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.

Be careful what you wish for...

The proposed plans to develop a resort community in Wallace Township has left some uneasy as to its impact on the community. While others seem to welcome the supposed increase in property values and tax revenue that may come from this proposed plan. In any event the projects scope of a country club golf course, 275 residential homes, and a spa resort in the industrial portion of the property seem clear. What is not clearly known is what industry would develop the industrial portion of the property if the proposed spa resort does not materialize? There are many uses which certainly would have a negative impact on our quality of life, many times worse than the most ardent opponent to the spa resort has painted. As opposition seems to be getting organized to this spa resort, will their gamble pay off? It didn't for this community ==> (Click here to read)

Old Wallace Voters Site - Past Police Posts

We may integrate some of these into the current blog to help find older articles and information, but for now you can link to the old site to older posts on police issues ==> Police Issues

Daily Local "Open Records Request Denied"

==> Daily Local Article "Open Records Request Denied"
(Thanks to Stu Frederick for the link)
This is a great article; however, this article does not go into the inherent problem we are seeing. Before supervisor McDonaugh took office there was full access for supervisors to documents. Now since supervisor McDonaugh has taken office there is a political environment to obstruct him from doing his job. Allowing an outside solicitor to conveniently decide township policy on open records, at his whim, based on each of supervisor McDonaugh's requests, is at the very least a serious lack of leadership! The township supervisors themselves should step up and create a clear and public policy. Not a closed door, case by case, moving target set by a lawyer who does not live in the township. The supervisors have complete and total authority to set and make policy in this area. Let's put this to rest with a clear resolution defining a clear policy!

Thanks

Thanks everyone for coming out. We think overall the meeting went really well. Unfortunately, supervisor's Shields and Boch are still refusing supervisor McDonaugh access to important documents which he has every right to see. What legal power they have to deny supervisor McDonaugh access to documents is yet to be explained. They certainly could not come up with any substantive reasons for the denials of documents. We firmly believe they should all have equal access to documents.

But, the important thing is they now know that they are being watched by the residents and the residents are willing to come out and voice their concerns. That is a big deal and you should all be proud of your effort. We promise to monitor this situation closely, and assure you we will not give up until there is equal and total access to township documents for all three supervisors. Thanks again! You sent a message, loud and clear!

Our Latest Letter...

Please come out this Wednesday to show support for "open government" and "freedom of information". We are hopeful that our supervisors will stand up and vote in agreement to allow ALL three Wallace supervisors to view ANY documents, ANYTIME. Our goal is to see our supervisors have full access to information, and in that spirit, to equally and cooperatively work together to serve the residents of Wallace township.

==> Out Latest Letter
==> The Accompanying Daily Local Article

Earlier today...
Here is the mapquest link to the new township building. We'll post some more information up here later tonight (see above). Hope you all found the mailing well. We plan to have some more updates heading up to the meeting this Wednesday and some updates after the meeting to talk about where we go from here.
==> Township Building Location

You can use this link to type in your address to get directions to the township building, if you prefer. There is a sign right off of 282 at the entrance to the property. Just follow a rather long driveway to the top of the hill. Show up early or parking will be at a premium. See you there!