PennsylvaniaSB 10362025-2026 Regular SessionSenateWALLET

An Act amending Title 73 (Townships) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, consolidating the First Class Township Code; and making a repeal.

Sponsored By: Dawn W. Keefer (Republican)

Signed by Governor

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169 provisions identified: 54 benefits, 31 costs, 84 mixed.

Retirement annuities for eligible township workers

Townships may offer retirement annuities to employees with at least 10 years of satisfactory service. Employees must be at least 60 when active employment ends. Payments cannot exceed 50% of the employee’s last pay. The township must meet its minimum pension funding obligation. This benefit is optional for townships, not guaranteed to every employee.

Pension rules for small police forces

Townships with fewer than three full-time police members must establish a pension fund unless a private group already manages one. An ordinance may instead provide investment or insurance arrangements. Officers contribute the same percentage of pay, generally capped at 4% annually, subject to a statutory funding exception. The township must meet its minimum funding obligation, and annual pensions cannot exceed half an officer’s annual pay. An ordinance may require at least 20 years of continuous service and set a retirement age; arrangements also support certain families of injured or killed officers.

Township Workers Keep Retirement Payment Protections

Since December 28, 2020, townships cannot substitute an annuity for employees joining a pension or retirement system. Payment rights under annuities entered before that date remain protected. A two-thirds membership vote can transfer a private police pension group's entire fund, assets, and liabilities to the township. The township must establish a receiving pension fund and continue paying earlier retirees under their existing pension rules.

Townships Can Provide Worker Insurance Benefits

Townships may obtain workers' compensation for employees and recognized volunteer firefighters injured or killed during authorized duties, including fire travel. They may insure township property and liability, and offer group insurance, annuities, or pensions to workers, commissioners, and dependents. Townships may pay all or part of employee annuity or pension premiums; insurance payroll deductions require written approval. Providers must be authorized in Pennsylvania, and coverage must be uniform within covered groups without improperly favoring commissioners. For these benefits, employees exclude independent contractors, the township engineer, and the township solicitor.

Township violations carry fines and detention

Township ordinances must set penalties, capped at $600 per civil violation or $1,000 per criminal violation, plus permitted court costs and reasonable lawyer fees. Each day and ordinance section may count separately; unpaid civil penalties generally require a civil collection case. Listed subjects, including building, housing, health, fire, public safety, parking, and pollution, require criminal summary enforcement, subject to statutory exceptions. Townships may also seek court orders; criminal imprisonment is limited to what summary-offense law allows. Townships may provide temporary lockups, and people arrested for ordinance violations may await hearings or trials there—or in county facilities if no suitable township lockup exists.

Owners face court orders for property nuisances

Courts can declare property a public nuisance when it violates a township ordinance covered by this chapter. Owners may have to correct or remove the nuisance. Uniform Construction Code violations still follow the Pennsylvania Construction Code Act and state labor department enforcement rules.

Owners face sewer hookups and liens

A township can require sewer service for property beside a street containing a sewer. It can also require service when the main building is within 150 feet of the sewer. Owners have 60 days after personal service or registered-mail notice to connect and use it. After that, the township can enter, make the connection, and bill the owner immediately. Unpaid construction costs can become a property lien; the law sets no cost or fee amount.

Owners pay for township-installed water hookups

Owners have 90 days after personal or registered-mail notice to make a required water connection. After that, the township can enter the property, install the connection, and bill the owner. The itemized bill is due immediately unless the board allows equal monthly payments with interest capped at 6%. If an installment and interest remain unpaid for 60 days after the due date, the full unpaid balance and interest become due. The township can collect through a municipal claim or a lawsuit.

Property cleanup bills include 10% penalties

Townships can require owners or occupants to remove nuisances and dangerous structures. If they fail, the township can remove them and collect its costs plus 10%. For health nuisances, officials must first give the owner, agent, or occupant a written order with a reasonable deadline. If that order is ignored, township cleanup expenses plus a 10% penalty are recoverable from the property owner as a nuisance claim. Commissioners can also seek court relief.

Townships set water rates and fees

Townships can charge water rates plus connection, customer-facility, tapping, and similar fees for hookups or increased use. The first rate requires an ordinance; later changes can use a resolution at a public meeting if that ordinance allows. Fees require an ordinance and must follow state calculation rules; tapping fees can repay private parties that financed construction. Rates outside the township remain subject to applicable law and Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission rules. The law sets no prices and does not invalidate rates imposed or adjusted before December 28, 2020.

Township general taxes have set limits

First-class townships can levy an annual general-purpose tax of up to 30 mills on taxable property or occupations. A court can allow up to five additional mills after public notice and a hearing. The board must request the increase by resolution and show due cause. The law authorizes these taxes but does not require a township to charge the maximum.

Assessment Installments Offer Time With Risks

A township ordinance may allow public-improvement assessments to be paid in installments under a written agreement. The ordinance sets payment timing, frequency, and duration; the term cannot exceed 10 years or the funding bonds' maturity, whichever is shorter. Interest is capped at 6% yearly unless bonds were issued, when the Municipal Claim and Tax Lien Law limit applies. Owners may prepay. Once an installment is 60 days late, the remaining assessment, interest, and costs become due.

Required water hookups with private-well exceptions

A township ordinance can require water service when the nearest property line is within 150 feet or the property lacks safe drinking water. An owner newly required to connect after December 28, 2020, has a safe-private-supply exception. The nearby system must have existed on that date, and the owner must not have been required to connect before then. Farms and industries can keep wells operating before that date for nonhuman uses, but must use system water for human consumption. Townships can also require connected owners to install and maintain backflow devices based on the property's potential hazard and applicable law. Violations of connection or backflow rules can bring penalties.

Townships can acquire land for public projects

Townships can take property for authorized public projects through Pennsylvania's eminent-domain process. For agreed street changes, affected owners must receive agreed damages before work proceeds, and agreements and maps must be recorded. When owners dedicate needed land, townships can pay for related sidewalks, curbs, retaining walls, and similar work. Township workers and agents can also enter private land for drains needed to carry water from streets. The law sets no compensation amount for that drainage access.

Townships can take land for buildings

Townships can take private property and previously dedicated land no longer used for its original purpose to build public buildings. Exclusions cover cemeteries, burying grounds, public or parochial schools, educational or charitable institutions, seminaries, and places of worship. Boards must act by ordinance, with compensation and damages governed by state eminent-domain law. Taking previously dedicated public land also requires a court petition and approval of a bond securing compensation. Townships can take public property they control for Pennsylvania National Guard use despite prior use restrictions, but not streets, highways, or wharves.

Water Projects Can Affect Private Property

Townships may use roads and take, damage, or destroy private property to provide, protect, regulate, or extend water systems. They need a Pennsylvania transportation permit before occupying a state-controlled highway. This authority excludes cemetery, worship, school, educational, charitable, and seminary property. If the township and owner cannot agree on compensation, the township must follow Pennsylvania's eminent-domain process.

Civil Service Protections Have Coverage Limits

In covered first-class townships, directly paid police and fire jobs require exams for hiring and promotion. Covered workers receive civil service protections against suspension, removal, and demotion. The rules exclude township police forces with fewer than three members and townships with fewer than three salaried firefighters. They also exclude volunteer fire companies that employ their own firefighters. Townships retain authority over pay and may set required retirement ages.

Discipline Hearings Protect Back Pay Rights

Discipline hearings must occur within 10 days after written charges are filed, unless continued for cause at a party's request. Workers may submit written answers by the hearing, but may be suspended without pay while the case is pending. Charges not upheld require reinstatement with full back pay and no recorded charges; dismissed cases have sealed hearing records. Either side may use counsel and appeal the final order to county court within 30 days; commission suspensions cannot exceed one year. Hearings are private unless either party requests public proceedings before they begin, but decisions occur at public meetings.

Township Pay Rules Set Salaries And Timing

First-class townships must pay police officers a fixed salary, but the law sets no salary amount or payment schedule. Township ordinances set elected officers' pay, with tax collector pay governed by the Local Tax Collection Law. An elected tax collector serving as treasurer may receive separate pay for treasurer work. Elected officers' pay changes start with their next term; the board sets pay for appointed officers and employees.

Local help for veterans and burials

Townships may give a veterans’ home association up to $300 yearly for a local home or meeting facility for war veterans. The association cannot receive support from the federal government or another government agency besides the township. Townships may also buy burial plots for servicepersons eligible for county burial. The person must have died in the township or legally lived there at death. Neither form of help is required.

Property owners can petition for streetwork

Owners holding more than half of the township’s assessed property value can petition for improvements and upkeep of a principal street. The request must call for shared county and township costs. The township board must send an application to the county commissioners. If the board refuses or unduly delays, a township or county citizen taxpayer can seek a court order after a hearing. This process does not guarantee construction.

