Jenkintown Borough Council should sell part or all of 433-435 Cedar to recoup expenses and maintain tax revenue
In November of 2016, Jenkintown Borough Council purchased two lots on Cedar street for the purpose of redevelopment as a park.
This purchase was done without community knowledge or input, including the immediate neighbors on Cedar Street, as well as key affected stakeholders such as the School District.
In addition to the purchase price of 250,000, interest payments on the debt of said purchase price, and pre-purchase costs of inspection, environmental study, etc.., the borough and the school district will experience a combined tax revenue loss of more than $10,000 annually and lose an unknown amount of earned income tax revenue.
The acquisition was an unplanned and unbudgeted expenditure of taxpayer funds, and undertaken without a redevelopment plan (or funding for redevelopment) for the properties,
For these reasons, the signers of this petition demand that the borough sell part of all of these properties to recoup the above costs, eliminate debt payments, and reduce the expected budget expenditure of any project at the site by reducing the size of the project.
26 Comments
I vote for selling it all. As a property owner, business owner, and tax payer, I am truly disappointed to learn of this transaction and the manner in which it was acquired.
In my opinion both properties should be sold. We need the tax revenue. Green space on Cedar Street is not necessary. We need to keep expenses at a level where taxes stop going up.
I have a severe lack of confidence in the Borough's Management over the last several years. Whether this is a good move or not, it NEEDS to be public. They are spending our money, not theirs.
I would like more information regarding the process of the purchase before rushing to judgement. Please note that I am commenting here as a resident of Jenkintown, and am not representing any position of the school board. I am all for additional green space, but the majority of homes in the borough have yards of some kind, and the school playground and fields are open space. I support selling the properties to someone perhaps with conditions about how much green space to preserve and what types of homes should be built.
This is the first time I have heard of this purchase. Firstly, we don't have enough property for the kids in town let alone wasting one on a dog park. Secondly, this is definitely a purchase that the community should have been made aware of. I am disappointed that this process took place without input from the residents.
These parcels may have been purchased by the absolute STRICTEST letter of the law, but the fact that Council seemed to go out of its way to keep this deal quiet until after the ink dried gives it the faint odor of malfeasance. There was no good reason to keep this quiet, and all the explanations that they had to conduct "negotiations" under the cover of Executive Session rings completely false. Read more: http://www.walkablejenkintown.com/latest-news/jenkintowns-pick-pocket-park-buy-now-ask-permission-later/
Full sale of properties as soon as possible.
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Jenkintown Borough Council should sell part or all of 433-435 Cedar to recoup expenses and maintain tax revenue
In November of 2016, Jenkintown Borough Council purchased two lots on Cedar street for the purpose of redevelopment as a park.
This purchase was done without community knowledge or input, including the immediate neighbors on Cedar Street, as well as key affected stakeholders such as the School District.
In addition to the purchase price of 250,000, interest payments on the debt of said purchase price, and pre-purchase costs of inspection, environmental study, etc.., the borough and the school district will experience a combined tax revenue loss of more than $10,000 annually and lose an unknown amount of earned income tax revenue.
The acquisition was an unplanned and unbudgeted expenditure of taxpayer funds, and undertaken without a redevelopment plan (or funding for redevelopment) for the properties,
For these reasons, the signers of this petition demand that the borough sell part of all of these properties to recoup the above costs, eliminate debt payments, and reduce the expected budget expenditure of any project at the site by reducing the size of the project.
26 Comments
Everything Jenkintown borough does is always by word of mouth! Why don't they send emails as they do when they are collecting leaves?? Because they want to hide these transactions!! I say sell!!!
I vote for selling it all. As a property owner, business owner, and tax payer, I am truly disappointed to learn of this transaction and the manner in which it was acquired.
In my opinion both properties should be sold. We need the tax revenue. Green space on Cedar Street is not necessary. We need to keep expenses at a level where taxes stop going up.
I have a severe lack of confidence in the Borough's Management over the last several years. Whether this is a good move or not, it NEEDS to be public. They are spending our money, not theirs.
I would like more information regarding the process of the purchase before rushing to judgement. Please note that I am commenting here as a resident of Jenkintown, and am not representing any position of the school board. I am all for additional green space, but the majority of homes in the borough have yards of some kind, and the school playground and fields are open space. I support selling the properties to someone perhaps with conditions about how much green space to preserve and what types of homes should be built.
This is the first time I have heard of this purchase. Firstly, we don't have enough property for the kids in town let alone wasting one on a dog park. Secondly, this is definitely a purchase that the community should have been made aware of. I am disappointed that this process took place without input from the residents.
These parcels may have been purchased by the absolute STRICTEST letter of the law, but the fact that Council seemed to go out of its way to keep this deal quiet until after the ink dried gives it the faint odor of malfeasance. There was no good reason to keep this quiet, and all the explanations that they had to conduct "negotiations" under the cover of Executive Session rings completely false. Read more: http://www.walkablejenkintown.com/latest-news/jenkintowns-pick-pocket-park-buy-now-ask-permission-later/
Full sale of properties as soon as possible.
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Everything Jenkintown borough does is always by word of mouth! Why don't they send emails as they do when they are collecting leaves?? Because they want to hide these transactions!! I say sell!!!