Property tax, rent rebates will be bigger this year
A proposal to give one-time bonus rebates to claimants of the Property Tax/Rent Rebate Program recently became effective when Gov. Tom Wolf signed the 2022-2023 budget into law. A one-time total of $140 million in federal relief money was added to the program. Under the new law, Pennsylvanians who are approved for a rebate on property taxes or rent paid in 2021 will receive an additional one-time bonus rebate equal to 70% of their original rebate amount. This means the total amount a claimant will receive could be as much as $1,657, up from a previous maximum of $975. The Department of Revenue anticipates that bonus rebates will start being mailed and sent via direct deposit in early September. The key qualifications are: 

• Age 65 and older
• Widows and widowers age 50 and older
• Anyone with disabilities age 18 and older
• The income limit is $35,000 a year for homeowners
• The income limit is $15,000 annually for renters
• Half of Social Security income is excluded

Eligible Pennsylvanians can apply on myPATH, the Department of Revenue’s online filing system. Submitting an application is easy and does not require an account. Claimants may also find a paper application and instructions on the Property Tax/Rent Rebate Program on the Department of Revenue website.
Source: Daily Local; 8/8/2022

Pipeline developer pleads no contest
The developer of a major pipeline system that connects the Marcellus shale gas field in western Pennsylvania to an export terminal near Philadelphia pleaded no contest to criminal charges that it systematically polluted waterways and residential water wells across hundreds of miles. Dallas-based Energy Transfer agreed to independent testing of homeowners’ water and promised to remediate contamination in a settlement of two separate criminal cases brought by the Pennsylvania Attorney General. Under a plea deal, the company will also pay $10 million to restore watersheds and streams along the route of its Mariner East pipeline network.
Source: Associated Press; 8/6/2022

Opposition to sale of county sewer system grows
Opposition to the proposed sale of the Bucks County Water and Sewer Authority's sewer system is mounting. The Bucks County Association of Township Officials board passed a resolution against a sale to the "privately held, investor-owned Aqua Pennsylvania,” and at a recent Bucks County Commissioners' meeting, several residents spoke against the sale. Aqua Pennsylvania has offered to purchase BCWSA's sewer system for $1.1 billion in one of the largest bids for a public sewer system in the country. BCWSA serves 75,000 sewer and 25,000 water customers. Most of the sale proceeds would go to Bucks County, and at two recent public hearings hundreds of area residents turned out to question how the sale would benefit ratepayers. Warrington Township officials are going a step further. The township sold its sewer system to BCWSA in 2019 and now may invoke a clause in that agreement that would allow it to have the sewer system returned to the township. Warrington sold the system to BCWSA for $16.15 million, after turning down an offer of $40.2 million from Aqua because it didn’t want the system to be bought by a for-profit company. Bucks commissioners are encouraging the public to provide input. Read more here.
Source: Bucks County Courier Times; 8/9/2022

Bristol Borough appoints council president’s son as new mayor
Ralph DiGuiseppe III, the son of Bristol Borough Council President Ralph DiGuiseppe, is the borough's new mayor. DiGuiseppe will replace the late former mayor Joe Saxton, who died in July. The younger DiGuiseppe will serve as mayor until after the 2023 municipal elections. He would need to seek and win election to hold on to the post. The council president, in his role as acting mayor, abstained from the vote. DiGuiseppe III is a Realtor and senior vice president and regional manager at the real estate firm Long & Foster. After being sworn in, the new mayor thanked council for their confidence, and spoke of the life and public service of Saxton.
Source: Bucks County Courier Times; 8/9/2022

St. Mary Medical Center in Langhorne named to ‘Best Hospital’ list
U.S. News & World Report has named St. Mary Medical Center in Langhorne as a 2022-2023 Best Hospital. St. Mary is a member of Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic. The annual Best Hospitals rankings and ratings, now in their 33rd year, are designed to assist patients and their doctors in making informed decisions about where to receive quality care for challenging health conditions or elective procedures. U.S. News evaluated more than 4,500 hospitals across 15 specialties and 20 procedures and conditions. Read more from the Reporter.
Source: The Reporter; 8/8/2022

Doylestown to take another look at single trash hauler option
The Doylestown Township Board of Supervisors will take another look at trash hauling in the township after receiving a complaint from a resident over the number of trash trucks rolling through his neighborhood. Board Chair Barbara Lyons said the issue has come before the supervisors before, and the board has always decided that engaging a trash hauler is the private business of a resident. However, Lyons said, the complaint from the resident "is a viable one — that there are eight different trash trucks in the neighborhood every week. So it's a nuisance. It's hard on the roads. It's hard on the residents in that community." When polled informally, the majority of the supervisors said they'd be interested in at least having a discussion. Doylestown Township is not alone in considering the issue. Newtown Borough has been investigating moving to a single-hauler model for more than a year.
Source: Doylestown Patch; 8/8/2022