Township auditors get pay and legal support

Township auditors receive $20 for each necessary workday totaling at least five hours. Annual paid-day limits are 20 below 3,000 residents, 30 for 3,000–9,999, and 40 for 10,000 or more. Auditors can hire counsel for disputes with audited officials or boards after reasonable settlement efforts and notice. The township general fund pays the fee agreed by auditors and commissioners, or set by the court if they disagree.

Voters decide township hydroelectric debt increases

Before building or buying a hydroelectric generating facility, a township must put the proposed debt increase to qualified township voters. The vote follows the rules for increasing municipal debt. The law sets no borrowing amount and does not require voters to approve it.

Older commissioner insurance benefits stay protected

The law protects qualifying township insurance contracts made from January 1, 1959, through December 31, 1984. Including commissioners without lawful authority alone does not void those life, health, hospitalization, medical-service, or accident policies. Participation alone on that basis cannot trigger penalties or similar action. Benefits for deaths, injuries, accidents, or illnesses before November 29, 1985, belong to insured people or their beneficiaries.

Property Owners Get Assessment Appeal Rights

Townships must notify assessed owners, include any required assessment certificate, and explain the 30-day appeal deadline after receipt. Assessments take effect 30 days after notice; posting is allowed only after reasonable personal-service and certified-mail attempts fail. A separate court petition challenging benefits must be filed within 90 days after the assessment certificate is issued. Joining taxpayers must represent at least 50% of affected parcels or assessed taxable property value. Filing pauses the assessment and related proceedings while the court considers appointing three independent reviewers.

Protected grounds need consent for streets

Townships need the owner’s prior consent before laying out and opening streets through cemeteries, burial grounds, or listed institutional grounds. Protection also covers grounds occupied by buildings used for worship, school, education, charity, or seminary.

Township takings protect sites and neighbors

Townships cannot take land occupied by specified Colonial or Revolutionary assembly buildings, forts, redoubts, blockhouses, or Continental Army headquarters. Protection also covers qualifying historic building or military sites preserved for historic associations, not private profit. The law treats September 3, 1783, as the end of that historical period. For public takings other than streets, townships cannot charge neighboring property for the taken property's value or damage.

Injury coverage for township contract workers

Township contracts for construction or other labor must require contractors to accept workers’ compensation law and insure their liability. Contractors must file required insurance-exemption certificates and accepted employee religious-exemption applications with the township. A contract signed in violation of these requirements is void.

Job protections for township safety workers

Police and fire personnel appointed before their civil service commission was created can keep their jobs without most chapter exams. This includes chiefs, but excludes temporary emergency workers; promotion exams still apply. Civil service applications and exams cannot seek information barred by federal or Pennsylvania antidiscrimination laws. Protected information disclosed by applicants must be ignored, and unlawful discrimination against applicants or employees is banned. Offering or accepting rewards for actions or omissions under the civil service chapter is also banned.

Covered businesses avoid township license fees

Townships cannot charge sample-based merchandise order takers a license fee or mercantile tax when their principal pays it at its main business location. This protection does not waive required fees for retail sales to buyers other than dealers or merchants. State-authorized insurance companies, agents, and brokers are exempt from township license fees. Pennsylvania manufacturers and their representatives also avoid license fees on covered in-state goods when equivalent out-of-state sellers cannot legally be charged.

Emergency companies can join township fuel contracts

First-class townships can let paid or volunteer fire, rescue, and ambulance companies join township fuel-buying contracts. A company must request participation through the township secretary and accept the township's terms. It must pay the vendor directly. The township must require prices that include delivery to the destination. Participation is optional, and the law guarantees no price or savings.

Local controls on fire and smoke

Townships may regulate or ban making fireworks and dangerous or flammable articles, consistent with state and federal law. They may permit and regulate fireworks displays, control storage of flammable articles, and adopt public-safety safeguards. Townships may regulate smoke emissions except from locomotive smokestacks, unless state or federal law bars the regulation. They may also restrict smoking, carrying lit smoking materials or matches, and using fire-making devices. Those rules cannot conflict with Pennsylvania’s Clean Indoor Air Act.

Local support for National Guard units

Townships may give a National Guard unit up to $1,500 each year for support, maintenance, discipline, and training. The Adjutant General must certify that the unit passed its annual inspection. The commanding officer must document spending with vouchers each year. No later-year grant is allowed until the prior year’s spending is satisfactorily accounted for.

Municipalities can share water system management

Townships may join other municipalities to build or acquire and maintain a shared water system. Participants may create an advisory and administrative commission by ordinance. Each municipality receives equal representation, and commission members serve six-year terms. Municipalities may authorize staff and share meeting compensation costs; members may receive reimbursement for actual expenses. These powers do not set household water rates or require connections.

Residents get required township newspaper notices

Required township notices must appear in a general-circulation newspaper printed locally, or circulating locally if none is printed there. Some court, debt-election, and bond notices in second- through fifth-class counties also require publication in the county legal newspaper. A court can waive that extra requirement. Ordinances, audit statements and summaries, public bid ads, and delinquent-taxpayer lists appear only in general-circulation newspapers.

Rules for township lawyers and engineers

Boards may appoint a Pennsylvania-licensed township lawyer, set pay, and hire special counsel; these lawyers serve at the board’s pleasure. Departments and officers generally need board consent or later approval to hire additional lawyers, unless state law allows otherwise. Township lawyers handle legal documents, lawsuits, defenses, and requested written opinions. The township engineer handles board-directed work on streets, bridges, culverts, and other projects, including authorized surveys, plans, estimates, and reports.

Safeguards for township money and property

Township controllers must separately track property, trusts, debts owed to the township, department income and spending, and approved spending limits and withdrawals. Managers and staff directly serving under manager agreements fall under Pennsylvania’s public-official ethics restrictions. Boards may require a manager’s performance bond, with the amount set locally, or buy insurance instead. Commissioners who approve or knowingly join unlawful property sales or leases face repayment charges limited to the township’s resulting loss.

Safety rules govern township railroad crossings

New township streets crossing railroads must pass above or below the tracks unless the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission allows a track-level crossing. Building or closing a railroad street crossing must follow the commission’s rules and oversight. Damages to neighboring property owners follow the Public Utility Code.

Street closures require safeguards for travel

Street closures generally require a board order; authorized officials may close streets immediately for public safety, only as long as necessary. Officials must immediately set a detour, and the township must notify the state when state-highway or state-designated detours begin or end. Closing a state-designated detour generally requires the transportation secretary’s written consent or a board public-safety resolution, except in immediate emergencies. Moving, changing the grade of, or permanently closing a connecting street requires approval from the neighboring municipality or the specified court. Each municipality governs its own street portion; bridges over railroads cannot obstruct rail operations, and other legal requirements remain in force.

Township agreements survive the code replacement

Ongoing township activities continue and may be completed under the replacement code. Existing orders, rules, regulations, and decisions stay in effect until changed or ended under the new law. Repealing the old code does not impair contracts, obligations, or collective bargaining agreements, except as the new statutory parts provide.

Township officers get clear tenure protections

Elected officers' terms begin the first Monday in January after election, subject to vacancy rules. Outgoing officers cannot stay beyond that day after a successor is elected. Elected officers and appointees filling elected vacancies can be removed only through impeachment, qualifying conviction, or the specified Governor-led process. Removal by the Governor requires reasonable cause, notice, a full hearing, and advice from two-thirds of the Senate. A court case can still challenge who legally holds office.

Townships appoint treasurers and backup officers

Commissioners must appoint a treasurer, set the pay, and can remove the treasurer at their pleasure. The treasurer can be the elected tax collector or a township employee, but not a commissioner. A tax collector serving as treasurer can receive pay for that work. Within 60 days of appointment, the treasurer must nominate a bonded deputy for board appointment to serve when needed. If the treasurer cannot act and nominated nobody, the board can appoint a deputy; an acting deputy needs the same bond.

Townships can add facilities and trees

Townships may acquire property to provide, maintain, and operate public facilities, such as waiting stations and drinking fountains. They may accept, buy, or plant shade trees and shrubs along streets, highways, and sidewalks, or contribute toward planting. Township care and control of shade trees must follow the code’s tree-care rules. The law requires no facility purchase or planting and sets no funding amount.

Townships can fund fire and rescue

Townships may fund fire equipment and stations or contract with and give grants to nearby municipalities or volunteer fire companies. Those contracts and grants must provide fire protection in the township; boards may regulate the companies and officers providing it. Board presidents may confirm nominated volunteer special fire police and administer their oaths. Townships may operate vehicles that take sick or injured people to and from hospitals. They may also fund ambulance, rescue, and lifesaving services and contract for rescue and lifesaving services.

