TT BoS – BAWG JUNE 10
Please Attend
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
at 7:30 p.m.
at The Tredyffrin Twp. Bldg.
1100 DuPortail Road, Berwyn, PA 19312-1079
The Tredyffrin Township Budget Advisory Working Group (BAWG)
Remember the Tredyffrin Twp. Board of Supervisors’ (TT BoS) Budget Meetings in Nov/Dec 2008…
which increased our taxes for the second year in a row? Since then, the TT BoS created the Budget Advisory Working Group (BAWG) [http://www.tredyffrinbawg.com], and appointed the volunteers.
The BAWG will hold a public meeting on Wed. June 10 at 7:30 p.m. in the Tredyffrin Twp Building to gather public input. There is a possibility that an Earned Income Tax (EIT) could be reconsidered by the group.
I hope you will bring a friend, and join me in giving the clear message that increasing our taxes is NOT an option, and that Tredyffrin Township must work within its budgetary boundaries just like we do. I hope you will get involved – democracy works best when normal folks like us are involved – and budgets need not be regarded as overly-complicated.
– Evelyn “E.J.” Richter, A Pen in The Woods
P.S. Things that may be discussed include:
- Salaries, benefits and longevity pay for staff. (Non-union staff received longevity pay, cost of living increase, and 100% medical coverage for 2009.)
- Size and scope of the police department
- Subsidy levels for fire companies, libaries and the Woodland School
- Outsourcing of Township services (think park and vehicle maintenance)
- Sidewalks
- Taxes, user fees
- What services are most important to local residents?
- What are residents’ views on the current and future tax burden?
- Would residents prefer to increase taxes in order to maintain or expand services?
- What services would local residents be willing to see reduced or eliminated?
TT BoS and Chesterbrook’s Green Hills Condemn PTC Condemnations 2/1/09
Green Hills residents attended the BoS meeting en masse. Forty-three neighbors came to the meeting to register their disapproval of PTC taking two homes in the neighborhood. Many homeowners spoke to the Supervisors at the meeting expressing their concerns and asking questions.
Supervisor John DiBuonaventuro stated clearly that the PTC’s plan to take homes is unacceptable. He reminded all of a Green Hills homeowner’s question to the PTC last Tuesday evening, “Can you look me in the eye, and tell me that you’ve done everything you can to avoid the taking of my property?” This Supervisor agrees that the PTC has not exhausted other options.
Supervisor Judy DiFilippo reported of a meeting on Friday January 30 with John DiBuonaventuro, Deirdre Gibson and Michael Caldwell (both of VFNHP) to discuss solutions to the storm water issue. The park representatives indicated they will allow water to be dispensed onto park property, spray irrigation is acceptable, but they will not allow detention basins. Detention basins of the 1970’s are considered “passe” by current storm water managers. Another method of holding storm water before it could enter the park must be found – possibly underground storage tanks. Supervisor DiFilippo also contacted Congressman Gerlach, and reported that a study may be done regarding storm water and VFNHP. She urges neighbors to “Keep your organizations together. We will work together as a total.”
Township Manager, Mimi Gleason responded to a suggestion to use VFNHP property saying that an act of U.S. Congress is the only way to gain permission to use National Park property. Such an act would likely not pass, since it would be precedent setting.
She also informed us that PTC’s storm water management plans must meet the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection regulations, as well as Tredyffrin’s regulations. Tredyffrin has had significant issues with PTC’s lacking storm water management. She indicated that there are “several years of work left” on the plan, and there will likely be many “iterations.” She encouraged residents to ask the PTC to improve their plans, and to “use less land more creatively to solve the problem.”
Supervisor DiFilippo encouraged neighbors to stay in close communication, keep organized, continue asking questions of the PTC, and keep contacting legislators. The TT Supervisors agree that the homes should not be taken, but they have limited powers. We are encouraged to contact Senator Dinniman and Representative Drucker. (For more information on how to contact these legislators and others, see “Pages” at upper right hand corner of blog, and click on “Legislators Addresses.” OR CLICK HERE)
-A Pen
Report on PTC Open House in Tredyffrin (1/27/09)
An Overview
At the PTC Open House Tuesday night, there were tables for attendees to register so PTC could mail updates, a room with a 3-5 minute video over-viewing the expansion, and a large room full of: posters showing the plans, PTC people answering general questions, a table for people whose properties are being taken to talk with a representative, and a PTC Public Outreach poster mentioning their “Good Neighbor” policy. Many Tredyffrin residents were present as well as some local politicians. (Senator Dinniman, Representative Rubley, and TT Supervisors DiBuonaventuro, DiFilippo, Kampf, and Lamina)
The Homes Affected
Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission will take 9 Tredyffrin family homes, and portions of 97 Tredyffrin family properties. For a grand total of 106 Tredyffrin family homes and properties affected. Homes being taken are on Yellow Springs Rd., Morgan Lane, Colonel DeWees Rd., a hole or two at Glenhardie Country Club, and Red Coat Lane, and will be used for retention basins. The properties being partially taken run along the same corridor.