Dublin’s new post office is open for business
The new Dublin Post Office, located at 301 Station Drive, Suite 101, officially opened on Monday, Aug. 1. The Postal Service was moved out of its original location at 133 N. Main St. after its lease was terminated for a new shopping mall. The post office’s window service hours are weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Saturdays from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. The lobby will be open 24 hours.
Source: Bucks County Herald; 8/1/2022

Westtown voters to help decide on Crebilly Farm preservation
Westtown Township voters will decide in November whether to increase their taxes in service of preserving Crebilly Farm from development. On April 4, the township agreed to purchase 208 acres of the 322-acre property for $100,000 per acre, or $20.8 million. Most of the rest of the land will be subdivided into four individual lots, each with a single home. The township will need to secure approximately 75% for the purchase price from county, state and federal grant programs by March 31, 2023, leaving the rest to be paid by taxpayers. The township is proposing a blended tax increase, with 50% of the cost funded by earned income tax (EIT) and 50% by real estate taxes. If voters approve, the EIT will increase from 1% to 1.08%, and the real estate tax would go from 3.5 mills to 3.92 mills. A mill is a tax levy of one-tenth of one percent of assessed property value. According to the township, if a household income is $100,000, an extra $80 annually would be collected through the EIT. Retirement funds and social security income would not be affected by the proposed EIT hike. With the median assessed value of Westtown homes at $250,000, average homeowners would pay an extra $105 per year. The public is invited to a discussion about the referendum on Monday, Sept. 12, at 7 p.m., at Bayard Rustin High School.
Source: Daily Local; 8/9/2022

Residents move into new affordable housing at West Chester’s Melton Center
New residents are moving into 51 recently constructed affordable housing units at Pinckney Hill Commons, on the grounds of the Melton Center in downtown West Chester. Half of the units are already occupied, with full capacity expected by early October. With limits set on both the minimum and maximum required income for middle-income residents, the apartments are attracting nurses, retail workers and school workers. The Church Housing Corporation is the property owner and manager of the apartment buildings, while the structures are built on leased Melton Center land. There are 10 townhomes and 41 apartments, including 17 one-bedroom, 16 two-bedroom, 12-three bedroom and six four-bedroom units. The apartments were designed to accommodate people who couldn’t afford the high rent in the borough. Ken Winston, executive director of the Melton Center, said that the new housing has allowed many former West Chester residents to move home, has created a population for the Melton Center to serve through its programs and events, and provides much needed housing for moderate-income residents.
Source: Daily Local; 8/10/2022

Consumer Advocate sues to overturn Aqua PA takeover of Willistown’s sewer system
The Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate has sued to block Aqua Pennsylvania’s takeover of the Willistown Township sewer system, saying the $17.5 million sale will fail to deliver “affirmative public benefits” and would instead harm all Aqua customers with higher rates. The Office of Consumer Advocate, headed by Patrick M. Cicero, asked the Commonwealth Court on Friday to overturn a Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) decision last month that allowed Aqua to buy the wastewater system in Willistown Township, the latest acquisition of a public water and sewer system made easier by a 2016 state law that encourages the consolidation of utility ownership. The PUC, in approving the sale, said Aqua had demonstrated its financial, legal and technical fitness to take over the Willistown system, and that the sale would advance the commission’s policy of consolidating smaller systems by larger entities that were more likely to improve performance. But the consumer advocate said the practical effect of the PUC’s ruling is that any acquisition by a “fit” buyer in the future will be approved if it can be shown it will promote regionalization of utility systems. Aqua said it believes the Willistown acquisition will further the public interest, including the consolidation and regionalization of wastewater systems.
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer; 8/9/2022

Kennett Square construction boom continues
Kennett Square, widely known as a destination town with its many brewpubs and annual events, has become one of Chester County’s most popular municipalities in which to live. Construction of new homes is underway at the corner of West State Street and Mill Road. “The pre-construction has begun for the apartments on West State Street between Washington and Mill,” said Kennett Square Borough President Doug Doerfler. “The landscape will indeed be changing a little coming in and out of town, and I do feel it is necessary, beneficial change.” When completed, there will be two apartment buildings with 166 units. There will also be 1,273-square-foot park and a parking deck with 192 spaces.
Source: Daily Local; 8/5/2022

Sunoco misses cleanup deadline at Marsh Creek
Nearly two years since Sunoco Pipeline spilled drilling mud into Marsh Creek Lake and its tributaries, and more than one month past the company’s agreed-upon remediation and restoration deadline, lawmakers are calling for action. A consent order and agreement between the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and Sunoco Pipeline, a subsidiary of Energy Transfer, required Sunoco to complete dredging, remove the dredged material to an approved disposal facility, and restore the access and staging areas before July 1. Documents submitted to the DEP by Sunoco attributed its failure to meet the agreed-upon schedule to a number of factors, including the company’s discovery of two existing pipelines under the area to be dredged. Sunoco completed the removal of the top six inches of sediment from the affected portion of the lake in late July, allowing the 33-acre Ranger Cove section of Marsh Creek Lake to finally reopen to the public after two years. But cleanup and restoration of the sediment dewatering field, located in a neighborhood just outside of Marsh Creek State Park, are still underway.
Source: Daily Local; 8/4/2022