Chester City Getting $10 Million Garage — Chester City’s new public works garage on Route 291 between Powell and Lowell streets is going to cost $10.6 million and city GOP boss Tessalieni Kelley thinks that’s a tad high.
He’s right, really.
Pennsylvania’s prevailing wage law automatically jacks up the cost 20 percent over that a privately owned structure.
And of course you’d think that in an impoverished AND overtaxed place like Chester pennies would be pinched.
The garage is going to be 10,270-square-foot and include conference rooms.
On the other hand, Chester isn’t paying for it.
American Rescue Plan Act money covers $9 million with $1.4 million from DELCORA and another $200,000 from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
This is good because it means that Mayor Stefan Roots can still collect his $94,186 salary.
Stefan is the highest paid elected municipal official in Delaware County, it appears.
We hope the poor people of Chester are proud.
Really, the salary of Mayor Ed Brown of Upper Darby is but a mere $10K.
And Upper Darby, at 85,888 persons, has more than twice the population of Chester which has 34,052 persons.
Good that Tessalieni is asking questions.
The garage is expected to be finished by the end of 2026.
