In re: Chester Water Authority Trust; Petition of Chester Water Authority; City of Chester v. Chester Water Authority

Summary

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania granted petitions and cross-petitions for allowance of appeal in consolidated matters concerning the City of Chester's authority to seize and transfer Chester Water Authority assets under the Municipal Authorities Act. The court identified issues involving statutory authority, the representational rights of Delaware and Chester Counties, and whether municipalities subject to mandatory board-appointment provisions have the same property-conveyance rights as municipalities that voluntarily join a joint authority.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the City of Chester may seize and sell Chester Water Authority assets under section 5622(a) of the Municipal Authorities Act to address its own unrelated financial distress while overriding representational rights granted to Delaware and Chester Counties under Act 73 of 2012.
2. Whether the Commonwealth Court erred by failing to follow Burke v. N. Huntingdon Twp. Mun. Auth., 136 A.2d 310 (Pa. 1957), concerning whether only an authority may authorize a transfer under the predecessor to section 5622(a).
3. Whether, when a municipality is statutorily mandated to appoint members to a water or sewer authority board under section 5610(a.1) of the Municipal Authorities Act, the municipality has the same rights to convey authority property as a municipality that voluntarily joins a joint authority under section 5610(a)(2).

Disposition

other