Section 3. Every city of the second class, in its corporate capacity, is authorized and empowered to enact ordinances for the following purposes, in addition to the other powers granted by this act:
I. To levy and collect taxes for general revenue purposes, on all persons, real and personal and mixed property, within the limits of said city, taxable according to the laws of the State of Pennsylvania for city or county purposes, except machinery of all kinds; the valuation of such property to be assessed as hereinbefore provided. (I amended May 12, 1911, P.L.287, No.181)
II. To provide for the assessment and collection of taxes, in addition to the above, upon the assessed valuation on all persons, real and personal property, and all other matters and things within said city, taxable for city or county purposes or for the payment of loans, except machinery of all kinds, to support the government and to make the necessary improvements in said city. (II amended May 12, 1911, P.L.287, No.181)
III. (III repealed Oct. 4, 1978, P.L.909, No.173)
IV. Every city of the second class shall have power, for general revenue purposes, to levy and collect a license tax, to be fixed by ordinance, upon street railways, hack-drivers, auctioneers, and all and every corporation, company or individual doing business in said city, payable annually, and to regulate the collection of the same.
V. To borrow money on the credit of the city, and to pledge the credit and revenue thereof for the payment of the same, to an amount not exceeding five per centum upon the assessed value of the taxable property in said city, and with the consent of the people of the said city, obtained at an election held under the provisions of the Constitution and the general laws of this Commonwealth, to increase the indebtedness of such city to an amount not exceeding, in the aggregate, fifteen per centum upon the assessed valuation of the taxable property therein. (V amended Apr. 13, 1967, P.L.18, No.7)
VI. To provide for the issuing of bonds, and for the application of bonds already issued, for the purpose of funding any and all indebtedness now existing or hereafter created of the city, now due or to become due. Said bonds shall be payable within thirty years from the time of their issue, and they shall be made payable in annual installments equal to the tax levied therefor, and shall be paid annually from the funds so provided. Said bonds shall bear interest, payable annually or semi-annually, at a rate not exceeding six per centum per annum, and shall be either registered bonds or coupon bonds with interest coupons attached. Said bonds shall not be sold or exchanged for less than their par value and accrued interest. (VI amended Apr. 14, 1911, P.L.65, No.63)
VII. To make provision for a sinking fund to pay at maturity the bonded indebtedness of the city, and to levy and collect taxes on all the taxable property in the city, in addition to all other taxes, for the purposes of paying the same, under and subject to the limitations and requirements of this act and of the Constitution and laws of this Commonwealth.
VIII. To provide for the payment of the debts and expenses of the city, and to appropriate money therefor.
IX. To create any office which they may deem necessary for the good government and interests of the city, and to regulate and prescribe the powers, duties and compensation of all city officers. (IX amended June 20, 1901, P.L.586, No.288)
X. To require from all officers and agents of the city, elected or appointed, lawful bonds and security for the faithful performance of their duties. (X amended June 20, 1901, P.L.586, No.288)
XI. To provide for the removal of officers of the city whose offices are established by ordinance, and whose removal is not otherwise herein provided for.
XII. To require the removal of all obstructions from sidewalks, curbstones, gutters, streets and street crossings, at the expense of the owners or occupiers of the ground fronting thereon, or at the expense of the person or persons placing the same there; and to regulate the planting and protection of shade trees in the streets, the building of cellar and basement ways and other excavations through or under the sidewalks in said city.
XIII. To make and establish such and so many uniform rules and regulations, as to them may seem expedient, for the better regulation of porches, porticoes, benches, doorsteps, railings, bulk, bay or jut windows; areas, cellar doors and cellar windows, signs and sign-posts, boards, poles or frames, awnings, awning posts, or other devices or things, projecting over, under, into, or otherwise occupying, the sidewalks or other portion of any of the streets, lanes or alleys, and in relation to boxes, bales, barrels, hogsheads, crates or articles of merchandise, lumber, coal, wood, ashes, building materials, or any other article or thing whatsoever, placed in or upon any of the said sidewalks or other portion of said streets, lanes or alleys, and also to prevent and remove all encroachments thereon.
