With the knowledge now of how much money they have to work with, the Lower Makefield Township supervisors have resumed talks on how to use the net proceeds from the township’s $53 million sale of its sewer system to Aqua Pennsylvania.
After paying off $27 million in combined debt from the sewer system and the township-owned Makefield Highlands Golf Club and some other costs with a big chunk of the sale proceeds, the township will net slightly less than $21 million from the sale, Manager Kurt Ferguson explained at the March 16 supervisors meeting.
Possibilities for that money touched on during the meeting included creating a set-aside trust and capital projects like lights at Caiola Field and Macclesfield Park, development of the Snipes tract into an athletic complex, Schuyler Drive tennis courts and improvements at the township-owned Patterson Farm.
The discussion was relatively brief and one of several that will be conducted over the next few weeks and months. Supervisor Chairman James McCartney and fellow board member Daniel Grenier both stressed that whatever residents might read on social media or elsewhere about how the net proceeds will be used are just ideas at this point and not commitments.
One of the main ideas behind any kind of trust that might be created would be to use the interest from the invested money to help mitigate possible future tax increases, Supervisors Suzanne Blundi and Fredric Weiss both said.
Township Solicitor David Truelove said that he and others in his firm can do some preliminary research on how the township is allowed to invest some of the sale proceeds. Further guidance on how exactly to set up the trust might have to come from outside firms who specialize in those matters, the supervisors indicated.
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