UPPER DARBY, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — Upper Darby residents may soon be paying a lot more for their garbage disposal and sewer operations if the proposed 2027 budget goes through.
In his proposed budget, Mayor Ed Brown has asked for the yearly trash fee to be raised from $325 to $425, as well as a $20 increase on sewer fees. He called the increases necessary for those utilities to become self-supporting operations.
However, there are a lot of residents, like Scott Buscaglia, who are not happy with that proposed price jump.
“$120 goes a long way. It goes in your gas tank. It goes into your food, which is expensive now. I don’t think it’s a good thing,” Buscaglia said.
Some of Upper Darby’s senior residents said if passed, the tax would hurt people like them, who live on fixed incomes.
“I can’t work to make that extra money. I have to keep using my social security, for more and more taxes,” said Heather Rose, who has lived in Upper Darby for more than 50 years.
“We just don’t have that in our pockets anymore,” said Linda Baxter. “Social Security does not go up by that much. Neither do our retirement funds.”
Valerie Wyles asked for the township’s elected officials to find the pulse of the community they serve. “Even people who were actually able to pay these extras are suffering because of our economy,” she said. “Our economy sucks.”
Township officials said they were looking forward to working with the mayor to see how they could reduce the proposed tax hikes.
Council still has two full budget hearings before they can take a vote on the budget. A vote is expected for December.
