Richard Kratz: 'Watch the Dollars' and 'Look Out for the Taxpayers'

Perkiomen Township Supervisor Richard Kratz has lived in the township for the past 52 years, and this past May marked his 31^st year on the board.
He is running unopposed in tomorrow’s election.

Kratz noted that things are changing, and “it’s a different world from even 1980,” when he became a township supervisor.
“My thing is to watch the dollars and look out for the taxpayers,” he said, predicting that economic times will get even tougher.

When asked about the biggest issues facing Perkiomen, Kratz says he is concerned about municipalities possibly paying fees for Pennsylvania State Police protection, and the rising cost of medical insurance for township employees.
Perkiomen’s own police department was disbanded in the early ‘80s, and said now “we are watching what’s happening in Harrisburg on police.” There has been talk about “joining forces” with other municipalities, some of which – Lower Frederick and Collegeville – have their own local departments.
Concerning medical insurance, Kratz says costs for township employees went up 13 percent two years ago. The increase for 2012 is hovering above 50 percent, he said.
“When, as a board, do we say to employees, ‘You have to pay more”?

Kratz is proud that township taxes have not escalated throughout the years -- “not many (towns) can say that” -- and calls himself “very conservative.”
“I’m a Republican, but I’m a conservative first,” he said.
With Perkiomen being a largely residential area, the township hasn’t taken a tax-base hit the way commercial-laden municipalities did when the economy started to slide, Kratz noted.

He credits Perkiomen Township Manager Cecile Daniel with the good things happening in the township.
“You don’t get any better than her,” he said.

Kratz currently works as a school bus driver, and through the years he has been a milkman, had his own newspaper delivery business and ran the Collegeville News Co. store in Collegeville for more than a decade.