There's an old saying, "Money talks, (everything else) walks."
Suffice it to say that there's another word usually substituted for that "everything else" reference.
You don't have to explain that to Joe McGinn.
He took the opportunity of yesterday's Chester Water Authority board meeting to throw a little gas - and cold, hard cash - on the growing cauldron that is the standoff between Chester Water and Aqua over the iconic local company's future.
Chester Water already rejected one $230 million unsolicited offer from Aqua to buy the company.
They then thought they had a deal in hand with the city of Chester, which had been making rumblings that they would seek to sell off Chester Water, even though it is not even a little bit clear they have the authority to do so. Much of this was due to the consultant hired by the state to oversee the city's finances whispering in the city's ear that a sale of the company would provide a nice chunk of revenue in their efforts to climb out of Act 47 distressed city status.
Chester Water and the city cut a deal. CWA would kick in $60 million to the city coffers. In return the city would relinquish the right to any sale of the company for 40 years. To raise the money, CWA would raise rates for its customers 10 percent.
Unfortunately, one of those customers is Aqua, and they were having none of it. They went to court to block the deal, saying the company's rate payers were getting nothing out of the deal but higher rates.
Yesterday, McGinn took a novel tack in showing just what Chester Water's customers have been saving.
He displayed stacks of fresh, wrapped $100 bills, what he said represented 21 days of savings for CWA customers, amounting to a cool $3 million.
More than ever, this water fight looks to be a legal feeding frenzy.
Get all the details here.
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