Chester County commissioners vote to increase property taxes 13% over resident objections

Chester County residents will see a 13% increase in the county’s portion of their property taxes next year after the Democratic-controlled county board of commissioners voted to raise rates Wednesday morning over residents’ objections.

The board voted 2-1 along party lines to approve the 2025 budget, including the tax increase, after roughly an hour of public comment from residents urging commissioners to cut costs elsewhere to avoid the hike. Commissioner Eric Roe, the only Republican on the board, was the sole dissenting vote.

“Everything in this budget that you see here goes towards important projects,” Roe said. “Even so, I don’t think that Chester County can afford this tax hike.”

The vote comes a week after Delaware County raised its property taxes by 23% and a day before Montgomery County officials are expected to vote on a 9% increase. Officials across the counties have cited a need to maintain competitive salaries for public employees amid high inflation.

» READ MORE: Delaware County increases property taxes 23% despite community outrage

Chester County’s tax increase is part of its $730 million budget for 2025 that includes additional funding for SEPTA, infrastructure improvements, and staff salaries. One of the largest increases from the county’s 2024 budget is an additional $20 million toward personnel.

Josh Maxwell, chair of the county board of commissioners, said the increase was driven in part by improvements to the county prison, new radios for police, and increased investment in the department of children, youth, and families.

“In Chester County, I think prisons, police, and social workers are that important,” Maxwell, a Democrat, said. He promised the tax increase was not a signal of a bloated government that would raise taxes year after year. The county’s last tax increase was in 2021.

The increase will result in an additional $104 in annual taxes for the owner of a home valued at $170,000, the median for the county, according to county staff. The increase will affect only the portion of property taxes claimed by the county, generally the smallest part of a homeowner’s tax bill. Municipalities and school districts set their own tax rates.

For about an hour before the vote, dozens of residents urged the commissioners to avoid the tax hike. They cited growing costs for everyday goods and rising township and school district property taxes. Increased revenues through new developments in the county, they argued, should be enough to avoid a tax increase.

“I don’t want to take money out of my pocket to fund another person’s pocket,” John Nicolas of Uwchlan said of staff salaries included in the tax increase.

Another resident, Daniel Wiser, said he understood the need to fund county services but wished the county could have spread the tax hike over a longer period.

“If we want nice roads and we want nice things, that costs money and we have to accept that. But doing it in a jolt like this is something that’s very difficult,” he said.

Roe, the Republican commissioner, said he had asked county staff to calculate how much the budget would need to be cut to avoid a tax hike and was told it would take an 8% reduction in costs. The cut, he said, wouldn’t be pretty but would be necessary to ensure people could continue to live and retire in Chester County.

But the two Democratic commissioners said they didn’t see a pathway to making that happen.

“I don’t feel that I have a choice in the matter if we’re gonna protect our community and do things we need to do to ensure the future is safe,” said Democratic Commissioner Marian Moskowitz.