In Re: Chester Water Auth; Cross Aplt. Chester Co.

Summary

The court held that the Municipality Authorities Act does not give an incorporating municipality a perpetual, unilateral power to force conveyance of an authority's projects. Section 5622(a) permits the municipality or municipalities that presently have the power to establish, maintain, or operate a project to initiate a conveyance, and the 2012 restructuring of the Authority's governing board means that power is now held collectively by the City, Chester County, and Delaware County rather than by the City alone. The court also held that the prior decision relied upon by the Authority addressed the relevant statutory issue only in dicta. Justice Mundy, concurring in part and dissenting in part, agreed that the prior discussion was dicta but would have held that the City retained power to acquire the projects under Sections 5619(a) and 5622(a).