Friends, Neighbors and Fellow Upper Merion Area Residents:
At the Monument in Valley Forge
On Thursday, April 20 the Board of Supervisors implemented a $10 internal minimum wage for all township employees. Effective late May over 100 part-time employees will receive a raise. Most of our part time employees are Upper Merion residents and they’re not wealthy – they’re people who are supplementing their household income, earning a little extra spending money or saving for college and raising their salary to $10 per hour will help them accomplish this. Plus this move enhances job loyalty and public safety, and it sends an important message to any employer in Upper Merion Township that while we don’t have the legal authority to raise the minimum wage in the private sector, we expect you to pay a more livable wage than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.
For many years if you used a credit card to sign up for parks and recreation programs or memberships you would be the one paying the credit card fee. This made parks and recreation programs more expensive for our residents and a little less price competitive. On the same night the Board of Supervisors announced the minimum wage increase, we announced that effective immediately Upper Merion Township will absorb the fee if you use your credit card to sign up for parks and recreation programs or memberships.
These two policy decisions might seem very different from each other but there are two common threads: they both put more money in the hands of Upper Merion’s middle class and they are possible because of the strong local economy.
Finding ways to save you money is a fundamental policy goal of this Board of Supervisors but it isn’t a new goal; we’ve been doing it for several years. When Upper Merion took over the swimming pool from private management, we slashed membership prices by almost 50% which saved the typical family hundreds of dollars and it’s now one of the cheapest pools in the region. Additionally we substantially upgraded the pool to make it nicer and safer. The Upper Merion Community Center is more than just a beautiful facility, the cost for being a passholder is cheaper than most gym memberships especially if you’re taking the free fitness classes that are included for passholders. The entire concept behind the Board of Community Assistance scholarship program is to make higher education a little more affordable.
So how are we able to do all of this?
The economic growth over the past few years has resulted in increased revenues to Upper Merion Township. This has enabled us to make substantial capital investments by building the community center and the new senior center, opening and vastly improving the township pool, investing in trails and sidewalks and more. All these projects are expensive but they are worth it because they expand recreation options for our residents and at very affordable prices for the middle class.
The recently passed minimum wage increase will cost Upper Merion around $37,000 per year but because our operating budget revenue has grown, $37,000 is only approximately .1% of the township’s operating budget. The elimination of the fee for using a credit card to sign up for parks and recreation programs will also cost the township tens of thousands of dollars. But we can afford to absorb these changes due to the increased revenue in our operating budget from other sources including the King of Prussia Mall, the First Avenue Business Park, Valley Forge Casino Resort, real estate transfers and more.
Upper Merion is now the suburban economic powerhouse in the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area. Yet it’s important to remember that most of our residents aren’t rich – far from it and while this Board of Supervisors’ record 7 year streak of not raising taxes and the extremely low unemployment rate are very important, it’s not the economic end all and be all. The recent actions taken by this Board of Supervisors to expand the number of amenities for Upper Merion’s residents and make them more affordable for our middle class residents is just the beginning. Our community of opportunity must be a community of opportunity for all of our residents regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability or income level.
Sincerely,
Greg
