‘It’s huge’: Crozer Health closure will cost Delaware County schools, boroughs millions in tax revenue

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The abrupt closure of Crozer Health, Delaware County’s largest health system, will cost nearby school districts, boroughs and townships millions of dollars in tax revenue each year.

Prospect Medical Holdings, Crozer Health’s California-based parent company, owns several buildings and offices in the city of Chester. Crozer-Chester Medical Center, the system’s flagship hospital, and its corporate offices sit in Upland Borough.

The financially distressed Chester Upland School District stands to lose $2.2 million in annual tax revenue, according to Receiver Nafis Nichols. In 2024, the school district collected $182.2 million in revenues, school officials wrote in court documents, while current and delinquent real estate taxes comprised $19.9 million.

With the district projected to face a significant fiscal shortfall, any money from the bankrupt hospital system that goes uncollected could be damaging. The Chester Upland School District isn’t alone. Prospect also owns Taylor Hospital in nearby Ridley Park.

Lee Ann Wentzel, the superintendent of Ridley School District, said Prospect owes the district approximately $500,000 each year in taxes — a figure that she said the for-profit company hasn’t paid since the parties negotiated a tax assessment settlement in 2021.

“It’s huge, when you’re talking numbers like that,” Wentzel said. “That’s 10 teaching positions, right? So that alone reduces class size.”

Prospect did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Wentzel said the school district has been cautious when constructing its budget. Taylor Hospital was once tax exempt when it operated under the nonprofit Crozer-Keystone Health System before Prospect acquired Crozer in 2016.

“We prepared for the likelihood of even potentially down the road that this could go back to a nonprofit status hospital,” Wentzel said. “Unfortunately, losing the health care was not something that we expected.”

In 2024, the borough of Ridley Park approved a 17% property tax increase on residents to account for Prospect’s unpaid tax bills. The borough, which issued an emergency declaration April 17, declined to comment on what it stands to lose from Crozer’s collapse.

Upland is in a similar predicament. Although the borough declined to comment on how much it will lose with the hospital now shuttered, officials released a statement that said “the financial strain this will cause is immeasurable.”