The Delaware County police union has concerns about the Chester Receiver’s work for Upper Darby but Vijay Kapoor emphasized that everything is kosher and his outside work is winding down.
On X, known formerly as Twitter, an account linked with the FOP Lodge 27, a Tweet dated Sept. 29 read: “How does State Appointed Receiver in Chester City Veejay (CQ) Kapoor represent @UpperDarbyPA in Act 111 Arbitration Hearings for the Township against our @FopLodge27 police officers? Is @GovernorShapiro against the police? Our officers deserve a fair contract. Is Kapor (CQ) double dipping?”
“His company … was a witness for the arbitration to speak about the economics of the township about what they can or cannot pay our officers,” Chris Eiserman, president of the Delaware County Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 27, said.
Delco FOP Lodge 27 President Christopher Eiserman in 2021. (DAILY TIMES)
Eiserman noted that Kapoor billed Upper Darby through his company, The Kapoor Co., for professional services in May 2021 for $21,680.
The FOP president said this was the first time Kapoor has testified in the Upper Darby case, although he said Kapoor has been providing professional services for other municipalities in Pennsylvania.
“You have a state receiver appointed by the state and he has a side business talking about these towns,” Eiserman said. “It’s not right … God forbid if a police officer did that.”
He said police officers would receive criticism if they had a side business testifying at civil hearings.
“The optics don’t look right, especially when you’re supposed to be getting a municipality out of Act 47,” Eiserman said. “And in the interim, they want to take our police officers’ health care away.”
The FOP president said there are 135 members from Upper Darby and negotiations between them and the township started months ago with the most recent arbitration at the end of September. Their contract expired in December.
“I think the taxpayers of Upper Darby have to see what the township is spending on legal fees,” he said, adding that those costs could cover the officers’ health care. “If they took the fees away from those people, they’d easily be able to afford it.”
It’s not the only question surrounding Kapoor’s compensation.
The Chester Water Authority, long at odds with the receiver’s office largely over the potential monetization of the water system, has posted on its website statements about financials.
They claim that “Chester’s financial disaster has become a full-time employment project for consultants and lawyers, all on the backs of PA taxpayers.”
They claim that these consultants have received almost $16 million in the five years of receivership.
Of Kapoor’s company, The Kapoor Company, the CWA website said that “(c)ontract is now up to $1.68 million. Is he double dipping now that he is Receiver too?”
Chester Receiver Vijay Kapoor. (PETE BANNAN-DAILY TIMES)
Kapoor’s response was an emphatic no.
“At no point did I both serve as an employee and as a consultant to the Commonwealth,” he said. “My contract as a consultant with The Kapoor Co. terminated effective June 30, 2025.”
Kapoor had served as chief of staff for Chester’s former Receiver Michael T. Doweary since 2020. Upon Doweary’s exit, Kapoor was appointed receiver and began serving in that position in July.
According to the receiver, the commonwealth compounds annual contract amounts to reach a total. So, Kapoor explained, that $1.67 million is the sum of all the contracts that The Kapoor Co. had over five years, equating to approximately $334,000 a year.
“I didn’t have a one year contract of $1.67 million,” Kapoor said.
“I took a pretty big compensation cut to become receiver,” he noted. “I’ve committed to Chester … My current salary for the Commonwealth is $179,146.50, which was the same as Mike’s (Doweary).”
Kapoor spoke about his company work.
“As part of the discussions I had with the Commonwealth, I did specifically ask and was granted the ability to continue to do some of this arbitration work that I’ve done for years,” he said. “That was granted to me on April 28 … Wasn’t double dipping, I got the approval specifically to do this type of work.”
He also performed this work while serving as Doweary’s chief of staff.
He spoke about testifying at the recent Upper Darby arbitration with the FOP.
“I am an expert witness,” Kapoor said. “I’m not an attorney for Upper Darby. I’m not an advocate for Upper Darby. I am brought in to basically look at financial and compensation data and so, that is what I did.”
In his Sept. 29 testimony, Kapoor presented an 89-page economic and comparator analysis, which looked at Upper Darby’s revenue deficit, police officer compensation with a median $133,965 salary, police officers’ benefits, the township’s bond rating decrease, pension liabilities, the need for an earned income tax in the township and comparisons to similarly sized municipalities.
Kapoor said he was retained by Upper Darby Township in January to be an expert witness, months before he became Chester’s receiver.
“In fact the hearing that we were supposed to have was supposed to be on June 25 before I became receiver,” he said. “The problem was, there was a scheduling issue.”
So, then the hearing was rescheduled for Sept. 29.
“I was honoring my commitment to do that,” Kapoor said. “I didn’t want to be like, ‘Hey, I’m out.’ “
Kapoor said he had been doing this work on behalf of his company while serving as the receiver’s chief of staff.
“I work a lot,” Kapoor said. “I work a lot of nights. I work a lot of weekends. I do it because I’m committed to my work. I really am. I’m committed to Chester … I’m doing fewer as receiver, which is fine.”
He affirmed that he also does comparable work for other municipalities.
“I do similar work as an expert witness for other municipalities and always have,” Kapoor said. “I am not actively soliciting these clients. I am well known in this area as the guy who does these, and places reach out to me.”
That said, he is reducing this work after having assumed the role of receiver.
“Nonetheless, I am winding down my work in this area and I’m not taking on additional matters,” Kapoor said. “I’m working through the ones I have now but I’m not taking on additional matters.”