FIOS

Many of you have already taken advantage of Verizon's new FIOS service for Internet and Phone over their fiber optic network. For now residents cannot get the TV service offered by Verizon because the franchise agreement between Wallace Township and Verizon is being negotiated. This is the same type of franchise agreement that Comcast already has with the township for providing TV services. This agreement among other things will impact how much you will pay on your bill in Franchise taxes, so it is important to get things right. As well these contracts usually have very long terms so it will be a long time before the Township has an opportunity to negotiate this contract again.

Tree Lighting Ceremony, Caroling and Bonfire - SUNDAY DECEMBER 14TH 6:00 P.M

Sounds like a fun time, and a great way to get together and take a break from the township politics for a little while. From the township Website:
BE A PART OF OUR TREE LIGHTING CEREMONY AT THE INDIANTOWN SCHOOLHOUSE ON FAIRVIEW ROAD SUNDAY, DECEMBER 14TH 6:00 P.M. AFTER THE TREE LIGHTING, WE WILL BE CAROLING OUR WAY TO THE GLENMOORE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH FOR A BONFIRE, REFRESHMENTS AND FUN WITH OUR SPECIAL GUEST (Click here for flyer)

Wallace Voters Blog Open For Business

Well we couldn't have a homeless Mud Loppy. Since Wallace Voice has banned this fearless little salamander we thought we would give him a new home. Stop by and introduce yourselves at the newest blog in Wallace. Where if we disagree with you we won't delete you. We'll actually let the debate take care of itself. So try to keep it civil, not personal and to the point.
==> Enter Wallace Voters Blog

Trouble in paradise (Continued)

Update: We have started keeping track of the history rewrite on Wallace Voice in our blog, see the blog link above. We didn't want to keep taking up valuable home page space.

This one is really amusing. They deleted the two posts found here: http://n2.nabble.com/Re%3A-Check-out-the-Proposed-2009-Budget%21-tp1630990p1630990.html

Then once the posts that exposed the truth were neatly hidden away from public view then they pick up the thread like they were never there: http://n2.nabble.com/Check-out-the-Proposed-2009-Budget%21-tp1630806p1630806.html

Trouble in paradise

Update: Wallace Voice has started banning users from their site. A Mr. Mud Loppy (don't ask us) has been banned. Here are a couple of more posts they deleted:
http://n2.nabble.com/Re:-Check-out-the-Proposed-2009-Budget!-tp1630990p1630990.html

We posted below all of the threads they have deleted so far. The list is growing by the hour.

http://n2.nabble.com/Being-Slammed-on-Wallace-Voters%3A--just-like-the-bOS-they-don%27t-let-you-respond%21-td1628931.html#a1629942

http://n2.nabble.com/Free-Exchange-Over--tp1634142p1634142.html

http://n2.nabble.com/Nice-Try-tp1634277p1634277.html

http://n2.nabble.com/See-Wallace-Voters-tp1635923p1635923.html

BOS Saves each household a much needed $1,063 a year.

For the past year the Voice and their cronies have been bashing the BOS on what they promised to be a 50% or more "Tax Hike" for 2009. As with much they say, it wasn't true and never happened. At the same time they have remained critical of some on the board opposing the open space tax in 2005. What has really happened? Well, in these tough times, because of the boards 2009 budget and past opposition to the open space tax, each household in Wallace Township will keep $1,063 more of their hard earned money1. That is a $1,063 less taxes every year going forward as long as the property tax is not reinstated and the open space tax is never passed. We say it is pretty obvious they have kept their campaign promises to hold the line on taxes. Here are just a few of the examples of the rush to judgment:

When Bryan McDonaugh ran for supervisor there was a lot of talk about tax hikes. There was the "tax mistake" where taxes were tripled by moving a decimal the wrong way. The communication by the supervisors then was inadequate to say the least and it paved the political path for McDonaugh to become supervisor. Then there was the formation of the Wallacevoters.com by Rob Jones to combat the open space referendum. They were fighting a tax increase of "50%" to preserve open space. Well, the open space referendum was defeated, open space is pretty much gone now anyway, yet our taxes were doubled or raised 100% for 2008. Now 2009 sees a tax rise of at least "50%." Where are these voices against tax increases? Here is what Rob Jones said in his bid for supervisor: "I pledge to do what it takes to hold the line on property taxes at the local level. I am tired of seeing the residents stretched to the limit and even some forced to move out because they can no longer afford to live in Wallace Township." Well you know what, I am stretched to the limit with my local taxes, it would be much cheaper to move where the taxes are lower and there are plenty of municipalities that have lower taxes than Wallace. We need to get back to holding the line on tax increases!
Catherine Poole

It's ironic. I remember a former supervisor walking Bryan around, from home > to home, door to door, talking about the issues facing Wallace Twp. The one cardinal sin they both agreed on was raising taxes.
John Potts

1Household saving's calculations:

Wallace Township Households: 1065

Property Tax Savings:
Projected BRPD $ 921,800.00
Projected 2009 Surplus $100,205.00
Amount to be made up by property tax increase $821,595.00
Yearly Per Household Property Tax Savings $771.45

Open Space Tax Savings
Projected 2008 Income Tax Revenue $621,000.00
Total Open Space Tax = 50% of current income tax 50%

Open Space Tax Revenue $310,500.00
Yearly Per House Hold Savings $ 291.55
Total Savings Per Year Wallace Households $1,063.00

Response to Catherine Poole's Article

We thought we would use today's post to dissect a recent article by Catherine Poole in the Daily Local. Below in blue are Catherine’s quotes and red is our response. Note that Ms. Poole originally blogged that she was supportive of going to State Police. That was until the BOS began to move in the direction. Then it became a bad idea.