Townships can fund local community programs

First-class townships can fund celebrations, anniversaries, civic projects, civic programs, and neighborhood crime watches. They can support nonprofits that acquire and maintain historic properties, but money must go toward buying, restoring, or maintaining them. Annual grants to nonprofit art corporations can support arts and culture. Arts grants cannot exceed the revenue equivalent of one mill of real estate tax. These grants and spending choices are optional.

Townships can fund local conservation groups

First-class townships can give money to their conservation district and nonprofit groups serving a watershed that serves the township. Watershed groups cannot use this money to sue a municipality or seek legal relief against an individual landowner. Neither type of funding is required, and the law sets no amount.

Townships can organize local police services

Townships may create, equip, and maintain police forces, set duties, and choose staffing, ranks, and pay under applicable civil service rules. Boards must issue organization rules, subject to the code’s stated exception, and officers must follow board orders or formally designated supervisors. On-duty officers must wear a badge or shield marked “Township Police” and the township’s name. Boards may take steps to protect people and property. They may also offer rewards for information leading to arrest and conviction for crimes committed in the township.

Townships can run shared recreation programs

Townships may operate parks, recreation facilities, and programs, hire staff, or assign these powers to an agency or board by ordinance. A local recreation board has five or seven unpaid members who live in or own property in the township. After initial terms, members serve five-year terms and may be removed only for misconduct or failure to perform their duties. Townships may also join municipal recreation boards to acquire property and operate facilities; school districts may participate and provide money. Participating municipalities pay joint-board costs under their cooperation agreement.

Townships can share services and purchasing

Townships may make agreements for joint purchasing, shared government work, public-safety assistance, and related spending. Police, fire, and other public-safety agreements do not require advertised bids or contract bonds. Personnel supplied under those agreements receive the legal powers of corresponding personnel within the contracting township. Agreements must follow Pennsylvania’s intergovernmental cooperation law and other applicable laws.

Townships can support transit and biking

First-class townships can use current revenue to support urban public transportation. Annual payments to county transportation departments or urban transit authorities can cover operations, upkeep, improvements, and debt payments. Townships can make long-term payment agreements. They can also build and maintain bike paths for travelers' safety or convenience. The law requires neither spending nor construction and sets no amount.

Townships gain police service options

Townships can contract for police officers, buy police services, or join regional forces under state intergovernmental cooperation rules. Boards can send officers to federal, state, or county training and pay their expenses. Boards can designate police leaders and other officers, who remain until qualified successors are designated. Townships and officials face no liability solely from making an appropriation under the neighborhood crime watch provision. That protection does not cover unrelated liability.

Townships gain water options and safeguards

Townships may buy water from an adjoining municipality with a water system, a municipal authority, or a private company. They may instead build and run their own systems and develop independent supplies without buying outside water. Certified plans, surveys, and proposed water sources must be filed with the state environmental agency and other legally required agencies. Required permits must be issued before construction starts. Townships may create water districts, but must divide costs fairly by resolution and charge each district only its share of shared facilities.

Townships manage public trees and forests

The board appoints three or five township residents as unpaid shade tree commissioners, with staggered initial terms and later five-year terms. Vacancies are filled for the remaining term. The commission controls public shade trees, subject to the road-right-of-way exception; hiring workers requires board approval. Tree regulations need board approval and at least one newspaper publication before taking effect. Townships may also buy, receive, or lease forested or tree-growing land inside or outside their borders for township benefit, using scientific forestry practices.

Townships must ensure emergency services

First-class townships must ensure that fire and emergency medical services are provided within their borders. Each township chooses how to provide services and how much financial or administrative support to give. Townships must consult service providers about local needs. Groups receiving township money must submit annual itemized spending lists before the township considers budgeting more money for them.

Townships must meet and open records

First-class township commissioners must meet at least once each month. An ordinance sets the meeting time and place. Township minutes, records, and documents must be open for inspection under Pennsylvania's Right-to-Know Law.

Townships must open and maintain streets

First-class townships must open laid-out public streets as soon as practical and pay for repairs and reasonable year-round clearance. Streets covered by opening proceedings must physically open within five years after those proceedings end. If a street stays unopened and no case to compel opening begins within five years, the proceedings become void. The land then returns to its owners free of public-use rights or easements.

Voters can petition for township ward changes

At least 5% of registered township voters can petition commissioners to start ward proceedings. For a proposal affecting only part of the township, 5% of registered voters in the affected ward can petition. Commissioners must decide by majority-approved motion within 90 days. Without an approved motion, 10 registered voters can ask a court to review alleged ward-number or ward-composition violations.

Townships can fund community health care

First-class townships with at least 2,000 residents can fund incorporated charitable hospitals that treat township residents. Township boards can also make annual grants to nonprofit groups providing listed community health services. These include nursing for elderly and needy people, disease control, child immunization or health centers, and prenatal and family guidance. Funding is optional, and the law sets no amount or individual entitlement.

Townships can fund substance abuse programs

First-class townships can use general funds each year for drug and alcohol education and program development. Commissioners decide whether to provide money and how to divide it. They can also support existing programs in nearby communities or the county that serve township residents. The law sets no funding amount.

Townships can help fund food distribution

First-class townships can pay to handle, store, and distribute surplus food obtained through federal, state, or local agencies. The law does not require spending or set a funding amount. It does not establish recipient eligibility or guarantee food assistance.

Townships can support nonprofit medical facilities

First-class townships can help buy, build, maintain, or support medical centers and hospital buildings. Purchases or construction costing more than $100,000 need approval from the appropriate health planning agency. Townships can also sell land to nonprofit medical service corporations for exclusive use as medical facility sites. They can sell personal property for use at those facilities. The law requires no spending or sale and sets no sale price.

Townships set up local health oversight

First-class townships can create a health board or health officer by ordinance, or dissolve either and use county-level health services. Officers need public-health training or experience and state certification within six months after taking their oath; townships pay their expenses. Boards have three or five members, including a health professional with at least two years of experience. If none can be found, commissioners can publicly appoint someone with public-health knowledge or experience. Board secretaries must keep meeting and spending records, handle bills, prepare annual reports and budget estimates, and report communicable diseases at legally required intervals and annually.

Townships Can Support Housing And Neighborhoods

First-class townships may undertake public housing, urban renewal, model cities, and neighborhood development programs. They may sell township land to nonprofit housing corporations exclusively for housing older people. They may also sell personal property for those corporations to use. The law does not require programs or sales, set funding or sale prices, or establish household eligibility.

Spending limits protect township public funds

Township appropriations cannot exceed estimated available revenue, and spending cannot exceed the amount approved for its purpose. Treasury payments require a lawful appropriation; supplemental appropriations may use uncommitted money on hand or expected, including authorized borrowing. Transfers require a resolution and are barred during the fiscal year’s first three months. Debt funds and money raised by special taxes or assessments for a specific purpose cannot be transferred. Older debts can use current-year funds only from estimated excess revenue or an established year-end surplus, limited to that excess.

Township audits require public financial reports

Auditors must review and settle township officers’ accounts for the previous fiscal year, generally where the records are kept. They must examine available district judge records of township fines and costs and may charge judges for unlawfully undercharged fines. The board may also direct an audit after an officer dies or leaves office. Auditors must finish the annual audit before June 30 and file a signed, verified uniform report with required offices by June 30. Within 10 days after finishing, they must publish key audited figures and explain where the full statements and report are available.

Township money gets handling and record safeguards

Treasurers must promptly deposit township money, keep accounts open to inspection, submit annual accounts for audit, and transfer records and balances to successors. Payments require available funds and an authorized board order, signed and attested by designated officers, identifying the appropriation. Unauthorized or excess payments receive no credit in account settlement and create no claim against the township. Boards may buy insurance instead of bonds for treasurers and deputies, but not for tax-collector duties. Secretaries must record board actions and appropriations and preserve records; the township must supply office equipment that remains township property.

Townships can build and fund airports

Townships can acquire land, build and run airports, and lease land for aviation inside or outside township borders. They can also operate airports jointly with other municipalities under intergovernmental cooperation rules. Taking land outside township borders must follow the applicable eminent-domain limits. Townships can fund another municipality's or airport authority's facilities, including facilities outside the township. The law requires no appropriation and sets no funding amount.

Townships can fund industry and tourism

Townships can give money to industrial development agencies. They can also fund promotional work each year by agencies that qualify under the Tourism Promotion Act. Neither authority requires funding or sets an amount.

