A Delaware County judge issued a ruling on a key matter in the saga of Aqua Pennsylvania’s attempt to acquire DELCORA — the Delaware County Regional Water Authority, the sewer system that serves a half-million people in 46 municipalities in Delaware and Chester counties. Aqua in 2019 signed a $276.5 million asset purchase agreement with the authority. The following year, a new slate of Delaware County Council members worked to block the sale, including introducing an ordinance to terminate the authority and transfer its assets to the county. Commonwealth Court determined that the county had the right to terminate the authority, but it also ruled that DELCORA had the ability to enter into the asset purchase agreement with Aqua. In 2023, DELCORA filed a complaint in county court, maintaining there were “matters of uncertainty and actual controversy” under the ordinance the county enacted — but in the latest ruling, Common Pleas Judge Barry C. Dozor disagreed. “There is no uncertainty or controversy remaining as to Delaware County Ordinance 2020-4 (directing Delcora to terminate) or the Asset Purchase Agreement pursuant to the Municipal Authorities Act,” Dozor ruled. “... the issues that Delcora asked this Court to decide have already been fully litigated and decided, no uncertainty remains, and those issues cannot be relitigated in this case.”
Source: Daily Times; 12/7/2024