Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Pa. eyes charge for state police services
Towns without local cops would pay $25 per resident to help plug budget gap
A perennial proposal to charge municipalities without dedicated police forces for the use of Pennsylvania State Police resources is again blooming in budget talks as officials look for ways to reduce a $3 billion deficit.
Gov. Tom Wolf has broached the idea of assessing a $25-perresident fee on municipalities that do not employ any local police force in a bid to free up $63 million for road and bridge repairs.
Wolf has said the funds would increase total state police funding by $30 million and allow the state to hire 100 more troopers. The department currently employs 4,719 sworn state police members and 1,850 civilians in support roles.
About half of the state’s 2,561 municipalities do not currently have their own police forces, including seven in Delaware County: Chadds Ford, Chester Heights, Concord, Edgmont, Middletown, Rose Valley and Thornbury. Another eight counties in the state rely solely on state police and some 400 municipalities also have a mixture of state and local coverage.
Wolf spokesman J.J. Abbott said Friday that the governor is looking to reduce the amount of money coming from the Motor License Fund that goes to state po-
lice, which is expected to hit about $800 million this year. The budget proposal as it stands now would reduce that figure to $738 million and allow the $63 million in savings to go toward fixing bridges and roads as intended, he said.
Abbott noted there are about 10 million Pennsylvanians that pay for local police forces through taxes, representing about 80 percent of the population. The remaining 20 percent either rely on other municipalities, or partial or full coverage by state police. The governor’s fee would apply only to those areas that rely solely on state police, he said.
“For the 10 million or so that are contributing their local taxes to support their local police force, it’s a fairness issue,” Abbott said. “The current system is not sustainable for the state police.
We can’t be incentivizing municipalities to get rid of their local police department because they feel like they can get the state police for free.”
State Rep. Steve Barrar, R-160, of Upper Chichester, represents three Delco municipalities that would be impacted by the fee and two more in Chester County. He said he has heard some version of this proposal repeatedly since his first term 21 years ago, but it typically gets little traction.
“This is the first time I have the sense that the governor has gotten behind it,” he said. “In the past, it’s always just been a couple of representatives. It may be different this time.”
State Rep. P. Michael Sturla, D-96, of Lancaster, is usually the one putting forth the idea in the Legislature and plans to present a new version of his bill next week.
Sturla said when he first began proposing a similar fee 15 years ago, the Motor License Fund only covered about $200 million of the state police budget.
“Now, in the last couple of years, we have gotten to the point where $812 million is being taken out of the Motor License Fund,” said Sturla. “That’s like a third of the Motor License Fund.”
Sturla said state police estimate about $450 million is going to cover services in municipalities or counties without police forces, meaning 20 to 25 percent of the state’s population is taking up more than a third of the department’s $1.2 billion budget. And that cost is being borne by everyone.
“It really does create an unfair, unlevel playing field throughout the state,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sturla said the $812 million amounts to about $4 million per legislative district in the state that is not receiving money to fix roads and bridges that the motoring public has already paid for with various fees or taxes.
The Legislature did cap the amount that can be taken from the $6.2 billion Motor License Fund at $812 million last year and the state is supposed to begin reducing that figure by
$32 million annually, Sturla noted.
To that end, he said the formula he is introducing in this year’s version of the bill begins at about $12.50 per capita on municipalities without police forces, doubles to $25 in the second year, and goes to $37.50 in the third through 10th years for a total $300 million.
“I’ve been pushing this for years and it tends to get blown off,” he said. “I think people are starting to realize we’re not just talking a couple of million dollars anymore – we’re talking $800 million. Now we’re talking real money.”
Barrar said he has already discussed Wolf’s proposal with Concord Township officials, who estimate it could cost their residents an additional $500,000 annually. He said he would have to see exactly what the proposed budget item or legislation says before offering an informed opinion,
but added that he would push for including some tangible benefit to the municipalities affected, such as allocating one or two dedicated troopers to patrol those areas and respond to calls.
Rose Tree Borough Council Vice President David Firn said he understands public safety is an expensive endeavor and that a small municipality like his might find it prohibitive to start up its own force.
Firn said he personally would not be happy paying another $25 per year and that it might be a burden for some. But he said his municipality is happy having the state police cover his “tiny dot” of about 1,000 residents and he would not be opposed to continuing that arrangement.
As everyone noted Friday, however, the budget is still in a very preliminary stage and there is a lot of room for these proposals to change before June.
“The current system is not sustainable for the state police. We can’t be incentivizing municipalities to get rid of their local police department because they feel like they can get the state police for free.” — J.J. Abbott, spokesman for Gov. Tom Wolf