Townships can save within reserve limits

Townships can save for named capital assets and eligible operating needs. Repurposing capital reserves needs a four-fifths vote finding the original purpose impractical, inadvisable, impossible, or another capital need more urgent. Money restricted to a particular purpose cannot become unrestricted reserves, and capital investments must use legally approved securities. Operating reserve appropriations cannot push the balance above 25% of estimated current-year general fund revenue. Withdrawals require a resolution for listed emergencies, shortfalls, cost increases, or planned operating needs; planned projects need separate restricted accounts.

Safeguards protect township money in banks

Township boards must choose Pennsylvania banks or trust companies by resolution, lasting one year or until replaced. Treasurers must place township funds there in the township's name, with federal deposit insurance to applicable limits. Depositories must secure public deposits under Pennsylvania law and report collateral and market values within 15 days after each month ends. Townships can require collateral in their name for uninsured deposits; instead of a Federal Home Loan Bank letter of credit, collateral must cover at least 102% and be valued weekly. Insured amounts need no bond or collateral, and officials acting lawfully are not liable for losses caused solely by depository insolvency or negligence.

Ignoring street closures brings penalties

Willfully damaging or disregarding lawful closure warnings, or driving on a properly closed street, is a summary offense. A person left without another outlet can use the street under reasonable township conditions without those penalties. The township, its agents, or contractors can also recover damages for harm to the closed street. Collected money goes to the township treasurer.

Loose animals face seizure and owner charges

Townships can restrict dogs and other animals from running loose and can seize and hold them. They can impose reasonable related charges and allow animals to be sold for the township's benefit. They can also authorize euthanasia of dogs running loose. The law sets no charge amount.

Townships can charge facility users

First-class townships can set and regulate charges for using township facilities. The law does not set a price or require a charge. Users' costs depend on local decisions.

Boundary homeowners can face street assessments

Townships may assess properties on either side of a boundary street located entirely within the township. This includes properties outside the township. A charged property must abut the street, benefit from the improvement, and lie within 150 feet of its center line. The law sets no assessment amount.

Boundary street work can cost homeowners

A township can improve a boundary street when more than half its width lies within the township. It can assess benefited properties beside the street, including properties outside the township. The assessment area reaches 150 feet plus half the street's width, measured from its center line. The law sets no assessment rate or individual charge.

Property owners face sidewalk repair bills

First-class townships can require abutting owners to build or replace sidewalks, with at least 60 days after notice. Owners must also keep sidewalks safe and clear, including along State highways and county roads. Routine repair or obstruction notices allow 30 days to comply. After either deadline, townships can recover work costs plus a 10% penalty through a property lien. An inspected, serious immediate danger allows just 48 hours after notice and a report; township repair costs become a lien.

Property owners pay shade-tree work costs

Abutting property owners must pay for shade-tree planting, moving, or removal, including tree protection and disturbed pavement or sidewalk repairs. Township work is assessed under state rules, and a benefit-based assessment cannot exceed actual cost. A shade tree commission can order removal of diseased trees threatening township shade trees after giving the required notice. If an owner fails to comply, the township can do the work and charge the cost. Ordinance-set penalties for tree-rule violations become liens on the offender's real estate and can be collected as municipal claims.

Sewer customers pay fees and recurring charges

Connected properties must pay recurring township sewer charges, and unpaid charges become property liens. Townships can also charge connection, customer facilities, and tapping fees when owners connect or increase system use. Initial rates require an ordinance; later changes by resolution need that ordinance's approval and a public meeting. On request, water utilities must supply billing data by the next month's 15th day to help calculate sewer rates. Townships may repay reasonable, necessary data preparation costs; the law sets no household rate or fee amount.

Street approval does not guarantee maintenance

People proposing public streets or connected drainage must submit plans showing street profiles, drainage capacity, and drainage for nearby land. Construction, opening, or dedication requires compliance with approved, recorded plans; municipal planning law also applies to covered development plans. Public authorities need not provide facilities or work for streets built without that compliance. Authorities take no responsibility until formal acceptance by ordinance or deed of dedication. Plan approval alone does not require the township to build, maintain, repair, or grade a street.

Townships Can Regulate Homes And Fences

First-class townships may adopt and enforce building and housing ordinances under the township code. They may also regulate foundations, shared walls, and dividing fences, subject to state construction law and other applicable laws. Townships may charge reasonable fees for wall, fence, and similar adjustment services. The law sets no specific building standard or fee amount here.

Townships can require property ownership information

First-class townships can create property-owner registries by ordinance, consistent with the state deed-registration law. They must name someone to maintain the registry, with free access to public records. Townships can require owners to provide information relevant to enforcing township ordinances, as allowed by law. The law does not require a registry or set a fee.

Unpaid Property Bills Face Collection Actions

Assessments unpaid 60 days after personal notice can face municipal claims or lawsuits unless an installment agreement exists. Interest runs from project completion, capped at 6% yearly unless bond financing triggers the Municipal Claim and Tax Lien Law limit. Townships may also personally sue the owner responsible for improvement, water, sewer, or nuisance-removal bills, even without filing a lien. Those personal lawsuits must begin within six years after project completion or when the service or nuisance-removal bill becomes payable.

Limits on township safety job applicants

Township civil service commissions can refuse to test or certify applicants for police or paid firefighter jobs. Grounds include unmet minimum qualifications, physical unfitness, illegal controlled-substance use, and specified criminal or disgraceful conduct. Other grounds include dismissal from public service for delinquency or misconduct and legally defined affiliation with groups subversive to government.

Improved property can face midyear taxes

At the township board's request, the county must reassess qualifying taxable property built or substantially improved after January 1. This applies to property not already on the township tax list and not exempt under the section. Tax applies at the reassessed value for the remaining share of the fiscal year. An improvement counts from the first day of the month in which it was made. Owners retain statutory appeal and adjustment rights.

Township taxes cover buildings and debt

First-class townships can levy annual taxes to acquire a lot, build a municipal building, or pay related debt. Building taxes can continue only as long as needed. Townships can also levy enough to pay principal and interest on legally incurred township debt. When debts exceed what a township can collect through taxes in one year, a court can order a special tax. The court can spread collection over successive years when other necessary taxes make one-year collection inadvisable; no fixed rates are stated.

Unlawful street construction brings criminal liability

People who violate requirements for public streets or connected drainage construction commit a third-degree misdemeanor. They also owe costs and damages incurred by townships or property owners to correct substantive violations from the unlawful work. Recovered money goes to the township treasurer.

Townships can license businesses and sellers

First-class townships can prohibit, license, or regulate businesses unless another law bars it, including harmful businesses and salvage yards. They can charge for approved temporary market use of public spaces and issue licenses under the state closing-out-sale law. Township ordinances can require transient retailers to get a license before operating, with penalties up to $300. Transient-retailer fees must reasonably reflect administration, regulation, inspection, and supervision costs. Exemptions cover farmers selling their own produce, qualifying donated-property charity sales, and producers selling bread, bakery, meat, or milk products.

Some municipalities can tax business receipts

Qualifying first-class townships and home rule municipalities formerly in that class can collect mercantile and business privilege taxes on gross receipts. The municipality must have more than 70,000 residents. It must also have levied, assessed, collected, or provided for a mercantile gross-receipts tax before December 1, 1988. The authority covers tax years beginning January 1, 1998, and later years, despite the specified state tax-reform restriction. No tax rate is set here.

Mine operators must provide township maps

Mine and quarry owners, operators, or superintendents must provide maps, plans, and drawings required by their first-class township. This applies when the operation lies wholly or partly in the township. Records must be updated at least every three months, but can leave out extensions made in the preceding 30 days. Authorized township staff can enter and survey at reasonable times without disrupting operations. Operators must provide the means to enter, survey, and leave.

Townships fund association dues and delegates

Townships joining the State association of township commissioners must pay its dues and can cover meeting and conference costs. For each annual meeting and educational conference, commissioners must name at least one officer delegate. They can name up to two additional officers and authorize employees to attend. Itemized accounts are required for payment of registration, mileage or actual transportation, and other actual expenses the board agreed to cover. The board can authorize employee pay and documented commissioner lost wages, but lost-wage or salary reimbursement is capped at four days, including travel.

Civil service commissioners face service limits

Civil service commissions write and enforce their rules, but township boards must approve rules before they take effect. Boards cannot write those rules themselves, though commission rules must reflect board-adopted minimum qualifications for police and paid firefighters. Civil service commissioners cannot receive pay for serving. They cannot hold another federal, state, or Pennsylvania local government office, except one member may also be a township commissioner.

Street utility work requires cost-limited permits

Entities placing listed facilities in township streets must get permits and follow township rules. Covered facilities include pipes, conduits, poles, and railways. Permit fees cannot exceed the reasonable cost of issuing the permit and inspecting the work. Fees go into the township treasury.

