The referendum to protect Delaware County water, land and wildlife was a huge winner in the midterm election, getting 171,131 unofficial yes votes (75.6% of the vote) to 55,249 (24.4%) unofficial no votes. The referendum spectacularly outperformed its pre-campaign polling that had suggested in might win by a 60% to 40% yes vote.
The vote will become official once all of the military and provisional ballots are counted but it is not expected to make an appreciable change in the final outcome.
The referendum asked Delaware County voters if they would be willing to take out a $120 million bond issue to protect water quality, preserve some open land, improve infrastructure to mitigate flash flooding of our streams and continue helping municipalities develop our Greenways walking and biking trails and parks.
The bond issue would act like a line of credit in that taxpayers would only be paying interest and principal down each year on the amount it used. At its maximum, with all the money borrowed, analysts estimated that it would only cost taxpayers an additional $2 a month or $24 a year.
It is also expected to serve as seed money for additional grants from the state and federal governments and will return many millions of dollars more to our communities in economic activity each year than it will cost us. A good deal all around.
Opponents mounted a campaign on the basis that the county had already had two stiff property tax increases over two years and the bond issue would just be another large tax increase. Apparently three-quarters of voters concluded that preserving open space and protecting water quality in one of the most densely populated counties in Pennsylvania were more important. At the last census, Delco’s population was roughly 575,000 people, a tad smaller than the population of Wyoming.
The League of Women Voters and the Clearinghouse proudly supported the bond issue and worked with Natural Lands, an enormously experienced nonprofit organization that raised money and orchestrated the campaign throughout the county. Natural Lands gets our profound gratitude.
You may wonder why the League, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization devoted to promoting voting and protecting free and fair elections, is involved in environmental issues. It has long been one of the League’s core principles to conserve farmland, natural lands and open space for generations to come. We also are committed to protect and improve water and air quality and combat global climate change.
These are the principles that inform our work on the Delaware County Environmental Clearinghouse, which the League of Women Voters began with modest grants from the Heinz Foundation in 2023. Thank you for supporting us too.
PHOTO/Clearinghouse, Middletown Memorial Park off of Baltimore Pike