XIII A. To make and establish zones or districts within which special provisions may be made regulating the construction and maintenance of signs over or upon streets, which regulations may be different in one district from another, and the boundaries of which districts may be defined by the ordinance creating them. (XIII A added June 12, 1931, P.L.549, No.183)
XIV. To provide for and require the construction and maintenance of bridges or other crossings over or under railroad tracks, and to enter into contracts with railroad companies for the construction and maintenance of the same; to require the erection of safety-gates, and the placing of flagmen at the intersection of railroads with public streets; to forbid the obstruction of the said crossings by locomotives or railroad cars, and also to make reasonable regulations concerning the rate of speed at which locomotives, cars or trains shall pass upon or across the streets within the built up portions of the city.
XV. To establish and maintain night-watch and police, and define the duties of the same.
XVI. To regulate the police of the city and to impose fines, forfeitures and penalties for the violation of any ordinance, and provide for the recovery and collection of the same, and in default of payment to provide for confinement in the city or county prison, or to hard labor upon the streets or elsewhere, for the benefit of the city.
XVII. To provide for the erection or purchase of lock-ups or watch-houses in some convenient part of the city, for the detention and confinement of vagrants and persons arrested by the police officers, until the person so arrested can be taken before the proper magistrate for hearing and committed to prison or discharged, but no person shall be detained therein for a longer time than twenty-four hours, except upon the order of a magistrate legally authorized, who may commit such person for further hearing.
XVIII. To erect or purchase, establish and maintain hospitals, prisons, work-houses and houses of correction for juvenile or other offenders, and to prescribe regulations for the government thereof, and also to erect all public buildings necessary for the use of the city or of any department thereof.
XVIII-A. To impose and collect charges covering all, or any portion of, the cost of care or treatment at municipal hospitals, where the persons receiving such care or treatment are financially able to pay all, or any portion of, the cost of such care or treatment. (XVIII-A added July 28, 1941, P.L.521, No.209)
XIX. To establish and enforce suitable police regulations for the protection of persons and property at public squares, parks, depots, depot-grounds and other places of public resort, and for the arrest and commitment of professional thieves.
XX. To offer rewards for the arrest and conviction of persons guilty of capital or other high crimes within the city, but no policeman shall be entitled to receive any share thereof.
XXI. To license, and collect a license tax from, all skating rinks, operas, theatres, concerts, shows, circuses, menageries, and all kinds of public exhibition for pay (except those for local, religious, educational or charitable purposes); to regulate the same, and to restrain all exhibitions of indecent or immoral character.
XXII. And every city of the second class shall have power, for general revenue purposes, to levy and collect license taxes or fees, to be fixed by ordinance, upon street railways, hackdrivers, auctioneers, bill posters, public balls or dances, night soilers, garbage collectors, railroad switches, pawn brokers, peddlers; venders of any kind of merchandise whatever, using the streets, lanes, highways, wharves, or public squares or grounds, for the purpose of vending the same; all theatrical exhibitions, whether permanent or transient (including circuses), vehicles, bicycles, tricycles, automobiles, dogs, ball games or ball parks, and all other matters and things of a like nature, and to regulate the collection of the same and to provide penalties for default therein.
XXIII. To regulate the time and place of bathing in the rivers and other public waters in an adjoining said city.
XXIV. To establish stands for coaches, cabs, omnibuses, carriages, wagons and other vehicles for hire, and to enforce the observance and use thereof, and to fix the rates and prices for the transportation of persons and property from one part of the city to another.
XXV. To restrain, prohibit and suppress tippling-shops, houses of prostitution, gambling-houses, gaming-cock or dog fighting, and other disorderly or unlawful establishments or practices, desecration of the Sabbath day, commonly called Sunday, and all kinds of public indecencies.