Townships must pay eligible state health costs

Townships must pay state health department expenses incurred locally for which the township is legally responsible. After more than three months unpaid following a statement and demand, the Health Secretary must sue with the Governor's approval. A jury decides whether the expenses were reasonable. This assigns costs to townships, not directly to residents.

Townships pay ordinance-related prisoner confinement costs

Townships must pay confinement expenses for people held pending hearing or trial under the township ordinance commitment provision. Counties are not responsible for those expenses. This rule does not charge the confined person.

Local parking charges and access rules

Townships may regulate parking and lots, set meter charges, acquire land, and operate parking facilities. They may reserve spaces for people with disabilities; existing disability-rights protections remain in effect. Parking fines and fees must follow Pennsylvania’s vehicle law. Boards may annually fund improvements to streets wholly or partly in the township when they find parking availability has harmed them. The law sets no charge, fine, or required spending amount.

Township commissioner pay has population-based caps

Annual commissioner pay caps, based on the latest federal census, are $3,145 below 5,000 residents and $4,190 for 5,000–9,999. Caps are $5,450 for 10,000–14,999; $6,915 for 15,000–24,999; $7,335 for 25,000–34,999; and $8,385 for 35,000–44,999. At 45,000 or more, the cap is $210 for every 1,000 residents or fraction thereof. Meeting-based pay uses the same caps and covers attended, advertised meetings, with no pay for unexcused absences. Pay changes start with the commissioner's next term; population drops do not require pay cuts.

Townships can charge for waste services

Townships may regulate and provide waste and recycling services and set service charges under Pennsylvania’s waste and recycling laws. They may operate or fund waste, recycling, and composting facilities, including services through other municipalities or municipal authorities. Hauler contracts may last up to five years, with renewals of up to five years. Contracts with private disposal or incineration facility owners may last up to 20 years. These contract limits do not apply to agreements with another political subdivision or municipal authority.

Acquired Community Sewers Carry Capped Charges

Townships must operate acquired community sewers for existing users and accessible properties, up to system capacity. Connected properties pay board-set charges limited to estimated operation, maintenance, and a future replacement reserve. These charges become liens on the property. Receipts stay in a special fund for system operation, maintenance, and replacement when necessary and economically desirable.

Improvement Bills Must Reflect Property Benefits

Townships must set assessment methods by ordinance and fairly divide improvement costs in proportion to property benefits. Front-foot bills equal the allocated cost divided by total frontage, multiplied by each property's frontage, with fair special-case adjustments. Generally, one method applies per improvement, though separate water or sewer districts may use different methods consistently within each district. Engineers must permanently record binding start and whole-contract completion dates for improvements funded partly or fully by bordering owners. When damages and assessed benefits overlap, they offset: owners receive excess damages or owe excess benefits, with damages measured under eminent-domain law.

Property Owners Can Face Improvement Assessments

Townships may charge benefited properties some or all costs of roads, water, sewers, drainage, docks, lighting, and shade trees. They may instead use general or dedicated public funds; assessment receipts must repay related borrowing when borrowing funded the work. Owners bordering improved streets may owe the full cost, the balance after outside contributions, or part of the cost. Benefited property outside the township can be assessed only within 150 feet of the improvement. Townships may also provide and protect street lighting, assess lighting costs, and operate traffic signals under state vehicle law.

Roadside owners face clearing and fences

Townships can clear trees, brush, refuse, and other obstructions within a public road's legal width. Abutting owners own the resulting wood only if they remove it within 10 days after notice. Townships can also enter nearby private land to place snow fences within 100 feet of the road's right-of-way line. Fences cannot go up before November 1 or remain after April 1 without the owner's written consent. If compensation or damages are disputed, owners can request a formal assessment by viewers; the township general fund pays assessed damages.

Rules govern township property takings

Before taking or using private property for an authorized purpose, a township must declare its intent by ordinance or resolution. This does not authorize new reasons to take property. Unless another law says otherwise, property acquired outside street, highway, or easement purposes generally passes into full township ownership. Parties can agree in writing to a different ownership interest. For real estate, that agreement must appear in the recorded deed or condemnation notice.

Sewer Construction Charges Have Property Limits

Townships may build sewers and drains in public roads or across private property. Construction costs, damages, and expenses may come from general taxes, assessments on benefited properties, or both. Property assessments cannot exceed the benefit received, and costs not legally chargeable to properties come from the general fund. Sewer districts cannot pay more than their share of jointly used systems, and property charges within districts cannot exceed estimates.

Sewer expansion can bring property charges

Townships may acquire community sewage systems by ordinance through purchase, gift, or eminent domain, and may enlarge them. For eminent-domain acquisitions, benefited properties pay costs based on benefits received; the township pays any shortfall. Sewer lines may cross private land when the board finds street or highway routes reasonably impracticable. Townships may acquire sewer land and facilities, including future expansion sites inside or outside their borders, subject to eminent-domain requirements.

Shared sewer projects can bring property assessments

Townships can approve privately financed sewer systems, with board-set fees and a reserved right to take possession later. They can build beneath State or county highways within township borders with the highway agency's consent. They can connect to neighboring sewers by agreement; disputes can go to court-appointed viewers to divide costs. The court must find that a connection will not impair the existing sewer. Joint sewer agreements must divide costs, may assess benefited properties, and require every participating municipality's approval before joint-board spending.

Street changes bring notice and fees

Petitions for listed street changes or grades need a majority of abutting owners by both number and ownership interest, a sworn statement, and reasonable township-set fees. Fees can cover advertising, engineering, hearings, and legal work; co-owners of one property count as one person. Before listed street work or vacation ordinances, boards must give adjacent owners 10 days' written hearing notice. Adequate petitions also require newspaper and posted hearing notices, followed by proposed-ordinance notice if the board proceeds. After the board files its report and street plan, affected residents or owners have 30 days to object, with financial security covering proceeding costs.

Township street work can affect landowners

Townships may buy or take land or easements to widen streets, remove dangerous curves, or clear drivers’ views. Eminent-domain rules govern damages, and owners may keep using land acquired for visibility only without blocking the view. Street changes inside or beside a qualifying public park require the park owner’s written consent and an agreement adopted by ordinance. These rules cover parks inside the township owned and operated by the state, a county, or another municipality. Altered or relocated streets become township streets within 30 days, with township upkeep; affected landowners may seek eminent-domain damages.

Townships can enforce building and property rules

Townships may adopt construction rules meeting or exceeding the state code; stricter rules must meet state-law standards. They may also adopt recognized property maintenance codes, with changes, and set reasonable fines and penalties. Inspectors must respect constitutional limits, and townships may seek court orders against maintenance violations. If legislative action or a final court order ends state-code coverage, townships may regulate construction, safety, maintenance, use, and occupancy. That backup power applies only after appeals expire or end and allows plan approval, constitutionally limited inspections, and court enforcement.

Alternate Hiring Paths For Public Safety

An urgent police vacancy with no eligibility-list candidates can be filled provisionally after a noncompetitive exam confirms qualifications. Within 90 days, the competitive exam, eligibility list, and regular appointment process must be completed. Former qualified police officers or paid firefighters can return to vacancies caused by retirement, resignation, disability, or death. They usually need no new exam, except a commission-directed physical exam or testing required by the board or law.

Hiring safeguards for police and firefighters

Covered townships must appoint three local electors to a civil service commission, with initial terms of two, four, and six years. Later terms last six years; chief nominees can take a noncompetitive exam but need commission certification before appointment. Original police and paid firefighter appointments require six to 12 months of probation, with dismissal limited to listed causes or alcohol- or drug-related incapacity. At probation’s end, denying permanent status for poor conduct or fitness requires written notice; retention without notice or dismissal makes the appointment permanent. Promotions use practical exams: the board chooses on merit and fitness from the three highest-scoring available candidates examined within two years, subject to allowed objections.

Older township pensions retain special protections

The law protects qualifying pension contracts made January 1, 1959, through December 31, 1984, despite unauthorized inclusion of officials. Participation alone does not trigger the specified penalties or discipline. Township-funded benefits and remaining interests must return to the township as specified. Officials who personally contributed get contributions plus interest, minus prior payments, when benefits are transferred. The historical purchase option required election within 60 days of November 29, 1985, plus valuation and administrative costs.

Police And Fire Applicants Face Screening

Applicants for covered police and paid firefighter jobs must be at least 18 when applying. They must meet minimum qualifications, pass required exams, and undergo job-related fitness testing and background checks. Physical and psychological medical exams occur only after a conditional offer; promotion exams may also include fitness or medical testing. If an examiner questions job ability, the township must discuss reasonable accommodation and give written notice of any disqualification. Townships may accept nonresidents but require them to move after appointment under board rules or labor agreements or awards.

