Crandall Jones for $191,000<\/a> last year. His salary is $196,730 for 2025. Several other management employees received\u00a0 25 percent raises, he said. The previous CAO made $140,000.<\/p>\n\u201cIf they can pay him that much, they don\u2019t need my 1 percent,\u201d said DeMasi.<\/p>\n
In one year, Crandall\u2019s assistant went from $62,000 to $92,000, said DeMasi. Upper Darby officials hired a new public information officer for $82,000 and a risk management specialist for $72,000. The human resources director\u2019s salary increased from $100,000 to $119,000.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlanning and Zoning got three new positions for a total of about $175,000,\u201d said DeMasi.<\/p>\n
Upper Darby employees also have a cushy health plan, he noted. They get a zero deductible, $1,000 out-of-pocket maximum for an individual and $2,000 maximum for a family.<\/p>\n
\u201cTen dollars to visit your primary care physician. Three dollars for a generic prescription, $5 for a brand, no matter what brand, preferred or not. Free surgery. There is no charge for surgery.\u00a0 Forty dollars to visit the emergency room. Twenty-eight dollars to visit an urgent care. What is the incentive to control costs?\u201d asked DeMasi.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s fair to say that the vast majority of the residents of Upper Darby \u2013 whom they are telling to pay 1 percent of their income \u2013 don\u2019t have that kind of benefit or anything anywhere close,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Instead of a sudden 1 percent EIT, he\u2019d prefer the township start with a .25 percent EIT.<\/p>\n
A spokesman for the township sent a response on behalf of Brown and Upper Darby, saying they were disappointed by the new litigation against the EIT.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis opposition stems from a small group focusing on technicalities rather than addressing the core sustainability issues facing the township. Over the past year, we have held approximately 11 public meetings to clearly explain the need for EIT and to be transparent with our community about the financial challenges facing the municipality. The proposed EIT is a crucial step to address the significant operational and capital shortfalls projected based on studies from a leading independent municipal finance advisor and a financial advisory firm specializing in serving the government.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis proposal is neither extreme nor without precedent. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, as of 2013, 2,356 municipalities in the state have implemented an EIT, including all municipalities with a population similar to Upper Darby.<\/p>\n
\u201cUpper Darby, with more than 86,000 residents, depends on reliable municipal services such as fire protection, road maintenance, sanitation, and police protection. With the (possible) closure of Crozer Hospital, we now must add emergency medical services to that list of underfunded services.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe costs of these essential services continue to rise due to inflation and increased labor expenses, while our revenue base remains stagnant. Currently, the township relies too heavily on local property taxes, placing an undue and growing burden on homeowners. The EIT offers a more sustainable and fair revenue stream that would reduce pressure on property taxpayers and also ensure that certain non-residents who work within the township contribute.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur administration and the majority of council are confident that all proper procedures were followed in adopting this tax. The EIT is set to take effect on July 1, 2025, giving the township sufficient time to prepare and allowing residents time to adjust. We are confident in the legality of our actions and will strongly defend the council\u2019s right to implement the EIT as passed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe remain dedicated to fiscal responsibility, government transparency, and providing essential services to the people of Upper Darby. Our residents deserve nothing less,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
DeMasi questioned the township officials\u2019 justification for the tax hike.<\/p>\n
\u201cIncreasing the licenses and inspections director (salary) from $103,000 to $154,000 is a lot of sustaining,\u201d he said. \u201cThey are sustaining $34,000 health insurance subsidies.\u201d<\/p>\n
The plaintiffs\u2013 DeMasi, John Vizzarri, Rebecca Duggan, and Joanne Nammavong\u2013also asked the court to award them the cost of the litigation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Residents filed a lawsuit to block Upper Darby\u2019s newly enacted earned income tax (EIT), saying the township did…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4798,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[147,149,148,150],"class_list":["post-4797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upper-darby","tag-upper-darby","tag-upper-darby-headlines","tag-upper-darby-news","tag-upper-darby-township"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4797\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}