I am aware of no state law authorizing this kind of tax in Pa. The closest thing is a fairly unpopular local services tax of $52 per employee, followed by the equally unpopular commuter tax. But without question, any municipalities now fail to provide even the most basic of services. Some municipalities, like Upper Mount Bethel and Lower Macungie, are all too willing to allow blue collar workers in Bethlehem and Allentown pay for the state police services those townships receive. Other communities, like Bath and West Easton, just lack the resources.
I have long maintained that any municipality unable to provide fire or police coverage has no reason to exist. Some have been reluctant to dissolve because they would be absorbed by a community that would impose higher taxes.But a bill under consideration in Harrisburg might solve that problem, at least in Allegheny County.
Under the bipartisan proposal of Reps. Dom Costa (D-Pittsburgh) and Harold English (R-Allison Park), Allegheny County and interested municipalities would first engage in a discussion about a transition of services to see if it is feasible. If so, voters could decide by referendum to dissolve and then come under the county umbrella. The County would keep the same taxing power that the dissolving municipality already had.
Unfortunately, this bill only applies to Allegheny. To apply to counties like Northampton or Lehigh, there would need to be changes in state law concerning the police power of sheriffs.
Allegheny's proposal is supported by Executive Rich Fitzgerald. I have no idea whether NorCo Exec Lamont McClure or LeCo Exec Phillips Armstrong consider this idea a blessing or a curse.
It might mean the end of towns like Blue Ball and Intercourse.
16 comments:
Don't forget Intercourse. That would hit them straight up hard.
Sounds like regionalism with another name, another attempt to tax rural areas to pay for the mismanagement of cities. We do not need police coverage in our rural areas. we would be better off with a well organized citizen watch.
I doubt very seriously that the townships and municipalities in Lehigh County would want to form a metro government with Allentown.
Most of the people who live outside Allentown have fled the city to improve their quality of life. Especially the school districts.
Let the market set the tone. Pennsylvania is a Commonwealth,not a State. If folks move to Blue Balls, and nobody comes for you when your in trouble ,then that’s on them . On the other hand the people that live there take care of their own problems better often enough. Our county does not fix potholes, or operate fire trucks or provide school districts for example . Jacksonville Fla. does . This will cause a beaurcratic nightmare at the expense of the rate payers to fix places like Glendon I would guess. Our leaders, the people that told us they can make decisions in their campaign materials ,will need to think in terms of - What happen next. One thing for sure is we need to stop building apartments and new houses here ,we are swamped now with many issues as result .
You will always have Blue balls in Nazareth with Bernie in town !
Growing county government is not the answer to a problem that citizens in certain denizens don't believe exists. Let municipalities discuss alliances with each other. The counties can only screw things up and start rifling your wallet.
"Some municipalities, like Upper Mount Bethel and Lower Macungie, are all too willing to allow blue collar workers in Bethlehem and Allentown pay for the state police services those townships receive."
1) Don't hate the players, hate the game.
2) The cities have no problem letting better heeled municipalities foot a substantial portion of county real estate taxes.
The knee-jerk to class-ism goes toward proving the next post. This is why we can't have grown up discussions.
"Let the market set the tone. Pennsylvania is a Commonwealth,not a State."
I hate to break this to you, but there is no real difference between a state and a commonwealth. It just means that iots citizens chose to label themselves that way
"The knee-jerk to class-ism goes toward proving the next post. This is why we can't have grown up discussions."
This classism exists in your own mind nd you are intellectually dishonest for making it because in my very next sentence, I refer to Bath and West Easton. Your first obligation in argument shouldbe honesty. Without it, and claim to be an adult is in my view spurious.
"Some municipalities, like Upper Mount Bethel and Lower Macungie, are all too willing to allow blue collar workers in Bethlehem and Allentown pay for the state police services those townships receive."
You wrote the post. This sentence has nothing to do with struggling boroughs. It has to do with municipalities you believe can afford police. Honesty? You won't even own your own words written a few hours ago.
"Some municipalities, like Upper Mount Bethel and Lower Macungie, are all too willing to allow blue collar workers in Bethlehem and Allentown pay for the state police services those townships receive. Other communities, like Bath and West Easton, just lack the resources."
This is what I wrote. In addition to mentioning Lower Mac and Upper Mount Bethel, I also included West Easton and Bath. You chose to ignore that because it refutes your classism claim. In other words, you were dishonest and are continuing that dishonesty here. Your first obligation should be honesty. You are dishonest.
According to the Pennsylvania Office of the Budget website the 2018-2019 proposed budget contains $260.5 million dollars for the PA State Police, a 3.5% increase from 2017-2018. General tax revenues fund the PA State Police. That cost would be shared by all taxpayers. The areas of the state/commonwealth which rely on State Police coverage are paid with tax dollars. The municipalities which have their own police forces are paying for those police forces by taxing the citizens of those municipalities. Those taxpayers are paying for both the PA State Police and their local police forces. By taxing local taxpayers, who already pay for the PA State Police and choose now to disband their local police forces and rely on PA State Police for coverage, would be paying twice for the PA State Police. Now, if the PA State Police have an increased burden, which would indeed cost more to provide, then that cost would have to be budgeted for and, therefore increase the amount which would be shared by all PA taxpayers.
Anonymous @ June 4, 2018 at 7:00 AM
Growing county government is not the answer to a problem that citizens in certain denizens don't believe exists. Let municipalities discuss alliances with each other. The counties can only screw things up and start rifling your wallet.
I would agree that the larger the entity, the higher the cost of administration. The risk for bureaucratic bungling would also increase.
This is not about classism, at all. As always, IMHO.
Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Virginia, and Massachusetts are referred to officially as commonwealths. As are Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands. There is really no difference between the four commonwealths and the other states. They were the hotbeds of revolution, taking pride in their fight against British rule. They departed from the Union and adapted the name “commonwealth” to show the difference in government (British vs. new United States). When the United States of America was formed they retained their title as commonwealths instead of adopting the term “states.” Although called by another name, they enjoy the same privileges as the other states.
Bernie, you mentioned blue ball and intercourse, what about virginville. Will that little bypass be suffering the same impass to join?
As hard as it may be to acknowledge, places like Bath & West Easton need to be assimilated into other municipalities, in order to exist. West Easton should be annexed into Wilson, while Bath could be annexed by Moore Township.
"As hard as it may be to knowledge", don't be such an idiot, why in the world would West Easton want to be part of Wilson their property taxes are 6 Mills higher, and Wilson's roads are full of so many potholes it'll take hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix them, they will need to raise their taxes again. West Easton is always fixing the roads, money in the bank and lower taxes.
Why not let the GPA handle all of this. They're doing such a bang up job with the bridges.
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