Chester County Press 11-28-2018 Edition

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Chester CountyPRESS

www.chestercounty.com

Covering Avon Grove, Chadds Ford, Kennett Square, Oxford, & Unionville Areas

Volume 152, No. 48

Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Celebrating the holidays in Kennett Square

Oxford Borough plans a tax decrease for 2019 The millage rate could be lowered from 12.25 mills to 12 mills. A vote on the final budget will take place in December By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer

Photo by Chris Barber

INSIDE

60 Cents

Kennett Square welcomed the Christmas season with its annual Holiday Light Parade last Friday night. Spectators lined the streets to watch the festive parade, which was led by the Kennett High School Marching Band. A story about Kennett Square Borough’s Holiday Light Parade and other holiday happenings will be included in our annual Christmas and New Year’s Guide inside the Dec. 5 issue of the Chester County Press.

Oxford Borough unveiled a $3.7 million general fund budget at a council meeting on Nov. 19, and there was some very good news for taxpayers: Borough officials are anticipating that the millage rate will be decreased by .25 mills for 2019. If the budget figures remain as they are now, the millage rate will be reduced from 12.25 mills to 12 mills when a final budget is

adopted in mid-December. How will the borough manage the rare feat of lowering taxes? The borough’s revenues are climbing from one year to the next. Borough manager Brian Hoover explained that Oxford has seen a significant increase in construction activity, as well as a large increase in the total assessed value of all properties in the borough. Hoover estimated that the total assessed value of all properties has increased by Continued on Page 2A

Popular destination will now be open year-round U-CF School The Creamery of Board approves Kennett Square re-opens student discipline policy changes By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer

By John Chambless Staff Writer Investigator of the Year selected...4A

Winslow Homer spotlighted in new exhibit...1B

After months of public meetings, study and debate, the UnionvilleChadds Ford School Board voted to approve a revised Policy 218, the Code of Student Conduct, on Nov. 19. The debate began when students at a September 2017 Unionville High School football game were automatically suspended for smoking and other misbehavior in the stadium. Some parents complained

In September, the Oxford Area Sewer Authority announced that it was starting the process that could result in the sale of

INDEX Opinion.......................7A Obituaries...................2B Classifieds.................2C Calendar of Events.....3C

© 2007 The Chester County Press

After nearly a year-long closure – one that tried the patience of its owners and the thousands of locals who had turned it into a meeting place Mecca since its opening as a pop-up beer garden in 2016 – the Creamery of Kennett Square kicked off its newest chapter on Nov. 21 with an opening night party that seemed to make all of the delays and frustrations worth the wait. The best news yet? The popular destination spot on Birch Street will no longer just be open seasonally. Beer lovers and

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Photo by Richard L. Gaw

Mike Bontrager, Chatham Financial founder and visionary behind the Creamery of Kennett Square, welcomes special guests to the re-opening of the beer garden on Birch Street in Kennett Square on Nov. 21. For additional photos, see Page 1B.

Oxford Area Sewer Authority offers update on efforts to sell assets By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer

Small art for giving in Chadds Ford...4C

to the board, saying the suspensions – which were automatically included on student transcripts going to college application boards – would be a black mark that could keep students from getting accepted. Some parents also complained that their children were suspended for merely being near someone who had misbehaved. Board member John Murphy prefaced the vote by saying, “This is the result of more than 12 months of effort to

its state-of-the-art wastewater treatment system to the Delaware County Regional Water Authority (DELCORA). At the most recent Oxford Borough Council meeting on Nov. 19, David

Busch, the executive director of the Oxford Area Sewer Authority, provided an update about the Sewer Authority’s activities— including the potential sale. Busch said that while

East Nottingham Township approves proposed budget for 2019

The township’s millage rate will remain at zero. The spending plan is up for final adoption in December By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer The East Nottingham Township Board of Supervisors have approved a proposed budget for 2019, and it is all but certain that the township will keep its millage rate at zero for another year. The supervisors discussed the spending plan at a special budget meeting on Oct. 23, and again at the regular township meeting

on Nov. 13. Suzanne Hamlin, the township treasurer, said that the $6.6 million proposed budget has a slight year-to-year increase in expenditures, but the township won’t need to increase taxes to balance the budget. On the revenue side, East Nottingham’s total income plus cash on hand for 2019 is $6,667,887, and on the expenditure side the proposed expenses plus the amount allocated for 2019

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progress is still being made toward finalizing the agreement with DELCORA, the deal is not going to be completed as quickly as was originally thought. Initially, there was a goal of completing an Asset

Purchase Agreement within 90 days and finalizing the entire agreement within 150 days. The sale will take more time than that. “There are still a lot of details to be worked out Continued on Page 6A

New Garden’s positive turnaround By Uncle Irvin

is $6,667,887. The millage rate has been zero since 2005, Hamlin said. Township supervisor Sam Goodley explained that when the township added an earned-income tax and a tax specifically designated for funds for open space preservation, township officials then reduced the millage rate to zero to offset those increases. The proposal for 2019 is

Back in the 1970s, New Garden Township was the only township in southern Chester County that had no zoning ordinances. The sleepy township was run by the mushroom industry and led by a trio of yawning supervisors, Bob Taylor, Chip Smedley and mushroom grower Dino Ruggieri. Taylor was a GOP operative who served as Chester County’s sealer of weights and measures, a politically appointed job. This township was really asleep and devoid of progress. Fifty years later, New Garden may be the best-run municipality in southern Chester County. The highlights of this miracle are the only regional police

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