XXVI. To prevent and restrain riots, routs, noises, disturbances or disorderly assemblies, in any street, house or place in the city; to regulate, prevent and punish the discharge of fire-arms, rockets, powder, fireworks, or any other dangerous, combustible material, in the streets, lots, grounds, alleys, or in the vicinity of any buildings; to prevent and punish the carrying of concealed deadly weapons; to arrest, fine, or set at work on the streets or elsewhere, all vagrants found in said city; to prevent and punish horse-racing, fast driving or riding in the streets, highways, alleys, bridges, or places in the city, and all games, practices or amusements therein likely to result in danger or damage to any person or property; and to prevent and punish the riding or driving of horses, mules, oxen, cattle, or other teams, or the passage of any vehicles drawn thereby, over, upon or across sidewalks, and to regulate the passing of the same through the public streets.
XXVII. To purchase and own grounds for, and to erect and establish, market-houses and market-places, for which latter purpose parts of any streets or sidewalks may be temporarily used, and to provide and enforce suitable general market regulations; to contract with any person or persons, or association, or persons, companies or corporations, for the erection and regulation of market-houses and market-places, on such terms and conditions and in such manner as the councils may prescribe, and raise all necessary revenue therefor, as herein provided; and also to levy and collect a license tax from every person, or persons, who may be authorized by councils to occupy any portion of the streets or sidewalks for temporary public market purposes.
XXVIII. To regulate the weighing and measuring of every commodity sold in the city, in all cases not otherwise provided by law; to provide for and regulate the inspection and weighing of hay, grain and coal, and the measuring of wood and fuel, to be used in the city, and to designate the place or places of the same; and to regulate and prescribe the place or places for exposing for sale hay, coal and wood, and to demand and receive reasonable fees for inspection, weighing and measuring, as aforesaid, and for the regulation and stamping of weights and measures.
XXIX. To provide for the construction and maintenance of levees and ferries within the city limits; to erect wharves on navigable waters adjacent to the city, regulate the use thereof, collect wharfage, and establish wharf and dock lines.
XXX. To establish and change the channels of watercourses, and to wall and cover them over; to establish, make and regulate public wells, cisterns, aqueducts and reservoirs of water, and to provide for filling the same.
XXXI. To purchase lands and premises for public parks, and to levy and collect such special taxes as may be necessary to pay for the same, and to make appropriations for the improvement thereof and regulations for their government. (XXXI amended June 20, 1901, P.L.586, No.288)
XXXII. To provide for the erection of all needful pens, pounds and buildings, within or without the city limits; appoint keepers thereof, and to regulate or prohibit the running at large of cattle, hogs, horses, mules, sheep, goats, dogs or other animals; and to cause such as may be running at large to be impounded and sold, to discharge the costs and penalties provided for the violation of such prohibition, and the expenses of impounding and keeping the same and of such sale; to regulate and provide for taxing the owners and harborers of dogs, and to destroy dogs found at large contrary to any ordinance.
XXXIII. To make regulations to secure the general health of the inhabitants, and to remove and prevent nuisances.
XXXIV. To make all necessary orders and regulations to prevent the introduction of contagious or pestilential diseases into the city; to enact quarantine laws for that purpose, and to enforce the same within five miles of the city limits.
XXXV. To purchase fire-engines, hooks, ladders, trucks, fire-alarms and other apparatus for the extinction of fires; to organize a fire department, with or without pay; to make the necessary appropriation for the maintenance of the same, and to prescribe rules and regulations for the government of the officers and companies belonging thereto; and, if a paid department, to provide by ordinance for the election or appointment of the officers and companies belonging thereto.
XXXVI. To regulate the construction and inspection of fire-places, chimneys, stoves, stove-pipes, ovens, boilers, kettles, forges, or any apparatus used in any building, manufactory or business, and to order the suppression or cleaning thereof when deemed necessary for the prevention of fires; to regulate or prohibit the manufacture, sale, storage or transportation of inflammable or explosive substances within the city, and to prescribe limits within which no dangerous, obnoxious or offensive business shall be carried on.
