Middletown Taxpayer Group Leader: ‘We’re In It For The Long Haul’

Editor’s Note: Several quotes belonging to MTU chairman Jerry Hofmann were mistakenly attributed to Larry Pastor in a previous version of this article. The mistake has been corrected.

The saying goes “when the going gets tough, the tough get going”, and Middletown citizens are going.

In lieu of the Earned Income Tax (EIT) that recently was pushed down from 1 percent to .5 percent last month, a major force appeared for Middletown residents. The recently-officiated political action committee known as Middletown Taxpayers United was behind the push get rid of the tax.

Despite being known for their advocacy in lowering the EIT in Middletown, members of the MTU say that they are just getting started.

“We’re in it for the long haul.” MTU chairman Jerry Hofmann said in an interview with LevittownNow.com.

The main goal the group wishes to accomplish as of now is to continue “review[ing] the township’s budget and expenditures” for any discrepancies.

“In addition we’re looking to replace the board members with ones committed to delivering the services we all depend on in fiscally responsible manner.” said Hofmann.

Hofmann believes that the “tax and spend approach” of the Middletown board is “simply unsustainable.”

Hofmann explained that one plan they have in the works is to reduce the board from five members to three members. “With this approach, the candidates receiving the top 3 vote counts in 2015 would become the new board and anyone can run.”

The roots of Middletown Taxpayers United started in November of 2013 with William O’Connor, a Former Neshaminy School Board member and one of the founders of the citizens group, reading about Middletown Township’s plans of instituting an EIT.

“I thought this new tax was particularly deceptive in light of the two Republican board members’ (campaign several weeks earlier which touted 7 straight budgets without a tax increase… I object to the very concept of a progressive tax that is aimed at the working class members of our community,” O’Connor said in an interview with Levittown Now. After reading of the EIT, O’Connor knew he would need to stop what he thought was an unfair tax from hitting the community where it hurt.

O’Connor said on Monday, December 2, 2013, he created the Middetown Taxpayers United Facebook page. “Simultaneously, I reached out to two trusted allies (both registered Republicans) whom I worked with during my time on the Neshaminy School Board when we were negotiating with the teachers’ union: Former school board president, Ritchie Webb, and community activist, Larry Pastor.”

With the help of O’Connor’s other Facebook page “Neshaminy Info” and Pastor’s multiple facebook connections, word of the Middletown Taxpayers united spread like wildfire and had more than 200 likes in less than two weeks.

The facebook page also helped in getting concerned citizens into the board meetings. O’Connor said that they were able to get 27 people to the first township meeting, 56 to the second, and then finally over 100 people to the third meeting they chose to rally at against the EIT.

At the same time Webb was rallying the press by having several interviews and a meeting with The Courier Times editorial staff to lay the foundation for the group’s big position that 1 percent  EIT was not necessary, and the supervisors should not seek anything above a .5 percent EIT.

By January 2014, Pastor, wanting to take this group’s message past the 2014 budget issues, suggested the idea that the MTU should become a Political Action Committee (PAC). O’Connor thought it was a good idea but also knew he would not be able to be the Chairperson of the MTU due to his busy work schedule. “So Larry, Ritchie and I put our heads together as to who would be good to lead the PAC, and instantly Jerry [Hofmann] came to mind because he was very enthusiastic about this issue.”

O’Connor also said that Hofmann was also a good candidate because he was a registered Independent, which forwarded the MTU’s non-partisan message.

Although the group totes the message of being non-partisan, O’Connor admits that a major portion of the group is Republican, but the fact that their majority of the group is Republican has little to do with their objections to the Middletown Board.

“You see, at least half of active participants with MTU are registered Republicans who feel misled by their own party,” O’Connor said. “We do not object to what our Board of Supervisors is doing because of their political affiliation, which happens to be Republican. We object to a deceptive election campaign that more than implied there would be no tax increase in 2014, and we object to a pattern of undisciplined, even reckless spending that we have learned about since we became active in this issue.”

Also joining the PAC was Deb Harker as Treasurer. In the past, Harker is known for actively participating in the MaST-Neshaminy School Board Debate. As far as membership goes, O’Connor says, “we don’t have official membership requirements to MTU other than being a concerned resident.”

Previous:

• Middletown Resident Group Becomes Political Action Committee
• Residents Upset About New Tax Turn Backs on Supervisors
• Residents to Rally Before Middletown Meeting on Monday
• Middletown Plans to Lower Controversial New Tax
• Citizen Group to Continue Fight Against Board Members Who Voted to Raise Taxes
• Controversial Tax Increase in Middletown Approved
• Residents Come out to Oppose Middletown Tax Increase