DV Journal

The official charged with overseeing the City of Chester’s dismal finances is predicting the city might reach the point where it will be disincorporated or dissolved.

Michael Doweary, the receiver appointed three years ago by former Gov. Tom Wolf to help pull the cash-strapped municipality out of insolvency, blamed elected city officials who filed appeals to block a bankruptcy and who also appealed court-approved modifications to the receiver’s plans.

Chester needs a plan by the end of 2023, or it will cease to exist as a municipality, Doweary said.

Vijay Kapoor, Doweary’s chief of staff, called the situation “sobering.”

“Chester is really running out of time,” Kapoor said. “There needs to be a focus right now on solving Chester’s problems. If a comprehensive solution is not found by the end of the year, there may be no alternative for Chester but disincorporation.”

If that were to happen, all municipal employees would be fired while the city’s elected officials would be dismissed. A state administrator would then oversee the municipality as a disenfranchised territory.

Kapoor claimed that if a bankruptcy lawyer had not brokered a bargain with bondholders, the city would be out of money by this September.

The city’s newly completed 2019 audit showed a $6.8 million loss and a negative $27.7 million fund balance. Also, the city has not made $40 million in payments to its pension fund.

Kapoor said Chester would need a $5 million loan in January to make its payroll.

And in 2025, Chester faces “a significant fiscal cliff,” said Doweary.

“If you’re out of money, you can’t keep the lights on. Chester’s financial situation is critical, and it is running out of time to find a solution,” he said.

When Kapoor said city officials had not devised their own plan, Mayor Thaddeus Kirkland objected.

“We provided the Receiver with two credible plans,” said Kirkland. Both involved deals with the Chester Water Authority (CWA), including selling it to Aqua PA.

“Offers to monetize (that asset) are not a comprehensive plan,” Doweary countered. “Those were just offers for the system, not a plan.

“Bankruptcy is the only thing to bring all of the creditors to the table.”

Elected officials have been unwilling to cut back on pensions, one of the biggest items of bloat in the city budget. Kirkland said one former employee, whose husband died, told him: “How am I going to make it if you cut my pension?”

CWA lawyer Frank Catania said CWA is the only entity that has offered to help Chester, proposing in 2019 to give the city $60 million in exchange for dropping any efforts to take over or sell the authority.

“It’s not a solution to sell (CWA) to Aqua,” he said of the city’s current fiscal crisis. Doing that “shifts the burden from Chester to the ratepayers.”

“The city (Chester) is in a bad spot (financially),” Catania said. He asked why the state has not given Chester a deal like those it gave to Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Pittsburgh, which have also run into financial difficulties over the years.

Last year, the legislature and Wolf approved an extension of the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority’s oversight of Philadelphia until 2047.

“The state has overseen Chester for more than 25 years,” said Catania. “I think they have an obligation to help it, and rather than offer to help, they let the problem get much, much worse.

“It’s hard to conclude anything other than it was done on purpose.”

Catania also cited recent remarks by Philadelphia mayoral candidate Jeff Brown, saying many people in state government share his attitude.

A spokesperson for Gov. Josh Shapiro did not respond when asked about state help for Chester.

The state Supreme Court has agreed to hear appeals on the Chester cases. In the meantime, said Kapoor, elected officials have resumed their control of various city departments after a Commonwealth Court judge had ousted them.

In that ruling, Judge Ellen Ceisler blasted city officials for nepotism and self-dealing.

Also, federal grant programs that came online due to COVID are ending, so Chester may have to lay off some 20 people in January.

“We need to have a plan in place by the end of the year,” said Doweary.

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I hosted six Democrats and one Republican running for Philadelphia mayor on Talk Radio 1210 last week. A listener from Delaware County tweeted at me, “Totally awesome format! I am not a resident of Philadelphia, but I live in DELCO, so what happens there affects me.”

Public safety was the key issue that I raised with the candidates. If you live in the suburbs but work or play in Philadelphia, you want to feel safe when you visit the city. Under the current administration and District Attorney Larry Krasner, no sane person feels safe.

Maybe, more importantly, the lawlessness in Philadelphia is bleeding into the suburbs. Abington Police Chief Pat Molloy is often on my show. He tells me that since the Philadelphia City Council, supported by Mayor Jim Kenney, passed the Driving Equality bill, Abington officers are making many more car stops for vehicles with no registration and often with illegal guns and drugs.

The premise of the bill is that cops can’t be expected to stop people of color for motor vehicle violations relatively. Therefore, for a significant number of violations, they are to write down the license plate information and send a ticket in the mail. A mayor concerned with public safety would veto a bill like this.

A Philadelphia mayor concerned with public safety would also remove Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw from her position.

Outlaw was hired because Kenney promised to put a Black woman in that position. I don’t see any clear plan from Outlaw to turn things around, and according to several sources, the morale in the police department is very low.

Only Democratic candidates Derek Green and Jeff Brown said they would remove Outlaw, and Republican David Oh would replace her with a former or current member of the Philadelphia Police Department. Allan Domb told me he believes Kenney tied Outlaw’s hands. On a very positive note, a candidate said to me off the record that former Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsay would be in charge of public safety if that candidate were elected. That would be a tremendous development.

My biggest disappointment was that the candidates did not seem energized by my argument that Philadelphia needs at least a thousand more cops, and the current police salaries are not moving the needle. I argued that we need to increase wages a great deal more but also need to develop a campaign using athletes, celebs, influencers, etc., to say that being a cop is a great, noble profession.

This problem of recruiting cops is not just confined to Philadelphia. David Kennedy, president of the Pennsylvania State Troopers Association, wrote in the Pittsburg Tribune that when he applied to be a state trooper in 1995, he had to compete for the position with 10,000 applicants. Last year he reported that last year the Pennsylvania State Police had only 1,000 applicants.

I don’t recall any widespread issues with the state police, but it indicates progressive critics’ tarnishing of the profession. This trend cannot continue without putting every citizen at risk.

I’m still hopeful that even though I say deficiencies in the candidates, every one of them would protect Philadelphia better than Jim Kenney. The candidates in descending order that I trust the most to get a handle on crime are David Oh, Allan Domb, Cherelle Parker, and Amen Brown.

Former Councilperson Helen Gym declined to respond to our invitation. If she is elected mayor, Philadelphia will become more lawless and violent. The phrase “inflection point” is often overused, but this mayor’s race result is clearly an inflection point.

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