Chester CountyPRESS
www.chestercounty.com
Covering Avon Grove, Chadds Ford, Kennett Square, Oxford, & Unionville Areas
Volume 157, No. 7
Wednesday, February 15, 2023
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Kennett School Board gets a first look at next year’s budget By Chris Barber Contributing Writer The Kennett School Board members got a first look at the 2023-24 preliminary budget at its meeting on Monday. They were pleased to report that, as it is projected now, the tax increase for property owners will probably be less than 1 percent. Next year’s budget was prepared by CFO Mark Tracy and presented by treasurer and board member Mike Finnegan.
The future total operating budget as shown this month is $98.1 million, with $76 million to be paid by local taxes and $22.1 million coming from state and local taxes. The increase in the bill for property owners in the district is anticipated to be .93 percent over the current year. The rate of taxation for the district is estimated to be 32.7372 mills, and the average property owner will at this rate pay $55 more than last year. An average taxpayer who last year paid $5,914 at that
rate will pay $5,969 this year. A mill is a tax of $1 for every $1,000 of assessed property value. There is still time to find additional revenues or cost savings. “That’s the good news,” Finnegan said, adding that significant real estate growth in the district has contributed $1.4 million to the overall assessment, keeping the need for an increase lower. The presentation of the preliminary budget in
INSIDE
February is only the first public presentation of the spending plan. The final approval does not come until June, Finnegan said.
Between now and the final vote, the district will be receiving information about the state education budget and what the effect
on school funding a current lawsuit that questions the fairness of distribution of state funds will have. Continued on Page 2A
FROM OUR LENS Community stakeholders
EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK
Destination Delaware
The Mansion House at Radley Run: a Brandywine Valley icon...1B
Kennett Square Borough honors Police Officer of the Year, Employee of the Year Kennett Square Borough recognized its 2022 Employee of the Year and the 2022 Police Officer of the Year during a ceremony on Wednesday, Feb. 8. Steven “Monk” Melton was named the Employee of the Year. He was appointed as the foreman in the borough’s Public Works Department in 2022, and his performance in that role earned him the honor of Employee of the Year. Jeremiah “JD” Boyer was named Police Officer of the Year because of his dedication, hard work and continuous efforts in his role as the department’s School Resource Officer at Kennett High School. Boyer was a unanimous selection for the Police Officer of the Year honor. Kennett Square Police Chief Bill Holdsworth also issued merit, life-saving, and appreciation certificates to police personnel for actions they took in various incidents throughout 2022.
Photo by Richard L. Gaw
Members of the Southern Chester County Chamber of Commerce (SCCCC) gathered last week at the Technical College High School’s Pennock’s Bridge campus in West Grove, to pose for the cover of Connections, the SCCCC’s official publication, which will be published in late March. To learn more about the organization, visit www.scccc.com.
Continued on page 3A
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To date, $156,000 distributed to area initiatives
© 2007 The Chester County Press
Square Roots Collective develops community initiative By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer
to be a weaver of threads. As defined, its mission is to advance the commuFrom its beginning, the nity of Kennett Square so primary work of Square that all residents can thrive. Roots Collective has been As applied, it incorporates
solutions to the pressing needs of the community it serves, through municipal services, infrastructure, trails and transportation, and the on-going issue of
equality and justice, using the fabric of placemaking, economic opportunity and collaboration. Now, under a paradigm developed in August
of 2021, Square Roots Collective has created the Square Roots Community Initiative (SRCI), a taxexempt program that Continued on page 4A
Hoop dreams Jordyn Palmer’s goal is to be a professional basketball player. She’s already playing varsity and getting scholarship offers as an eighth-grader, and she’s working to make her dreams come true By Betsy Brewer Brantner Contributing Writer Jordyn Palmer decided at the young age of two that she wanted to be a professional basketball player. Her father, Jermaine Palmer, was coaching basketball at the time and, like many children of coaches, she went with him a lot. “Jordyn was almost three when I started coaching a Chester County Storm AAU basketball team,” Jermaine Palmer said. “She traveled with me and watched the kids I coached. Eventually she
joined the YMCA League in Jennersville, which further encouraged her interest in basketball. Then at the age of seven she joined the travel team.” The AAU basketball group is focused on developing youth boys and girls from 4th-11th grade in Pennsylvania’s Chester and Delaware counties, Maryland and Northern Delaware. They take pride in building player skills so they can better serve their school teams in the regular season, compete in AAU National Tournaments, and advance to the next level of competition. They
also support many young people through various mentoring programs. Jermaine Palmer continued to coach while maintaining a job at Omega Flex, a manufacturer of corrugated flexible metal hose and braid products for the processing industries and other specialties applications. Coaching and playing sports also requires the buy-in of the entire family.Weekends are spent traveling, and require money for hotels, meals, and paying a fee to the Courtesy photo team, not to mention all of Jordyn Palmer scores a basket for the Westtown Continued on page 2A
School.