Citizen Group to Continue Fight Against Board Members Who Voted to Raise Taxes

Following the approval of an unpopular Earned Income Tax (EIT) Monday night, the members of citizen group Middletown Township Taxpayers United (MTTU) have laid out possible plans of action going forward.

The group rallied in recent weeks against the proposed EIT and also against newly-elected board member William Oettinger and incumbent Leon Hauser, who both campaigned on seven years of no tax increases. Residents on both sides of political spectrum have said they felt mislead by the campaign the candidates waged.

William O’Connor, one of the group’s founders, said Middletown Township Taxpayers United supporters are “encouraged to voice their displeasure with being misled by the Board of Supervisors by sending an email to the Middletown Republican Committee (MRC) Chairman, Chuck Benhayon, at webmaster@mrcgop.org.”

Legal counsel has been consulted, O’Connor said, and the possibility of pursuing a recall election is being considered. “The public, especially Republican supporters, believe they were deceived by the Leonhauser/Oettinger team who bragged about no tax increases,” he added.

MTTU is  also planning a rally at the first Board of Supervisors meeting in the new year. Both Oettinger, a former Neshaminy School Board member, and Leonhauser are set to be sworn in at that meeting.

The EIT has implemented to fill a $4 million budget gap in Middletown. Officials lowered the property tax by 2 mills as they put an EIT into place.

Supervisors Pat Mallon, George Leonhauser and Drew Kreiling voted yes; Supervisors Robert McMonagle and Tom Gallagher, who had been outspoken against the tax, voted no.

Below is a statement issued by MTTU:

Middletown GOP’s money grab is an assault on taxpayers; Middletown Township Taxpayers United (MTTU) is considering options

In a bizarre reversal of political stereotypes last night, Middletown Republicans (MRC) forced through a measure to implement a 1% earned income tax (EIT) after ignoring cost-cutting measures posed by the lone Democrat that would have spared residents this Township’s single largest tax increase ever.

Outgoing Democratic supervisor Robert McMonagle proposed a 4% across-the-board spending cut within Township operations along with elimination of the proposed 2 mills reduction in property taxes (valued at $58 for the average homeowner).  This, according to McMonagle, would have eliminated .45% of the EIT money needed by the Township.  But Republican supervisors would have none of that idea, remaining silent after McMonagle’s last-minute attempt to avoid a huge increase.  These MRC officials wanted that tax money no matter who it hurt, and nothing was going to stop them.

Last week during a meeting with the Courier Times Editorial Board, Chairman Pat Mallon noted that he fully expected the Neshaminy School District to take half of the 1% EIT, leaving the Township with .5%.  Mallon acknowledged that the Township was only truly expecting .5%, and that would suit their needs for budgeting purposes.  If you consider McMonagle’s proposal would have further reduced that need down to a .05% EIT, next year’s budget deficit was virtually eliminated.  Not enough, according to MRC members, who shortly thereafter voted for the new tax despite pleas from residents who packed last night’s meeting.

The only logical conclusion to draw from last night’s decision to raise taxes by an unprecedented level is that in just one year officials will replace the financial reserves that MRC reps squandered over the past few years.  Instead of using reserve money to offset property tax increases that ultimately won them election, perhaps the MRC-backed officials should have authored additional cost cutting measures while using smaller incremental property tax increases as a humane way of cushioning the blow to taxpayers.

One thing made abundantly clear during public comment last night is that the largely Republican crowd felt cheated and misled by their party who had touted 7 budgets without an increase during last month’s election.  Numerous speakers commented how MRC campaign literature convinced them that having an all-Republican Board of Supervisors would secure more years with little or no tax increases.  But once the GOP-backed tax increase was passed, residents left the meeting feeling as if they had made a dreadful mistake during the election, and many were asking if a recall ballot was possible.

This battle is not over yet!  The Township’s fiscal year does not begin until March 1, 2014, and the budget can be revisited at any time before that.  Rather than be discouraged by last night’s debacle, we must intensify our commitment to this cause.  If our officials aren’t listening to the voices of the people who elected them, then we must speak even louder.  We must make them listen to us!

MTTU is considering options on how best to utilize our resources to overturn this unfair new tax aimed at the working class citizens of our community.  In the meantime, we ask everyone reading this message to talk this issue up with your family, friends and neighbors.

The time for words is over.  Now is the time for ACTION!

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