Police And Fire Discipline Has Limits

Covered police and fire workers face unpaid suspension, removal, or demotion only for legally listed grounds. These include specified disability, misconduct, criminal violations, on-duty intoxication, and campaign activity; removal cannot rest on religion, race, or politics. Workers must receive written charges within five days after filing and have 10 days after receipt to request a hearing. Bargaining-unit workers may challenge discipline through civil service procedures or grievance arbitration, but choosing one blocks the other.

Ranked Hiring Lists Guide Public Safety Jobs

Qualified candidates are ranked by exam scores, including veterans' preference points. Lists last one year; a majority commission vote before expiration can extend them up to 12 more months. For each original vacancy other than chief, the board chooses on merit and fitness from the top three available candidates. Fewer names are allowed when three are unavailable, and objections must rest on legally listed grounds. Applicants refused testing or certification can request a public hearing, which must be scheduled within 10 days, with optional counsel and a public decision.

School crossing guards have benefit limits

Township boards may appoint school crossing guards by resolution and set their pay. Uniformed guards may direct traffic and pedestrians only at or near schools. Guards serve at the board’s pleasure, lack the code’s civil service protections, and cannot join township pension funds. The township and school district may share pay costs by agreement, or equally if they cannot agree.

School districts can oversee crossing guards

School districts can hire and oversee crossing guards after both school and township boards approve the arrangement by resolution. The township resolution must explain how police will provide needed training and assistance. The school district sets and pays any compensation. Guards do not receive civil service status, bargaining-unit membership, school-employee status, or township or school pension and benefit coverage.

Seniority Controls Police And Fire Furloughs

When a township reduces its paid police or fire workforce, the most recently appointed workers are furloughed first. If the force grows again, furloughed workers return by seniority. These rules include probationary workers but exclude police and fire chiefs.

Township managers face contract limits

Manager contracts cannot extend beyond the board's organizational meeting after the next municipal election. Contracts signed after that election but before the first January organizational meeting are void. Contracts may provide severance or termination pay, but cannot guarantee continued employment or let managers demand court-ordered retention. Managers cannot also serve as township commissioners. That officeholding ban also covers staff directly serving the township through a management company.

Township pay and training reimbursements regulated

Officers can claim eligible county association conference or training expenses with an attendance certificate and an itemized account. Boards may approve regular employee pay and reimburse commissioners for documented lost wages or salary. Boards must set controller salaries by ordinance at least 30 days before the controller's election. Changes to controller pay or other compensation take effect only at the start of the next term.

Township police get protections and restrictions

Police removal, suspension, or demotion must follow applicable procedures, including the specified 1951 law for covered forces below three members. Otherwise, the applicable police and firefighter civil service rules govern. Officers cannot hold most other public offices, except constable, health officer, or school director in a second-class county. An officer serving as school director cannot also serve as that district's school police officer. Officers cannot campaign on duty, in uniform, or using township property, but retain their right to vote.

Local tax funds upfront improvement costs

First-class townships can levy up to five mills yearly for a revolving public-improvement fund. It pays upfront for permanent street, sidewalk, water-supply, and sewer work before related costs are collected from property owners. The fund can also receive township general-obligation bond proceeds. Collections must return to the fund up to the amount withdrawn for each improvement.

Local tax supports township worker pensions

First-class townships can levy up to one-half mill yearly for employee pensions, retirement benefits, or annuity contracts. The money must stay in a separate fund and serve only those purposes. The law allows this tax but does not require a levy.

Local taxes fund fire and rescue

First-class townships can levy up to three mills yearly for fire equipment, companies, protection, training, and facilities; higher rates need voter approval. Fire-suppression pay can use no more than half the revenue, capped at one mill. A separate tax supports ambulance, rescue, and other emergency services serving the township. That tax is capped at one-half mill, or three mills with voter approval; no more than half normally pays employees. The board can waive either employee-pay limit by resolution for a calendar year.

Township taxes support parks and trees

First-class townships can levy up to one-tenth mill yearly for supervised shade-tree care and notices about tree meetings. They can fund tree maintenance from the general fund instead. Townships can also levy taxes to build, maintain, and run parks, recreation facilities, and programs. Recreation taxes can cover authorized joint projects with other local governments, and this provision sets no fixed rate or cap.

Auditors can demand records and testimony

Township auditors can subpoena testimony and records relevant to township accounts and administer oaths. If someone refuses to appear, provide records, or testify, auditors must ask the county court for a subpoena. The court must issue it if the requested material is relevant, and false sworn statements are perjury. Auditors who fail audit duties commit a summary offense, including when failure to prepare a statement causes a late report. A secretary's refusal or willful failure to file the report is also a summary offense.

Controllers oversee township accounts and contracts

Controllers oversee township money, property, and accounts, file annual audit reports and financial statements, and promptly report discovered problems. They can require account statements and examine officers' bank accounts; banks must provide the needed information. They must audit an officer's account after death, resignation, removal, or the end of a term. Controllers also recommend financial improvements when useful or requested by commissioners. Contracts charged to an appropriation must identify that budget item and the controller-certified estimated cost, with payment from that fund. If a controller certifies a contract above the appropriation, the township owes no excess; the controller and surety are liable. An affected contractor can sue to recover that excess.

Drain and sign damage brings liability

Damaging or diverting a township drain or ditch without board permission is a summary offense and requires paying restoration costs. Deliberately damaging, removing, or defacing legally erected township signs or temporary traffic-control devices is also a summary offense. Sign-related penalties may include labor, materials, and prosecution costs. Collected money goes to the township treasurer.

Police service fees face clear limits

Township police exercise powers granted by state law, court rules, and township ordinances, and can face penalties for breaking laws. Officers may serve criminal court papers for township ordinance violations. They must charge the same legal fees and costs as constables performing similar work, with money going to the township. Officers cannot accept extra compensation for their services beyond township salary, except public rewards and duty-related expenses.

Township financial misconduct brings repayment risks

Auditors can order responsible people, including those approving unauthorized spending, to repay resulting township losses. Repayment generally cannot exceed actual loss, including extra costs caused by skipping lawful procedures. That limit does not apply to officer fraud or collusion, or penalties payable to Pennsylvania. Officers have protection for good-faith reliance on a nonconfidential written solicitor opinion or one stated publicly and recorded in meeting minutes. That protection does not cover opinions obtained through duress or collusion; tax collector shortages follow the Local Tax Collection Law. Knowing and willful financial-law violations by township officers are third-degree misdemeanors carrying fines up to $100. After a final account appeal, the township must pay reasonable officer attorney fees when the result improves on the auditors' award. When a township or taxpayer appeal improves the township's result, the officer must pay reasonable township, elector, or taxpayer fees. Courts can divide fees for mixed results and decide fees for other accounts.

Township meetings allow limited remote participation

Boards must organize the first Monday in January of even-numbered years, or the next day when that Monday is a legal holiday. After 10 days without organization, 10 registered voters can petition with one petitioner's affidavit; courts can replace responsible members. Commissioners can join remotely under board policy, but a majority must attend in person and establish a quorum. Devices must allow two-way communication with members and the public present; policy changes must wait at least 30 days. A prior opinion alone cannot disqualify a commissioner from voting.

Township money gets spending safeguards

Required officer and employee bonds need an authorized surety; townships pay premiums, except taxing districts pay tax collector premiums. Equivalent insurance can replace bonds for officers and employees other than tax collectors. Controllers cannot approve payments without enough uncommitted budget money and may demand proof that work or supplies were delivered. Controllers must prevent budget overdrafts and immediately report when money runs out before a project is finished. Misusing special-purpose funds is a third-degree misdemeanor requiring repayment; officials and employees also face state contract-interest restrictions.

Township offices require residency and replacements

Elected township officers must be registered township voters; elected officers and most vacancy appointees must file a signed residency statement. It generally must show one continuous year in the township or, for a ward office, the ward. For wards less than one year old, the rule requires one year in the township and ward residence since creation. Missing a required bond, oath, or statement creates a vacancy; no person can hold two elected township offices. Commissioners must fill commissioner, auditor, controller, and tax collector vacancies within 30 days with a qualified registered voter. Appointees generally need one continuous year of township or ward residence. They serve until the first Monday in January after the first municipal election held more than 60 days after the vacancy. Voters then choose someone for the remaining term. A vacancy board steps in if commissioners miss the deadline, and courts can act if that process fails. When most commissioner seats are vacant, a court petition needs the remaining commissioners' signatures or at least 15 registered voters.

