December 7, 2019 - ChaddsFordLive.com

Kennett eyes temporary tax increase

The Kennett Township Board of Supervisors voted to advertise a preliminary version of the 2020 budget Wednesday night that contains a temporary tax increase to fund construction of the new library and also a sewer rate increase for some residents and businesses.

It also contains suggestions to hold public meetings next year to develop, including a capital plan for operations, a sewer rate structure, and an open space management plan.

The supervisors will formally adopt the budget at a Dec. 30 meeting.

The preliminary budget presented Wednesday was the culmination of more than 700 hours of work by the township staff over 60 days and input during seven public meetings to create a budget “from the bottom up,” according to township Manager Eden Ratliff.

In his written budget presentation, Ratliff wrote that since the investigation of suspected financial irregularities in the township’s financial accounts, “it became clear that the finances of the township were managed in a way that did not allow for a comprehensive understanding of the fiscal health of the township nor the true cost to operate the township and deliver government services.”

The 2020 general fund does not contain a tax increase for operational expenses. It does contain a surplus of $149,396 that Ratliff recommended the supervisors do nothing with so it could be used down the road “to target fund balances, reserve balances, and a capital plan.”

In the library fund budget, there is a temporary tax increase of 0.15 mils to help fund the construction of the new Kennett Library. The increase – on top of the dedicated library tax of 0.2 mils – would remain for approximately six years until the township has collected the approximately $750,000 the library board is requesting from Kennett Township.

According to Ratliff, it amounts to an average cost of $36.48 for taxpayers.

The library board had asked the township to contribute about $241,000 over three years. During public budget discussions, the board seemed in favor of paying $125,000 over a six-year period. The temporary increase would raise $117,000 a year, according to budget documents. The preliminary budget also included $8,000 from the general fund to make up the difference. But that $8,000 transfer was something the supervisors said they would prefer not to happen.

Any tax increase would need to be authorized by a tax resolution on Dec. 30 before it could go into effect, according to Ratliff.

In the sewer fund, the proposed rate increase would close the operating deficit and leave a net surplus of $2,100 in the sewer operating fund. It would affect 41 commercial and 593 residential customers, potentially starting with the first-quarter sewer bills and would mean an average per-year increase of $2,200 for commercial customers and $99 for residential customers.

According to finance director Amy Heinrich, the current rates are $75 for the first 5,000 gallons per quarter and $11 per 1,000 gallons for anything over 5,000 gallons. The recommended increase would affect usage over 5,000 gallons and raise the rate to $15 per 1,000 gallons.

With the open space fund, there is a deficit in the preliminary budget of $376,600. The 2020 open space fund would allocate grant matches totaling $650,000, $134,200 for debt service payments, and $102,600 to The Land Conservancy, according to budget documents.

One of the suggestions by Ratliff is to hold public hearings “on the development of an open space management plan and develop a strategy for funding.”

Determining what the open space funds can and cannot be spent is something the township is working on. Earlier in the meeting supervisors approved a motion to hire the law firm of Salzmann Hughes to advise them on permitted open space expenditures and other open-space related matters.

Budget documents, including the preliminary budget, can be found on the township’s website.

About Monica Fragale

Monica Thompson Fragale is a freelance reporter who spent her life dreaming of being in the newspaper business. That dream came true after college when she started working at The Kennett Paper and, years later The Reporter newspaper in Lansdale and other dailies. She turned to non-profit work after her first daughter was born and spent the next 13 years in that field. But while you can take the girl out of journalism, you can’t take journalism out of the girl. Offers to freelance sparked the writing bug again started her fingers happily tapping away on the keyboard. Monica lives with her husband and two children in Kennett Square.

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Mind Matters: Empathy

The word empathy gets bandied about a lot these days, becoming yet another platitude. If we slap the word in a “PR” paragraph, it must mean a corporation cares. If we use it in conversation, it must mean we really own it. Well, no, on both counts.

True empathy is the unsung hero of the quotidian lives we live. What is empathy anyway? It is not to be confused with its weaker cousin sympathy. My own notion of sympathy is that it often borders on pitying another for their loss or misfortune, with maybe an unconscious tinge of “that’s sad for you, sure am glad I’m not you.” Empathy, on the other hand, takes the risk of identifying with the other’s feelings, or walking a mile in the other’s moccasins, as the adage goes.

Trouble is, we often think empathy is only meant for special cases. Instead, we should be living it in all the mundane activities we do — with our spouses, with our kids, with our friends, actually with everyone we encounter. Perhaps no one but an enlightened Buddhist master would be able to be almost flawlessly empathetic (I do believe Mr. Rogers came pretty close.) Nevertheless, we persist.

What does everyday empathy look like? It means that we really listen to our children (including infants) and meet them when they are not where we want them to be. It is of the utmost selfishness for a parent to inflict their will over a child’s needs simply because that makes life easier for the parent. Empathic parenting entails sacrifice, not selfishness.

Everyday empathy is about remembering what another needs. When my spouse without any prompts from me goes out and clears all the snow off the car because he knows I have to leave for work, that is empathy, not selfishness.

When a spouse cleans the bathroom after he’s done his morning routine, that’s empathy. When a friend listens to your painful story, that’s empathy.

Empathy is the opposite of self-absorption and selfishness. It really is considering how another feels or anticipating another’s needs—from responding to an infant’s cry to clearing snow from a car. May every small act of empathy lead to another.

About Kayta Gajdos

Dr. Kathleen Curzie Gajdos ("Kayta") is a licensed psychologist (Pennsylvania and Delaware) who has worked with individuals, couples, and families with a spectrum of problems. She has experience and training in the fields of alcohol and drug addictions, hypnosis, family therapy, Jungian theory, Gestalt therapy, EMDR, and bereavement. Dr. Gajdos developed a private practice in the Pittsburgh area, and was affiliated with the Family Therapy Institute of Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, having written numerous articles for the Family Therapy Newsletter there. She has published in the American Psychological Association Bulletin, the Family Psychologist, and in the Swedenborgian publications, Chrysalis and The Messenger. Dr. Gajdos has taught at the college level, most recently for West Chester University and Wilmington College, and has served as field faculty for Vermont College of Norwich University the Union Institute's Center for Distance Learning, Cincinnati, Ohio. She has also served as consulting psychologist to the Irene Stacy Community MH/MR Center in Western Pennsylvania where she supervised psychologists in training. Currently active in disaster relief, Dr. Gajdos serves with the American Red Cross and participated in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts as a member of teams from the Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.Now living in Chadds Ford, in the Brandywine Valley of eastern Pennsylvania, Dr. Gajdos combines her private practice working with individuals, couples and families, with leading workshops on such topics as grief and healing, the impact of multigenerational grief and trauma shame, the shadow and self, Women Who Run with the Wolves, motherless daughters, and mediation and relaxation. Each year at Temenos Retreat Center in West Chester, PA she leads a griefs of birthing ritual for those who have suffered losses of procreation (abortions, miscarriages, infertility, etc.); she also holds yearly A Day of Re-Collection at Temenos.Dr. Gajdos holds Master's degrees in both philosophy and clinical psychology and received her Ph.D. in counseling at the University of Pittsburgh. Among her professional affiliations, she includes having been a founding member and board member of the C.G. Jung Educational Center of Pittsburgh, as well as being listed in Who's Who of American Women. Currently, she is a member of the American Psychological Association, The Pennsylvania Psychological Association, the Delaware Psychological Association, the American Family Therapy Academy, The Association for Death Education and Counseling, and the Delaware County Mental Health and Mental Retardation Board. Woven into her professional career are Dr. Gajdos' pursuits of dancing, singing, and writing poetry.