Delaware County Council plans to consider action at its next meeting that could place a referendum on November’s ballot to fund its Green Ways program.
In February, county officials hired the Trust for Public Land, Natural Lands and the Natural Conservancy to complete that assessment and outline what would be the best ways to fund the Green Ways program.
Began in 2019, the Green Ways program was an initiative in which the county awarded $20 million to municipalities to complete projects such as park pavilion and snack bar in Aldan to a swing shade canopy and ADA improvements at the Edgmont Community Park to the Marple Township Veterans Memorial Park trail.
The Chester Creek Trail extension. (COURTESY OF DELAWARE COUNTY)
In four annual rounds, the program helped fund 118 different projects to purchase or enhance open space and recreational facilities, connect communities, cultural/historic resources, and natural features or plan and design for such amenities at municipalities all over the county.
The funds the county provided were matched with more than $40 million of other funding to complete the projects.
The program was stalled in 2023, due to the lack of funding.
The Trust for Public Land, Natural Lands and the Natural Conservancy found two feasible options as shared by county Planning Director Gina Burritt at Wednesday’s council meeting.
One would be for council to approve on its own a bond issue, and the second one was to place the issue on a referendum for voters whether they approved such a bond issue. Their recommendation, Burritt said, was to move forward with a voter-approved bond issue.
The referendum would ask voters if Delaware County should seek a significant bond issue to fund land conservation, open space and natural area protection and stewardship.
A similar effort in Delaware County in 1996 was overwhelmingly struck down by voters. Of concern at the time was the cost to taxpayers as then County Councilman Wally Nunn said the plan would amount to a 10% increase in property taxes.
The referendum would need more than 50% of the voters for the measure to be approved.
If approved, the amount identified on the referendum would be good for the county to use for 10 years.
Burritt said this could pay for additional rounds of Green Ways grants, fund park and trail projects, as well as streambank and water quality improvements.
Council Member Elaine Paul Schaefer said she’s confident residents would vote for a Green Ways referendum. (OFFICIAL COUNTY PORTRAIT)
She noted that over 80% of such measures that have gone to the voters in Pennsylvania have been successful.
The amount that would be included in a referendum will be revealed in July, although officials said it is significant.
For it to be on the November ballot, council would have to introduce an ordinance at the July meeting and have it passed by the August meeting.
Council members spoke about the study’s recommendation for a referendum.
“I’m really really pleased to start to have this conversation about how we are going to move forward in funding our Green Ways needs,” Council Member Elaine Paul Schaefer said. “I’ve been in public office now for 15 years and my observation is that for residents, it’s a very, very top-of-the-list priority is preserving natural resources and protecting our greenways, protecting our waterways.”
However, she said, budgets get tight.
“Those issues are the ones that cut in the budget,” Schaefer added. “A way to address that is to go to your voters directly.”
She said a bond issue makes the most sense to fund these projects.
“You’re not asking today’s residents to pay for everything that residents for the next 100 years are going to enjoy,” she said.
The council member added that the county is behind on having these spaces because of the lack of such a funding mechanism.
Delaware County Council Vice Chair Christine Reuther says, “I think it’s worth saying to people, ‘What are you willing to pay?’ ”
“We have not preserved as much as our neighboring counties,” Schaefer said. “I am really, really interested in having this community conversation over the next couple weeks and months … I have a great confidence that the residents of this county are going to say, ‘Yes, it is worth a certain amount of money of our tax dollars to preserve these assets even when budgets are tight.’ “
Council Vice Chair Christine Reuther said one challenge is dealing with existing facilities’ needs.
“It’s no joke,” she said, noting the associated costs and liabilities. “We came in and there was 30 years’ worth of deferred maintenance … . That is where our general fund obligations are going.”
Reuther said she wanted to see if there were alternative ways to fund the Green Ways grants and that’s why she supported the study.
“It’s always a balance,” she said. “It’s something I’d love to fund but it’s not something I was willing to fund based on property taxes without getting the input of the people who will be most affected, which are the homeowners and the property owners who live here.”
The council member summarized the issue that would potentially be put forward.
“I think it’s worth saying to people, ‘What are you willing to pay?’ ” she added. “The question voters will have to decide is … ‘Is it worth it? Is it worth it?’ “
Council Member Joanna Phillips said she appreciated the work being done on the issue.
Delaware County Council Chair Richard Womack spoke about how Delaware County is pivotal in the semiquincentennial celebration. (KATHLEEN E. CAREY – DAILY TIMES)
“I don’t think there could be anything wrong with going to the voters to see what voters think of that,” she said.
Council Chair Richard Womack said he’s cognizant of the burden three consecutive county tax increases have had on a lot of residents.
“I was not looking forward to a tax increase,” he said. “I represent the people in the county. If this is something that they want, I support it but I want to hear from our residents … I will support their opinion on what they feel on what is needed and not needed at this point.”
The next council meeting is 1 p.m. Wednesday, July 15 and the August meeting where a potential vote could be taken to put the referendum on the fall ballot is 1 p.m. Aug. 19.
Both will be held in the County Council Meeting Room at the Government Center at Front and Orange streets in Media.