The Retention Basins
According to a representative aerial photos were taken of the area and topographical maps were developed from the information. Water is directed to a central location for treatment which includes: rate control and volume control.
The basins are lined, and will hold storm water to control its rate and volume before it reaches its next destination. The PTC surrounds their basins with 10-foot high chain-link fencing. Basins will hold some level of water 50% of the time. Representatives were vague about the amount of water, but they anticipate water in them from 3-14 days after a storm. A large portion of the basin is designed to encourage evaporation.
A resident concerned about standing water, mosquitoes and West Nile virus inquired about the standing water, and how the PTC planned to reduce it. The PTC representative indicated that the basins would hold water only 50% of the time, and that they would be wet mostly in the winter. The PTC stated that the summer months would be the driest, vegetation would be used to help evaporate the water, and that the vegetation would also encourage mosquito predators to the area.
Our Green Hills neighborhood has two retention basins which are unlined, they rarely have water in them except after a big storm, and then by 2-3 days later, they’re empty. Why has the PTC decided to line these basins?
The Department of Environmental Protection has the right to deny approval of the project. A thirty-day public comment period will follow the PTC’s application for permits. To date, The PTC has not applied for permits. PTC first seeks public comment on the designs. Citizens may contact the DEP independently about this issue. The PTC indicated that all state representatives have seen the plans. They mentioned specifically: Dinniman, Briggs, Drucker, Leach, and Rafferty.
PTC also needs approval from Tredyffrin Township regarding sound barriers and storm water runoff.
Are Concrete Barriers Sound Absorptive?
The representative says “yes.” The core of the barrier is made of concrete, and is covered by a secondary surface made of wood chips which provide sound absorption.
Tredyffrin Twp. Government Bureaucrats
“Your dad and I are exactly the opposite. He’s a government bureaucrat, and I am a capitalist. We get paid, and our success is measured in opposite behaviors.
He gets paid to spend money and hire people. The more he spends and the more people he hires, the larger his organization becomes. In the government, the larger his organization, the more he is respected.
On the other hand, within my organization, the fewer people I hire and the less money I spend, the more I am respected by my investors. That’s why I don’t like government people. They have different objectives from most business people. As the government grows, more and more tax dollars will be needed to support it.”
From Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki. Warner Books, 1997, p. 96. ISBN: 0-446-67745-0
—
Government Bureaucrats…
One stated at 11/17/08 meeting that they would feel “uncomfortable” facing non-union TT employees if there were no pay raise for 2009.
One agreed on 11/17/08 to 9 recommendations to reduce the budget for 2009, only if a reverse -911 system and 2 extra police officers were worked into the budget. This occurred after the Superintendent of Police, had stated he could do without them. (This Supervisor later found funding for the reverse-911 system within the County – a program we in Tredyffrin would have paid twice for.)
One said the recommendations were “draconian” at the 11/17/08 meeting, and for referred to items like music in the park as “quality of life issues.” The quality of life issues that TT manages are: police, fire, and roads.
The last Supervisor lamented at the 12/1/08 meeting a non-union employee salary freeze for 2009. With the way he carried on, one would think the BoS’s had decided to terminate all 50 of them. (That would be draconian!) It is only a one-year salary freeze , and in a recession a salary freeze equals a raise, because costs of goods will decrease while the salary is maintained. One of my friends was told recently she will get no salary increase for three years.
Frustrated? Help Us! Stand with us at the next meeting.
We are doing everything we can to affect a change with this BoS’s, and we need your help. The Board of Supervisors (BoS)’s heard many people object to a tax hike at the 11/17/08 meeting, but many of them were unswayed. Come to the meeting: speak at the mike, bring a small or large poster, or just sit quietly. Let’s not let them stop us from using the mike until each citizen has had an opportunity to voice their opinion. It’s our last chance.
TT BoS meeting is on December 15 at 7:30 p.m. at the Township Building on DuPortail Rd. Our goal: standing-room only. Get your friends and neighbors at the meeting. Call them on the phone. If you will be at the meeting, please place a comment.
-A Pen
P.S. If you are good with numbers, look over the TT 2009 Budget Presentation available as a PDF. I hope at least one of these links works for you.
A Pen in The Woods 