LOWER MAKEFIELD >> Yardley Borough residents may soon have to pay the nonresident rate for a pool membership in neighboring Lower Makefield.
At its Dec. 14 meeting, the Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote on a motion to dissolve a long standing agreement with neighboring Yardley Borough that has charged Borough residents the township rate for a membership.
The original agreement provided for up to 50 Borough residents to be charged the resident rate in exchange for the township’s use of the borough’s recreation room located behind the post office.
“We have never, as far as I know, used the recreation room. I don’t see how that is beneficial to us,” said Parks and Recreation Director Monica Tierney who brought the issue to the board of supervisors after revisiting the agreement.
In addition, the township has not been enforcing its cap on the discount with at least 75 Borough residents currently being charged the township resident rate. That’s 25 more residents than the agreement allows.
“We were unlimitedly honoring the discount,” acknowledged Tierney, when asked by Supervisor James McCartney how many are now taking advantage of the discount.
The agreement was made prior to the institution of a non-resident rate and at a time when township officials were looking for ways to boost pool membership.
At the time, the pool was competing with several neighboring pools including Morrisville Borough and Brookside. Since then the Morrisville Pool has closed and the Lower Makefield Pool has undergone major improvements.
If the supervisors vote to terminate the agreement, beginning next year Borough residents joining the pool would be charged the nonresident rate.
Based on 2020 numbers, that would boost their rates from $420 for a family and $220 for an individual (based on the discounted rates) up to $570 for a family and $295 for an individual.
For township manager Kurt Ferguson the issue is one of fairness.
“Regardless of what the motivations might have been, I have a difficult time giving an exemption for one particular place over another regardless of what town that would be,” said Ferguson.
McCartney added that since that agreement was made, the township has built and opened a community center negating the township’s need for any recreation or meeting space in the Borough.
Supervisor John Lewis asked point blank whether the loss of revenue as a result of the Yardley Borough agreement is driving the discussion.
“My concern is that a Yardley Borough resident gets a discount where a Morrisville Borough resident would not,” responded Ferguson.
“That’s certainly a fair point,” said Lewis. “The difference is we have had a long standing history of shared services with Yardley Borough on a lot of different things.
“Gosh, we have a real problem being neighborly,” quipped Lewis after learning that no one had reached out to Yardley Borough on the issue prior to it being added to the agenda. “This isn’t that hard. Before you ask us to terminate an agreement maybe we should give them a heads up that this may be coming.
“The policy arguments are clear and you can make a legitimate point that hey, why do Morrisville residents have to pay more than Yardley Borough residents? That’s a fair point. But there’s also a communications and process issue,” said Lewis.
“This is difficult because we have a long standing special relationship,” said Supervisor Dan Grenier. “We are two municipalities, but really one community in how we typically act. We have a lot of shared services. I don’t know that I would want to change this one. Just like I wouldn’t want to eliminate a shared service with fire because we generally both benefit from that.
“I see this as a slippery slope where we start to divide the communities, take them apart and become separate completely,” said Grenier. “I understand getting a little extra fees, but I’m not sure it’s worth further damaging that relationship.”
Chair Suzanne Blundi noted that for years Yardley Borough residents weren’t allowed to join the pool. “We made this special exception … When we opened it up to all our neighbors, I struggled with the idea of picking one neighbor over another. I don’t understand the comparison to the shared services of the fire department as opposed to this is the pool that we staff and fund. I do hear John’s point about communications. If it would make it easier on people to put this on our following agenda, I would be open to that.”
Supervisor Dr. Weiss added that centuries ago Yardley Borough was part of the township before going its separate way. “However we still do have an emotional, if not physical relationship with the Borough.
“I look at it a little differently although I don’t have a strong opinion one way or another because the numbers are just not that great,” said Weiss. “However I do understand equitable treatment with neighboring residents. And I do have a little bit of an issue charging someone who is not part of Lower Makefield one rate and others in a neighboring community another rate. The optics don’t look right.
“As far as fairness goes, if we dissolve this and negotiate something with our neighboring residents I could see doing something like to make it more equitable,” he said.