Township street plans get streamlined rules

Townships without an accurate code-based street plan maintained before this section took effect must adopt plans under Pennsylvania’s municipal planning law. Townships can still lay out streets through the code’s procedures without maintaining a street plan or official map. For qualifying existing plans or maps, streets laid out by ordinance or final development-plan approval automatically amend the plan. Those amendments and later map entries need no separate public notice or hearing when the street follows the code. Township street dedication, acceptance, acquisition, layout, opening, and permanent closure must follow the code’s procedures.

Township surplus sales can move online

Township personal-property lots worth $2,000 or more require advertising and sale to the highest bidder. Surplus lots below $2,000 follow a board-approved sale process; trade-ins and exchanges for acquired property need a resolution instead. Online auctions are allowed, with ads explaining access, date, time, and duration. Bidders must see their rank or the high bid, and auction records must be public. Winners pay the price and any shipping, either immediately or within a reasonable time set by the board.

Townships can build and regulate sewers

Townships may build sanitary sewers and drainage systems serving properties on either or both sides of a street. Ordinances may control system use, waste treatment before discharge, waste size, and the amount discharged over time. For joint projects, land that cannot be bought or received as a gift may be taken through eminent domain. The municipality containing the land handles the taking; outside participating municipalities, an adjacent municipality handles it, subject to state limits. Participants share damages in their project-cost proportions, and townships may borrow for their shares within constitutional limits.

Townships can build flood protection

Pennsylvania first-class townships can widen or deepen watercourses and build barriers against flooding after getting all required permits. They can enter or condemn needed property and obtain materials from nearby land. Damages for property taken, harmed, or destroyed follow state eminent-domain law. Townships can also acquire and run areas that absorb or hold stormwater, after passing an ordinance and getting required permits. Other stormwater methods need state environmental agency approval.

Townships can choose independent public audits

Commissioners can replace three elected auditors with an independent certified public accountant or accounting firm by ordinance. They must appoint the auditor annually by resolution at least 30 days before the fiscal year ends. The annual audit follows generally accepted auditing standards and covers township accounts and offices handling public money. It must be completed by June 30, filed with the required offices, and made available for public inspection through a published notice. The township must give the newspaper the full report when requesting publication; commissioners can also require broader audits or interim reports. If the ordinance is repealed, voters elect three auditors at the next municipal election for initial two-, four-, and six-year terms.

Townships can elect a financial controller

An ordinance can replace three elected auditors with a controller who is a competent accountant, elected every four years. The auditor offices end when a controller is appointed or elected. Before starting work, the controller must take an oath and provide a bond in an amount set by ordinance. The township pays for the bond and can buy insurance instead. Repealing the ordinance ends the controller office and requires an independent auditor or election of three auditors at the next municipal election.

Townships can fund and manage forests

Townships may buy forest land with current revenue or general obligation bond proceeds, using normal township appropriation procedures. They may regulate forest care, protection, and development, including forest-product sales; forest expenses require appropriations, and earnings go into the township treasury. The public may use township forests for outings and recreation, subject to township rules. Selling or leasing forests, forest land, or products requires an ordinance stating the facts and conditions, plus required public notice and bidding. Townships may also fund forest protection associations or work cooperating with the state conservation department; no funding amount is set.

Townships can fund parks with taxes

Townships may acquire property and build or equip public parks and recreation facilities, alone or with another local government. They may use public funds and levy general or authorized special taxes for this work. Acquiring private property in another municipality requires that municipality’s consent. Land dedicated for recreation cannot already be dedicated to another public use.

Townships can limit outdoor burning

First-class townships can regulate open burning, including banning the open burning of combustible materials. This gives townships a way to address smoke and fire risks, while allowing limits on residents' burning activities. The law itself does not impose a township-wide ban; each township decides its rules.

Townships can set local conduct rules

Township boards may make rules for local operations, finances, welfare, commerce, health, safety, and cleanliness. Local measures cannot conflict with state or federal constitutions or laws. Townships may require building and lot numbers. They may ban disorderly conduct using a definition substantially similar to Pennsylvania law. They may also enforce rules and set penalties when exercising a specific township power.

Townships can support National Guard armories

Townships may buy, accept donated land, or use eminent domain to obtain land for National Guard armories. They may give that land to the state to help build armories. Eminent domain cannot target places of worship, cemeteries, or an owner’s occupied home and its surrounding grounds. Townships may also give money or land, alone or with another municipality, and provide reasonable utilities free to the state.

Townships can tax and borrow for parks

Townships may pay park and recreation operating costs from township funds and raise money through general or special taxes. Other participating local governments may pay costs under a cooperation agreement. Townships may also borrow and issue general obligation bonds to buy park land, buildings, and equipment. State municipal borrowing rules still apply. The law sets no spending or borrowing amount.

Townships fund tree care with safeguards

Townships may create shade tree commissions by ordinance; otherwise, township commissioners carry out those duties. Townships must pay for care after planting and for required tree notices. Instead of levying an authorized tax, commissioners may appropriate the amount the shade tree commission certifies each year. Collected chapter penalties and assessments must go into a separate fund. That money may be spent only for purposes allowed by the chapter.

Townships gain tax collector appointment options

Townships elect a qualified tax collector every four years. When nobody is elected or a vacancy occurs, commissioners can appoint an individual or an organization to collect taxes. An appointed organization must post the required bond, but its workers and officers avoid the specified collector qualifications and criminal-history filings. The affidavit exemption covers appointed organizations and individuals appointed under sections 4.2 or 4.4 of the Local Tax Collection Law. These rules do not change residents' tax rates or liabilities.

Townships manage streets and utility access

First-class townships can manage streets, sidewalks, sewers, and utility installations, subject to state and federal law and state utility oversight. They can open, improve, or vacate streets without an owner petition; vacating a state-laid highway unopened for 30 years needs state transportation approval. Streets must be 24 to 120 feet wide, with slope space added beyond the minimum; boards set alley widths. Boards can accept land deeded for streets by ordinance or resolution. Township staff can enter property to maintain markers or monuments needed for their street-related duties.

Townships must manage closures and detours

Townships can temporarily close unsafe streets when unusual conditions make immediate repair impractical, marking closures and preserving customary passage when possible. They must sign detours and keep them safe and passable, subject to state and county highway exceptions. After reopening, they must remove detour signs and promptly restore non-state, non-county detour streets to at least their prior condition. Townships can arrange private-land detours or proceed without agreement, allowing owners to seek damages. Township street funds can cover necessary detour maintenance, repairs, and land rent.

Townships share street and bridge responsibilities

Townships may build or acquire bridges wholly or partly within their borders for use and upkeep as streets. Local governments must maintain, repair, and rebuild county-built or partly county-funded bridges not recorded as county bridges. They may contract with parties other than the county for maintenance and are not liable to the county for performing this duty. Townships and neighboring municipalities share responsibility for boundary streets, except state or county roads, and may contract for streetwork. They may also agree on boundary bridge construction, upkeep, and costs; courts can settle unresolved street or bridge responsibilities and cost shares.

Treasurers need bonds and must repay losses

Treasurers and deputy treasurers must provide fidelity bonds before performing their duties. The township sets the amount at no less than 50% of estimated township funds available to the treasurer that year. A treasurer cannot be required to provide total bonds exceeding the taxes the tax collector must pay over. A surety company authorized in Pennsylvania must issue the bond. Failure to perform a duty without its own specific penalty is a summary offense; the officer must repay resulting losses and is disqualified from either office.

Voters can change their township's class

Second-class townships need at least 300 people per square mile under the latest Census Bureau data and majority voter approval. Boards can start conversion, or must submit the question within 15 days after a petition signed by 5% of electors. Voting occurs at the next eligible election at least 90 days after the resolution; failed votes block proceedings for two years. Returning to second-class status requires at least five years as first-class and compliance with the second-class township rules. A court clerk may charge $3.50 to certify a new first-class township's charter, paid as proceeding costs.

Ward rules shape township voter representation

Commissioners may create, change, combine, or abolish wards by ordinance, with no more than 15 wards and at least 300 registered electors per ward. Wards must be numbered, compact, connected, and as equal in population as practicable using the latest federal census. Townships must have at least five commissioners: fewer than five wards means ward seats plus at-large seats; otherwise each ward elects one. After the first division into wards, resident commissioners are elected at the first municipal election at least 90 days later. Terms generally last four years, beginning the first Monday of January; sitting members finish existing terms, and new wards follow election or temporary court-appointment rules. When abolished wards leave fewer than five wards, their commissioners finish their terms at large.

Health officials gain inspection and enforcement powers

First-class township health boards enforce health laws, can recommend rules and appoint officers, and can remove nuisances and mark infected premises. Health officers conduct sanitary inspections, carry out board orders, and can issue citations. Health authorities can order authorized staff to enter premises to investigate suspected infectious disease or a health nuisance. If entry is blocked, they can seek an administrative search warrant from a judge. They must show a legal ground, such as an inspection plan and standards, premises information and inspection history, or probable cause.

