DCED Appoints New Act 47 Receiver for the City of Chester

On March 13, 2025, DCED Secretary Rick Siger accepted the resignation of current Chester Receiver Michael T. Doweary and appointed Vijay Kapoor to serve as the city’s new Act 47 Receiver. If approved by the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, Kapoor will become the City of Chester’s Receiver on July 1, 2025.

With decades of experience advising municipalities, Kapoor has served as the Chief of Staff to Doweary throughout his entire five-year tenure. Kapoor is known for providing economic support and strategic counsel for municipalities across Pennsylvania and the country. His specialty is public sector bargaining and arbitration, but his work extends to all facets of municipal governance. Prior to his work with the Chester Receiver, he served on the Act 47 fiscal recovery teams for the cities of Reading and New Castle. 

The longest-serving Receiver in Act 47’s history, Doweary resigned to accept a position with York College of Pennsylvania.

When he became Chester’s Receiver in 2020, Doweary faced one of the greatest municipal fiscal crises in Commonwealth history. The Police Pension Fund had just $1.2 million, or enough to pay just two months of retirement checks. Approximately $40 million was owed in past-due annual pension payments; one-third of the city’s workforce had been furloughed; the city’s budgeting process was in disarray; and vital and necessary services for residents were not being met. This resulted in Chester filing for Chapter 9 bankruptcy in November 2022.

With the help and support of DCED, Doweary and Kapoor worked together with their team to rebuild the administration of Chester. Accomplishments include:

• The Police Pension Fund is projected to end the current fiscal year with $19.5 million, enough for 35 months of checks.

• The 2025 City budget had no layoffs or service cuts.

• Completion of studies relating to economic development, public safety and parking, and parcel conditions that will benefit the City’s financial health and quality of life for residents.

• Vital improvements to public works, including trash collection, LED lights, equipment modernization, road repairs, and facility upgrades.

• Implementation of 12-hour police shifts to put more officers on the streets, along with the acquisition of body and dash cameras and new vehicles.

• Improvements to tax revenue collection; outsourced payroll and instituted financial controls.

• Annual pay increases of at least 3 percent for City employees.