XXXVII. To provide a system for the inspection of buildings, to insure their safety and incombustibility, and for the appointment of one or more building inspectors; to prescribe limits within which buildings shall not be constructed or reconstructed, or into or within which the same shall not be removed, except of incombustible materials with fire-proof roof; and any building erected, reconstructed or removed into or within such limits, contrary to the provisions of any ordinance forbidding the same, shall be a public nuisance and abatable as such.
XXXVIII. To provide for and regulate the lighting of the streets with gas or electric lights, or light by other means, and to require the numbering of houses.
XXXIX. To have the exclusive right, at all times, to supply the city with gas or other light, and such persons, partnerships and corporations therein as may desire the same, at such prices as may be agreed upon; and also to have, at all times, the unrestricted right to make, erect and maintain the necessary buildings, machinery and apparatus for manufacturing and distributing the same; or, in territory not supplied with light, to make contracts with and authorize any person, company or association so to do, and to give such person, company or association the privilege of supplying gas or other light, as aforesaid, for any length of time, not exceeding ten years.
XL. To have the exclusive right, at all times, to supply the city with water, and such persons, partnerships and corporations therein as may desire the same, at such price as may be agreed upon, and for the purpose to have, at all times, the unrestricted right to make, erect and maintain all proper works, machinery, buildings, cisterns, reservoirs, pipes and conduits for the raising, reception, conveyance and distribution of water; or, in territory not supplied with water, to make contracts with and authorize any person, company or association so to do, and to give such person, company or association the privilege of furnishing water, as aforesaid, for any length of time, not exceeding ten years.
XLI. To enter upon the land or lands, lot or lots, of any person or persons within the city, at all reasonable hours, by their duly appointed city engineer, in order to set out the foundations and regulate the walls to be built between party and party, as to the breadth and thickness thereof, which foundation shall be laid equally upon the lands of the persons between whom such party wall is to be made, and the first builder is to be reimbursed one moiety of the charge of such party wall, or for so much thereof as the next builder shall have occasion to make use of, before such next builder shall or may use or break into said wall.
XLII. To enter upon the land or lands, lot or lots, of any person or persons within the city, at all reasonable hours, by their duly appointed city engineer, in order to regulate partition fences, and when adjoining parties shall improve or enclose their lots, such fences shall be made in the manner generally used, and kept in good repair at the equal expense of the parties, unless the owners or occupants between whom such fences is erected shall agree otherwise.
XLIII. To make all such ordinances, by-laws, rules and regulations, not inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of this Commonwealth, as may be expedient or necessary, in addition to the special powers in this section granted, for the proper management, care and control of the city and its finances, and the maintenance of the peace, good government and welfare of the city, and its trade, commerce and manufactures, and the same to alter, modify and repeal at pleasure; and to enforce all ordinances by inflicting penalties upon inhabitants or other persons for the violation thereof, not exceeding three hundred dollars ($300) for any one offence, recoverable with costs, together with judgment of imprisonment, not exceeding ninety days, if the amount of said judgment and costs shall not be paid. (XLIII amended June 24, 1959, P.L.478, No.104)
XLIV. To regulate or prohibit the construction, building or maintenance, within the city, of any fences made in whole or in part of wire with barbs. (XLIV added Oct. 21, 1955, P.L.720, No.203)
XLV. To appropriate moneys annually, not exceeding an amount equal to one mill of the real estate tax, to any nonprofit art corporation for the conduct of its artistic and cultural activities. For the purposes of this section nonprofit art corporation shall mean a local arts council, commission or coordinating agency, or any other nonprofit corporation engaged in the production or display of works of art, including the visual, written or performing arts. Artistic and cultural activities shall include the display or production of theater, music, dance, painting, architecture, sculpture, arts and crafts, photography, film, graphic arts and design and creative writing. (XLV added Feb. 8, 1980, P.L.6, No.4)