Chester County Press 3-11-2015 Edition

Page 1

Chester CountyPRESS

www.chestercounty.com

Covering Avon Grove, Chadds Ford, Kennett Square, Oxford, & Unionville Areas Volume 149, No. 10

INSIDE Education & Summer Camp Guide

Gov. Wolf unveils a proposed $29.88 billion state budget The governor is seeking $4.7 billion in tax increases, including hikes in the personal income tax and state sales tax, to cut property taxes, to boost education funding, to invest in economic programs, and to meet state pension plan obligations. Lawmakers are skeptical that there will be support for the spending plan By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer

Brought to you by the Chester County Press • March 11, 2015

Education & Summer Camp Guide

The area’s best artists are getting ready for Chadds Ford Art Show and Sale...................1B

Young artists recognized by U-CF school board and administration....6A A local women becomes spokesperson for national company.....3B

INDEX Calendar of Events..........4B Opinion..........................7A Obituaries.......................8A Police Blotter.................2B Classified.....................9B

60 Cents

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Gov. Tom Wolf announced the details of his first state budget on March 3, unveiling a $29.88 billion spending plan for 2015-2016 that would increase education funding by $1 billion, invest $1.6 billion for initiatives aimed at creating jobs, fund the state’s pension plans, and close an existing $2.3 billion budget shortfall. The budget also calls for increases in the personal income tax and the state sales tax to counter approximately $3.8 billion in property tax reductions that would begin to be phased in in 2016. Democrats have called the

proposal a bold, transformational budget that aggressively addresses the state’s biggest issues, including the underfunded pension system and the over-reliance on property taxes to fund schools. Senate Democratic Leader Sen. Jay Costa (D-Allegheny) referred to the budget as historic. Republicans, predictably less enamored with the proposal than their Democratic counterparts, said that the spending plan is historic only because of

PERSONAL INCOME TAX

the size of the tax increases. Wolf’s budget proposal would hike the personal income tax from 3.07 percent to 3.7 percent, increase the state sales tax from 6 percent to 6.6 percent, broaden the sales tax to include more services, and enact a severance tax on natural gas production starting on Jan. 1, 2016. Pennsylvania is currently the second-largest natural gas producer without such a tax. Gov. Wolf is proposing a tax equal to 5 percent of the

Income Tax 3.07% Personal Personal Income Tax 3.70% Proposed

Municipalities discuss regional police force By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer At a 90-minute meeting last Saturday morning in Kennett Square, representatives from seven southern Chester County municipalities met to further discuss the concept of incorporating a regional police department in the area, one that if finalized, would serve the communities of Kennett Square Borough, Avondale and West Grove, as well as East Marlborough, Kennett, New Garden and London Grove townships. Kennett Square Mayor Matt Fetick, who is serving as an official spokesperson for the project, said that representatives from all but one of the participating municipalities agreed to progress to a final plan. The lone exception was London Grove Township, whose supervisors later voted at their March 4 meeting to approve being a part of the group. Fetick said that much of the meeting was directed at smoothing out the rough edges of the Continued on Page 3A

selling price of natural gas plus a charge of 4.7 cents per thousand cubic feet. There is also a proposal to increase the cigarette tax by one dollar per pack with a new tax on tobacco products like cigars and e-cigarettes. State Rep. John Lawrence, who represents the 13th District that includes most of southern Chester County, said that he is very concerned about the $4.7 billion in increased taxes being proposed. Continued on Page 2A

STATE SALES TAX

Photo by Alessandra Nicole

The Unionville-Chadds Ford School District administration is backing a plan that would end the long-standing practice of having four marking periods each year for elementary school students. At a meeting of the board’s Curriculum and Educational Technology Committee on March 9, the “trimester” concept was discussed by members of the adminstration and school board. Currently, there are four marking periods of about 45 school days each. The suggested change to three marking periods of about 60 school days each has been adopted in nearby districts such as Avon Grove, Kennett, Downingtown, Great Valley and others, and the reaction has been very favorable, according to Ken Batchelor, the assistant to the superintendent. “We see this as something that makes sense for us as a district, and as something we should move toward,” Batchelor said. The advantages, according to

© 2007 The Chester County Press

The London Grove Board of Supervisors agreed at its March 4 meeting to include the work of an independent engineering firm for consideration in the continuing discussions, reports and designs that call for structural and traffic flow improvements to the Route 41-841 intersection in the Village of Chatham. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation [PennDOT] has issued a preliminary analysis report on the intersection, based on discussions it had with township officials and input it received from local residents last year. From those meetings, PennDOT created ten

possible reconstructive alternatives for the intersection. From those, PennDOT has decided to enter five of those intersection designs into future proceedings. Some of those designs offer the option of constructing a roundabout at the intersection. In addition to the five concept plans, the township has also received an alternative engineering concept for the intersection, one developed by Mark Johnson of the Wisconsinbased MTJ Roundabout Engineering and introduced by S.A.V.E, a county-based environmental organization that promotes land use planning and conservation in Chester County. The MTJ design presents the idea of developing a roundabout

at the intersection of Routes 41 and 841, one that minimizes impacts, maintains access from Route 41 to London Grove Road and improves the intersection of Pennock Lane and London Grove Road. Supervisor Dave Connors told the supervisors that he has seen the MTJ roundabout design, and encouraged the board to consider including it with the five PennDOT options in future discussions with the public about the intersection. “If a roundabout is going to be available option, it occurs to me that this alternative may be the least disruptive to the Village of Chatham,” said Connors, who also suggested that the township schedule

Proposed Sales Tax

John Nolen, the director of curriculum and instruction, are that the trimester plan allows more instructional time instead of testing time, adding up to about three more instructional days per year. “Wherever we can grab that time, I feel strongly that we should,” Nolen said. In addition, teachers have always said that second marking period grades are hard to determine because the marking period ends in the third week of January, after the holiday Continued on Page 3A

A ticket to nowhere By Uncle Irvin

another meeting with PennDOT officials in order to encourage PennDOT to narrow its number of choices. He also suggested that the township schedule a town hall-type meeting in Chatham. If there is any potential snafu in the MTJ design, it is seen in the spoke wheel of its configuration. Essentially, if the concept is ultimately decided on, it would involve the need to relocate an historic building in Chatham, located near the corner of Route 41 and London Grove Road. The building, called the Chatham House, is owned by Dixon Stroud, who told supervisors at the meeting that should the MTJ design be Continued on Page 3A

Continued on Page 2A

chestercounty.com ONLINE ALL THE TIME

Current Sales Tax

Uncle Irvin is a library freak and uses the facility almost weekly. Last week, I got a $35 parking ticket for parking a few feet from the curb on State Street in front of the library, but I didn’t block anyone or cause a dangerous condition. Uncle Irvin is handicapped and has a handicapped zone shield, but there are no handicapped zones at the library and post office side of State Street. I was in the library around ten minutes and returned to my car to find a $35 Welcome to Kennett Square ticket. Uncle Irvin was wrong to have parked the way I did, and the ticket was legitimate. I paid it promptly. The point here is that the lack of free parking in the borough, near the center of town where the shops and restaurants are clustered, drives everyone out of town.

Township to include independent design into intersection improvement plans By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer

6.0% 6.6%

U-CF School District mulls move to trimester schedule for elementary schools By John Chambless Staff Writer

New Garden Township, represented by its police department, is one of seven area municipalities who have committed to enter the next phase of discussion about forming a regional police unit in southern Chester County.

State Rep. John Lawrence

NEWS • SCHOOLS • ENTERTAINMENT • BUSINESS • SPORTS • HOME & GARDEN


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.