Some Upper Darby residents who sued to stop the township\u2019s one percent earned income tax (EIT) from taking effect have now asked the court for an injunction.<\/p>\n
In their lawsuit against Mayor Edward Brown, Upper Darby, and the Upper Darby Town Council, the residents argue the Democratic majority council and mayor violated the Home Rule Charter when they passed the ordinance in February.<\/p>\n
The charter says a law must not go into effect for 30 days, but the tax ordinance that passed said it was effective immediately.<\/p>\n
Asked why they\u2019ve now filed for an injunction, lead plaintiff John DeMasi said it was because the township did not respond to their lawsuit, even though officials had been served with the documents and they\u2019d discussed it in meetings.<\/p>\n
Now Upper Darby officials \u201cdecided that after they told everyone that everything was fine with the original ordinance, they are introducing a new ordinance (on May 8) to replace the other ordinance,\u201d said DeMasi.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, they\u2019re introducing a new tax ordinance to replace the old tax ordinance that hasn\u2019t even gone into effect and is under legal challenge. You tell me how that works,\u201d DeMasi said. \u201cDoes that make any sense to you?\u201d<\/p>\n
Upper Darby\u2019s solicitor, Sean Kilkenny, resigned<\/a> in January but is still on board until the council hires a new law firm. DVJournal called Kilkenny\u2019s law office for a response and was told James Gallagher handles Upper Darby. Gallagher did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.<\/p>\n Robert Ellis, a spokesman for Upper Darby, said the township had no comment on the injunction.<\/p>\n \u201cThey sent us an email saying they were not properly served,\u201d DeMasi said. The township \u201chad 20 days to file a preliminary objection and could have told the court, \u2018We object to this service.\u2019 And they didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe sent them a notice saying because they haven\u2019t responded, they now have 10 days from our notice to respond. Otherwise, we can file for default judgment.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s when they sent us a letter saying if you file for default judgment, we will sue you for court costs and damages,\u201d said DeMasi.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, the mayor, who has presided over an obvious debacle and errors by his solicitor, instead of telling his solicitor, \u2018We need to fix this,\u2019 he said, \u2018We need to sue the people that are holding us accountable.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe solicitor who made all these errors and required them to redo an ordinance is still getting paid to defend the lawsuit\u2026He gets paid to defend the ordinance he screwed up in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n