Long-used streets can become public

A street counts as public after at least 21 continuous years of public travel and township maintenance authorized by commissioners. This applies even without a recorded street layout or dedication, and establishes a right-of-way of at least 24 feet. It secures public access but can affect private land rights. In disputes, travel frequency or surface condition alone is not enough proof. The party claiming public status presents evidence first; the opposing party must then present refuting evidence.

State building standards govern township construction

Pennsylvania’s construction law and Uniform Construction Code govern building, alterations, repairs, and occupancy in townships. Township rules under this code cannot replace or override those state requirements.

Township land sales require public safeguards

Township real estate sales above $6,000 require advertising and sale to the highest bidder, with at least 10 days' notice. Sales at $6,000 or less can skip bidding after a qualified appraisal and the board's value estimate. The board must announce those sales at a public meeting at least 30 days beforehand. Exchanges can skip sale rules when townships receive equal-or-greater-value property for municipal purposes, including covered later sales or leases. Exchanges require a resolution and notice 7 to 60 days before adoption, remain subject to flood plain law, and may include return clauses.

Townships can acquire land for facilities

Townships may acquire land within their borders by purchase, gift, exchange, or eminent domain for township buildings. They may build or use facilities for township purposes. They may also buy or lease land inside or outside the township for garages, warehouses, and equipment or supply storage.

Townships can discount land for nonprofits

Townships can sell property to buyers listed in the law without advertising bids or holding a highest-bidder auction. They can accept a nominal price for real estate sold to qualifying library, medical-service, or housing nonprofits. Property sold to volunteer fire, ambulance, or rescue groups must return to the township when its qualifying use ends. The same return rule applies to nonprofit medical-service and housing corporations.

Townships can establish sidewalks and drains

Townships may establish sidewalks, curbs, gutters, and surface-water drains along streets. They may set sidewalk grades and widths. Work along state highways needs the state transportation secretary’s consent; work along county roads needs county commissioners’ consent. Townships may acquire needed land by purchase, gift, or eminent domain.

Civil service violations bring legal penalties

Civil service commissions can investigate, administer oaths, and subpoena witnesses and records; required public officers and employees must testify. A conviction for refusing or neglecting a subpoena brings a $250 to $500 fine. Failure to pay can bring up to 30 days in jail, and commissions can seek county court enforcement. Commissioners voting for unlawful police or firefighter appointments, or commissioners or commission members willfully refusing compliance, face misdemeanor convictions. Penalties are up to $500, up to 90 days in jail, or both.

Townships support civil service recordkeeping

Townships must provide requested civil service clerical help, a suitable room, and needed supplies. If the commission appoints a solicitor, the township pays, but can set a reasonable annual compensation limit. Commissions must keep minutes, exam records, and records of official actions, plus applicant appointment recommendations for five years. Records and written removal reasons are open under Pennsylvania's Right-to-Know Law, subject to the dismissal and demotion hearing exception.

Residents get budget review before township decisions

Townships use a January–December budget year and must adopt budgets by December 31 after notice and 20 days' public inspection. They cannot knowingly advertise inaccurate budgets. Increases above 10% overall or 25% for one item require new advertising and inspection at least 10 days before adoption. In January after municipal elections, boards can amend budgets and adjust tax rates, with notice and 10 days' inspection. Those amendments must be adopted by February 15; upward revisions cannot exceed 10% overall or 25% per item.

Township contractors must provide financial security

Winning bidders on advertised township contracts must provide a bond, irrevocable letter of credit, or other suitable security. Boards set security at 10%–100% of contract liability, due within 20 days unless shortened to at least 10 days. Missing the deadline voids the award. Before covered public-works contracts above $10,000 are awarded, contractors or construction managers must also provide a payment bond. That additional bond must cover at least 100% of the contract amount and protects workers and material suppliers.

Township facility bonds rely on user charges

Townships can issue nondebt revenue bonds for listed municipal, water, sewer, waste, airport, park, recreation, and parking facilities. The bonds must follow Pennsylvania municipal borrowing rules. Repayment is secured only by pledged facility rents, tolls, or service charges. The law sets no borrowing amount or user charge.

Township purchases face bidding and quote rules

Township purchases above a base $18,500 generally require written contracts and advertised bidding, with statutory exceptions. Purchases above a base $10,000 but below the bidding threshold generally need quotes from at least three qualified, responsible contractors. These thresholds adjust annually with consumer inflation, and purchase amounts include the township's full payment. Public building construction or alterations above the adjustable $18,500 base need separate plumbing, heating, ventilation, and electrical bids. Each trade contract goes to its lowest responsible bidder.

Township purchasing balances competition and exceptions

Townships generally choose the lowest responsible bidder, considering price and reasonable quality or performance factors listed in the bid notice. The $18,500 advertising and $10,000 quotation base thresholds rise with positive consumer-price changes, with preliminary annual increases capped at 3%. The state calculates adjustments October 1–November 15, rounds to the nearest $100, and applies them the following January 1. Listed exceptions cover professional services, utilities, emergencies, and specified maintenance, equipment, and intergovernmental purchases; employee-work materials can still require competition. Some emergency purchases need an explanation by resolution at the next public meeting, and boards may still seek competition. Commissioners who knowingly approve splitting a purchase above the adjusted advertising threshold face a 10% surcharge on the full amount and a third-degree misdemeanor per contract; this rule does not apply without board approval.

Township investments carry limits and safeguards

Townships can invest public funds in specified government obligations, secured deposits, investment-company shares, and certificates of deposit. Boards must follow sound business practices, and uninsured deposits need legally approved collateral. Investment-company shares must hold only authorized investments, follow federal money-market rules, and have the highest rating category. Certificates of deposit are capped at 20% of a commercial bank's capital and surplus or a savings institution's assets minus liabilities. Townships can pool collateral or invest combined funds jointly, but must separately track funds and their earnings.

Township power options face borrowing limits

First-class townships can make and sell electricity and set rates and use rules where they provide service. They can build or buy hydroelectric facilities, generate power for residents, and sell power to electricity producers or sellers. Purchase prices require agreement with the owner or, for a corporation, a majority of its stockholders. A township can sell all or part of a hydroelectric facility by ordinance at an agreed price. Townships cannot borrow to build or enlarge dams or impoundments for these projects, but can borrow for existing structures' repair or reconstruction. The law does not require electric service or set household rates.

Township tax collection follows state methods

Township tax collectors must collect county, institution district, township, school, and other taxes levied within the township. They may also collect Local Tax Enabling Act taxes when designated by ordinance or resolution, or hired by the taxing authority. Township ordinances and resolutions cannot authorize income-tax collection methods outside Chapter 5 of that act. These rules do not change tax rates or amounts owed.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Sponsor

Dawn W. Keefer
Republican • Senate

Cosponsors

Cris Dush
Republican • Senate
Jack Rader Jr.
Republican • House
Patty Kim
Democratic • Senate
Robert Freeman
Democratic • House
Rosemary M. Brown
Republican • Senate
Scott Hutchinson
Republican • Senate
Timothy P. Kearney
Democratic • Senate
Wayne D. Fontana
Democratic • Senate

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 106 • No: 0

committee vote • 12/17/2025

26 0

Yes: 26 • No: 0

Senate vote • 12/9/2025

Senate Bill 1036 PN1349, Final Passage

Yes: 47 • No: 0

committee vote • 10/28/2025

22 0

Yes: 22 • No: 0

committee vote • 10/7/2025

11 0

Yes: 11 • No: 0

Actions Timeline

Act No. 7 of 2026
2/11/2026Governor
Approved by the Governor
2/11/2026Governor
Presented to the Governor
2/3/2026House
Signed in House
2/3/2026House
Signed in Senate
2/2/2026House
Third consideration and final passage (198-0)
2/2/2026House
Re-reported as committed
2/2/2026House
Re-referred to Appropriations
1/28/2026House
Second consideration
1/28/2026House
Removed from table
12/17/2025House
Laid on the table
12/17/2025House
First consideration
12/17/2025House
Reported as committed
12/17/2025House
Referred to Local Government
12/10/2025House
Third consideration and final passage (47-0)
12/9/2025Senate
Amended on third consideration
12/8/2025Senate
Re-reported as committed
10/28/2025Senate
Re-referred to Appropriations
10/8/2025Senate
Second consideration
10/8/2025Senate
First consideration
10/7/2025Senate
Reported as committed
10/7/2025Senate
Referred to Local Government
10/3/2025Senate

Bill Text

PN 1349
12/8/2025
HTML PDF PDF
PN 1205
10/3/2025
HTML PDF PDF

Related Bills

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