Some people recently received a political mailer in their box from the Warminster Democrats. I shouldn’t have read that while drinking my milk this morning, because when I read the headline “Promises Made, Promises Kept”, I laughed so much that some of the milk literally came out of my nose. I just never thought I’d see Democrats, in 2021, using a Donald Trump campaign line from 2020. What’s next, they’ll start wearing MAGA hats and sending out mean tweets? They’re already doing the latter, but that’s for another article later this week.
First, the current Democrat majority on the Board of Supervisors promised to not sell township assets to balance the budget. So, how’d they balance the 2020 and 2021 budgets? They sold the township’s storm water system to the Warminster Water Authority (WMA) for $6 million. The WMA estimates that it’ll cost another $5 million or so to get the system up to EPA mandated standards. While this sale might be good for the township taxpayers, it’ll cost the WMA rate payers, because somebody will have to make up that $11 million. As you read this, there is an effort going on to add yet another fee to our water bills. This storm water fee, or as some call it, a “rain tax,” will be assessed based on the square footage of impervious coverage you have on your property. Impervious coverage includes your house, your shed, your driveway, sidewalks, patios, etc. Basically, it’s anything that is not grass, dirt or other plants. The more impervious ground you have on your property, the more you’ll pay. But don’t expect this “rain tax” to be implemented before the end of the year. Just like when the current Democrat led board of supervisors voted to raise our taxes by 64% as soon as they took office in 2020, they assume people will just forget about it before the next election. While the WMA is technically an independent Authority that is owned by the Township, it is fully controlled by the Warminster Democrat party. The current Chair of the Board of Supervisors appointed himself to the Water Authority Board of Directors. While there’s nothing illegal about this, it certainly does have the appearance of impropriety. But can you blame him? The pay for the WMA board members is approaches the pay for being a township supervisor. Three of the five WMA board members are elected Democrat Committee people, and one is a former Democrat Township Supervisor. So, when you open your water bill early in 2022, you’ll know exactly who added that additional fee to your bill. More on the WMA later.
Another “promise” that was made by the Democrats when they took control of the Board of Supervisors was that they would be transparent. Literally, at their first meeting in control, they changed the public comment portion of the PUBLIC MEETING to all but eliminate public comment on any current business before the board until the end of the following month’s meeting. You see, Democrats aren’t big fans of governing. They prefer to dictate and rule the people who they are supposed to be serving. Speaking of transparency, the 22 miles of roads that were paved this year includes 5 miles of roads that the township is not responsible for, including state roads (Mearns, County Line and Bristol Rds.) and roads that are generally maintained by Warrington (half of Valley Rd) or Upper Southampton (half of Davisville Rd). These roads were included in the package, which will be paid for by you, in the form taxes over many years. You see, the Democrat controlled board of supervisors entered us into a long-term debt to the tune of $15 million. This debt will be paid back in part by the Debt Service Fund. The Democrats in control hope you’ll forget that they increased the debt service taxes by 169% in 2020. And, in addition to this debt service tax increase last year, about $1.5 million was budgeted to be transferred from the general fund to the Debt Service Fund this year, which means that more than 27% of the local taxes you are paying is now being applied to this long-term debt. This loan will literally take a generation to be paid off, assuming they don’t add to that debt in the coming years. But, after watching how Democrats in Washington manage the federal budget, don’t be surprised if they do just that.
Now, a little more detail about that Warminster Water Authority (WMA) and their “Trench Restoration” Project. When the WMA digs up a street for things like installing new water mains or “retrenching”, the WMA is responsible for repairing that road. In the past, the WMA would contract with the township to mill and pave those roads, from curb to curb. Since the township had the resources to do so, it made for a good partnership. Since the new Democrat board took control of the Board of Supervisors in 2020, it seems as though old agreements regarding the WMA and repaving streets have been abandoned. You see, at a Board of Supervisors meeting on February 4, 2021, when the 2021 milling and paving project was announced, we were told that the project was split into three parts. The “base roads” were those roads that the township needed to pave. The second group, which were labeled as “Alternate 1” and “Alternate 2,” are the roads where the WMA would be “retrenching.” Finally, there was a group referred to as “Alternates 3 thru 13”. These were added to the bidding process to see if the township could afford to mill and pave. The problem here is that during this meeting in February, it was stated that the township and the WMA would split the cost of “Alternate 1 & 2” with the WMA on a 50/50 basis. It was said at the time that it would be a waste of money to only pave the half of road that the WMA was retrenching. As noted above, the township used to get paid 100% from the WMA to pave these roads from curb to curb. On the surface it looks as though the township and the WMA figured out a way for the township to pay back some of the money that the WMA gave to us when they purchased the storm water system. Why are we paying anything for these roads to be paved, especially since some of these retrenched roadways are state roads. I’m sure if someone dug a little deeper, they might find even more sweet-heart deals that the Board of Supervisors have made with the WMA at the expense of the taxpayers of Warminster. But that’s what happens when the Chair of the Township Board of Supervisor Chair also sits on the WMA board.
Keep an eye on this space. In the coming days and weeks, we’ll expose the lies and misdeeds of the Democrats who currently control the township, the Water Authority as well as the school board.
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