A tough decision has been made for Wallace residents. No longer will they have the neighborhood police, the Brandywine Regional Police to come to their aid. They stand to lose the lifesaving response to a call for medical assistance before the ambulance arrives, speed enforcement, and regular patrols that invoke a sense of real security.
In fact State Police respond to all calls for medical assistance and are as well trained as local police. Secondly, State Police will perform speed enforcement per the request of the township in problem areas that arise. They also have the advantage of radar which local police are prohibited from using. Lastly, State Police will perform regular patrols in the township, as the township will be added to a zone with other townships that are patrolled 24 hours a day by State Police. Once again lots of misinformation being thrown out to scare residents and tarnish the BOS and the State Police.

Instead, without a public vote, the supervisors have chosen the state police to cover the township 24/7.
Ms. Poole has attended many meetings where it has been made clear that in Pennsylvania you cannot add this type of question to a ballot. We do not live in California where you can add anything you want as a referendum on a ballot. Again, this is to make the perception that the BOS is somehow trying to sneak something through without public input. They only held many public meetings, a police hearing and 2 open houses on Police services. Not exactly trying to shut the public out.

The state police will be there for 911 calls only. How fast they respond depends on their call load and location. We don't have a choice, so hopefully it will work out.
State Police will respond to every call for police, just as the BRPD do now. And, as with the BRPD, of course it will depend on their call load and location as to how fast they will respond. Again, this statement is meant to leave you with the impression that you are going to call for police one day and they won't show up. Scare tactics.

The sad reality is that neither side brought in an outside mediator to resolve the longstanding differences. Regional police makes sense for the communities where we live.
What interest did East Brandywine have in a mediator? They had the building; they had Wallace paying for it. They had 2 votes to 1, so controlled every decision. They have a large tax base to keep paying for a larger and larger department. It seems clear to us they were telling Wallace pay up or get out. How do you negotiate, mediator or not, with a disinterested party? Regional police makes sense for communities where we live. Really? How do you come to that conclusion? Seems to us it might not have been the best fit.

Does this type of rhetoric really help the township? Or does it just cause needless hurt, fear and bitterness between residents, who might otherwise join together to make this township a better place.

BOS Eliminates the Property Tax!! Chooses State Police.

Last nights meeting was one for the history books. The Board of Supervisors eliminated the property tax and projected a $100,250 surplus for 2009. How did they do it? They got us out of a terrible deal with the Brandywine Regional Police and have chosen State Police Coverage for 2009. Had the board remained with BRPD taxes would have been raised another 50% on top of the last boards doubling of taxes last year!! That would have tripled the taxes in the span of 2 years. Instead the real estate tax is no more. See the current budget ==> Wallace Township 2009 Proposed Budget.

Useful information...

For those of you who love numbers and research we thought it would be valuable to collect a bunch of documents that have been made available by the township over the last year:

==> Wallace Township 2009 Proposed Budget
==> Wallace Township 2008 Budget
==> Police Services Open House Packet (Great Stats on Police Service and Expenses)
==> Guidelines for the number of police officers to patrol Wallace Township (Great Data on Calls for Service)==> Police Study Group Report
==> Police Study Group Report Attachments

We're Back (REPOSTED FROM July 25th)

We reposted the post from July 25th, because unfortunately not much has changed, so that is why we are back to get the facts out to the residents and combat the lies. And, we thought this previous post was a good launching pad...

There have been a lot of rumors and accusations floating about these days. So we thought it was time someone started putting out the true facts about some of the issues facing our township. Unfortunately there are those who think slander, personal attacks and erroneous claims are helpful in a civil debate. We would like to use this site again to cut through the personal attacks and false claims in order to present facts and let you decide for yourselves. We would like to present a few facts tonight on the current police issue. Keep checking back, we will be posting more information on the police issue for now and will break out to other issues as they take precedence.

Oh, one more thing, you won't find anonymous posters here throwing out erroneous claims with no responsibility for their accusations. You won't find personal attacks. You won't find facts that have not been verified from credible sources. So if you send us information please know that we will not post it unless you source the information or are ready to stand behind your statements with your name. We think everyone deserves respect in this community, we are all neighbors. We're not going to let people be slandered and ridiculed, especially by faceless accusers. We want to see civil debate and people discussing and comparing the facts, etc. You won't find Oliver Stone type conspiracies here either. If you were looking for all of these things, sorry, you must have mistyped when you were entering the URL. This is the factual site, not the local National Enquirer site. One more note, if you do find errors with any of our facts please email us and let us know so that we can get them corrected. feedback@wallacevoters.com.