‘Victim of a massive political football’: Delaware County upset over SEPTA cuts, but says it won’t raise taxes to cover deficit

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Delaware County Council has limited options to shield residents from SEPTA’s $213 million budget deficit and looming service cuts.

At Wednesday’s council meeting, Councilmember Kevin Madden said the only option Pennsylvania law gives the county is to help by raising property taxes.

“It would be a major, major increase on property taxes to fill the gap that — the state absent throwing money in — would fall on all of us,” Madden said. “That can’t happen.”

Gina Burritt, director of the Delaware County Planning Department, delivered a presentation to council on the impact of SEPTA’s cuts in the region. From more air pollution to congested traffic, Burritt said smaller municipalities will suffer.

“If we see consistent increases in traffic on our local roadways, that’s increased maintenance costs for our municipalities, increased costs for bridge replacements and repairs, and they don’t have the ability to be able to absorb all of those impacts,” Burritt said. “So, in the end, you pay one way or the other.”

Council members were incensed at Pennsylvania legislators for their failure to end the budget impasse. While a judge has placed some of SEPTA’s planned cuts and fair increases on hold, Madden said service reductions, if they go into full effect, will have a massive impact on Delaware County.

“We have a pending disaster that’s getting closer and closer to taking place,” Madden said. “And all of us — the collar counties, Philadelphia — we are being the victim of a massive political football.”

Madden urged residents to call on state lawmakers to adequately fund the transit agency.

Councilmember Christine Reuther said future disruptions to the transit agency could lead to a harmful domino effect at the county-run Fair Acres Geriatric Center, where some employees rely on SEPTA to get to work.

“We’re not the only nursing home that relies on an employee population or a hospital that relies on caretakers who do really hard work every day, and already have a challenging commute on public transit,” Reuther said. “It’s about to get a lot more challenging if these cuts go through.”

Pennsylvania’s budget is about two months overdue. The absence of a budget is already having an impact on other services at the local level. The Senate is expected to reconvene in the capital on Sept. 8.