwood Fire Company volunteer, told the crowd that the fire companies were doing the best jobs they could.

“Last week alone I spent 48 hours and 30 minutes staffing the fire station,” he said. “That’s more time volunteering than working my full-time job. We just need people to understand we’re struggling too and doing our best.”

Bowman estimated that for every volunteer the fire companies add, another two or three volunteers leave.

“We have an aging volunteer base,” Bowman said. “We can’t provide you with the service you need during the day … that’s the reason for paid staff. It’s a necessity. You guys want fire and service and EMS and expect it at such a high level, the unfortunate reality is it’s going to cost money. We’re doing our best to cover all these shifts.”

Next steps

A preliminary budget has to be available for public review for at least 20 days, according to Lovekin. East Marlborough’s budget will be available for almost 30 days.

“Everyone will have a chance before it’s voted on to take a look at it,” said township resident and former supervisor Burley Vannote. “We’re all really lucky to live in East Marlborough Township.”

Resident Judy Greeley asked the board to re-examine budget cuts.

“I don’t think anyone’s questioning fire or police,” she said. “It’s where can we find the budget cuts. We’re all getting asked to pay more.”

More information

The proposed budget is at the East Marlborough Township building which is open to the public 8:30 a.m. to noon, Monday through Friday. The number is 610-444-0725.

Check also the township’s website for more information at www.eastmarlborough.org.

The next East Marlborough meeting will be Monday, Dec. 2 at 7 p.m.

The next Kennett Fire & EMS Regional Commission meeting will be Tuesday, Nov. 12 at the Pocopson Township