They Thought We Weren’t Paying Attention. They Were Wrong.

People move to Newtown for a reason.

It’s beautiful, historic, and still feels like a real community — where you know your neighbors, where open space and quiet streets are part of the charm. It’s not just another town. It’s our town.

And that’s exactly why what’s been happening behind closed doors should alarm every one of us.

While we were busy living our lives — working, raising families, and trusting our local leaders to act in good faith — a small group of officials quietly pushed forward plans for a massive new sewer plant along the Newtown Bypass, right next to the new Wawa. No community vote. No early warning. No transparency. Just decisions made with our money and without our consent.

Here’s what you need to know.

Our town is governed by a five-member Board of Supervisors, the people who decide how our tax dollars are spent and what gets built here. Right now, two of those seats are up for election.

One of those Supervisors, Elen Snyder, also sits on the Newtown Bucks County Joint Municipal Authority (NBCJMA), a six-member board (three from the borough and three from the Township) that oversees our sewer system. It was this Authority that set the wheels in motion for the new plant.

They say the project was needed because of “future capacity concerns” and rising costs from our current provider, the Bucks County Water & Sewer Authority (BCWSA). But BCWSA itself has stated it has ample capacity to serve Newtown and the surrounding townships following recent infrastructure upgrades. That’s a far cry from the “crisis” story residents were told.

Then came the land grab.

The Authority used eminent domain to seize 17.5 acres for $9 million — property originally slated for luxury apartments. Months of planning and legal filings went into that condemnation, yet most residents didn’t hear a word until a letter arrived in October 2024, after the deal was already done.

When engineers finally briefed the Board of Supervisors in December 2024, they conveniently left out that $9 million land purchase, the one paid for with our ratepayer dollars.

Then came the gut punch:
Sewer bills shot up from $82 to $120.54 per quarter — a 47% increase, ostensibly to cover debt on that land deal. And according to the Authority’s own engineer, that’s just the beginning. To actually build this plant that nobody asked for, Newtown’s roughly 9,000 ratepayers would be on the hook for $140–$200 million.

To put that in perspective, BCWSA’s regional rate increase this year was around 15% — only a few dollars more per household. This unnecessary project? Tens of thousands.

Here’s the troubling part: Supervisor Elen Snyder sat on both the Sewer Authority and the Township Board. She knew. Yet she wasn’t publicly on record opposing the project — not until residents demanded answers. When people started asking questions, the Board’s majority claimed “ignorance” and “ambivalence.”

How do you claim ignorance about a months-long condemnation process you’re directly involved in? How do you shrug off spending $9 million of other people’s money? You can’t. Not credibly anyway.

Only after residents packed meetings and spoke out did the Sewer Authority narrowly vote to halt work on the plant. Note that word carefully: halt. Not cancel. Not terminate.

Now, as the election approaches, you may have seen posts from local Democrats claiming they stopped the sewer project. Let’s be honest, the same people now taking credit are the ones who brought it to us in the first place.

Supervisor Elen Snyder sat on both the Township Board and the Sewer Authority while this project moved forward and never raised objections until residents demanded answers. And it wasn’t until June, months after the community had been fighting back, that Ed Merriman and Melissa Merk finally spoke up.

I truly hope the project is dead. But after everything we’ve seen, it’s hard to trust the same officials who ignored the problem until it became politically inconvenient.

This isn’t about party labels. It’s about accountability and electing leaders who listen from the start, not just when their seats are on the line. The 17.5 acres remain condemned, and the $9 million remains tied up, ready to restart with a single vote if the Authority’s membership changes after November 4th.

This is exactly why local elections matter. It’s about honesty, transparency, and protecting what makes Newtown special — and refusing to let a handful of people transform it without our consent.

We may not control much in this world, but we do control what happens here.

We’ve already seen what’s happened under the current Board of Supervisors. We have a Wawa on the Bypass, a Chick-fil-A proposal that nearly passed, and a sewer plant that would have gone through if residents hadn’t spoken out.

This is what the current Board majority has brought us: overdevelopment, poor planning, and decisions that don’t reflect the community’s wishes.

That’s not the Newtown I want.

And that’s why I’m hoping to change the Board majority by electing Valerie Mihalek and Todd McGonigal.

From day one, Todd and Valerie have stood firmly against this sewer plant boondoggle. They’re not playing games. They’ve pledged to protect Newtown’s integrity, our environment, and our wallets. They understand that we invested in a certain way of life, and we didn’t sign up for someone else’s vision of what Newtown “could be.”

This November 4th, we have a choice:

We can reward the people who did this behind our backs, who spent our money without asking, and who want to change our community to fit their plans. Or we can elect leaders who will actually listen to us.

Vote Todd McGonigal and Valerie Mihalek for Newtown Township Supervisor – November 4th