Residents of Towamencin Township are resorting to a rewrite of their charter to halt a public utility privatization effort tied to the sale of its sewer system. Andrew Maykuth reported on the effort for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The impetus for the rewrite comes from residents’ reactions to the proposed sale of the sewer system to a private entity in Florida.

Sixty-one percent of locals gave the public utility privatization idea a thumbs down. And they seek to make the action illegal.

It is unclear, however, if the legal strategy can affect the 4–1 vote by the township’s Board of Supervisors to sell. The charter change tactic can, however, gum up the forward motion on the proposal through lengthy rounds of litigation.

The township supervisors cite the sale as a financial windfall.

Supervisor Richard Marino called the deal “…a generational opportunity to reboot and reset our finances for the foreseeable future.”

The pushback is also being fueled by anecdotal evidence that public utility privatization also leads to increased rates.

And in other communities where this type of asset transfer has taken place, some residents contend that it is a partisan action driven by numerous motives other than the public good.

More on Towamencin Township as it grapples with public utility privatization is at The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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This John Stossel report from 2015 considers the implications of privatizing all public services.