A Chester city plan to transfer water assets from the Chester Water Authority to pull the city out of bankruptcy must include approval from Delaware and Chester counties.
That’s because the assets belong to the city, but also to Delaware and Chester counties, according to a ruling Wednesday by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, writes Kathleen E. Carey for the Daily Times.
The decision reverses a 2021 Commonwealth Court ruling that would have allowed Chester’s state-appointed receiver Vijay Kapoor to use the assets to prop up the city’s finances, even though the move was opposed by the CWA.
“The Court sided with everyday residents who drink CWA water and affirmed that the authority belongs to its customers—not to a receiver, politicians, or private interests,” said CWA Board Chair Brandon Noel in a statement responding to the court ruling.
Kapoor has argued that a 2012 amendment, Act 73, which took unilateral control of the Chester Water Authority away from Chester to include Delaware and Chester counties, is unconstitutional.
Kapoor said he was “disappointed” in the decision, stating that the ruling “makes it more difficult for the city to exit bankruptcy.”
Read more about the court ruling and the Chester Water Authority in the Daily Times.
