Title 8, BOROUGHS AND INCORPORATED TOWNS

The council shall have power: (1) To, by motion, ordinance or resolution, create the offices of and appoint a treasurer, a secretary, a solicitor, an engineer, a street commissioner and other officers as it deems necessary. The treasurer and the secretary shall not be members of …

It shall be the duty of council: (1) To organize, under section 1001 (relating to organization of council, quorum, participation by telecommunication device, voting, compensation and eligibility), in even-numbered years. (2) To meet at a stated time at least once a month. Council…

(a) Validity.--All borough records required to be recorded or transcribed shall be deemed valid if typewritten, printed, photocopied, microfilmed or electronically or digitally stored or retained by any other process that accurately reproduces the original and forms a durable med…

Councils may compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of books, papers or other evidence at any meeting of the council or any committee of the council and for that purpose may issue subpoenas, signed by the president of council or the chair of the committee, which sh…

No individual residing outside the borough and subpoenaed under section 1014 (relating to hearings before council; witnesses) shall be required to respond to the subpoena until mileage to and from the borough at the rate established by the council under the act of July 20, 1979 (…

An individual called as a witness, as provided in this chapter, may be examined under oath, administered by the president of council or chair of the committee and, for the giving of false testimony, shall be liable for prosecution under applicable laws for perjury.

(a) First meeting.--The auditors of the borough shall meet on the first Tuesday of January of each year and shall organize by the election of a chair and a secretary. If the first Tuesday is a legal holiday, the meeting and organization shall take place the following day. Two aud…

(a) General compensation.--Subject to the limitations set forth in subsection (b), each auditor shall receive $10 per hour for each hour or portion of an hour necessarily employed in the discharge of the auditor's duties, to be paid by the borough. (b) Limits.--No auditor in a bo…

(a) Subpoenas.--A majority of the auditors of any borough shall have the power to issue subpoenas to obtain the attendance of the persons whose accounts they are required to adjust, their executors and administrators, and of any persons whom it may be necessary to examine as witn…

Witnesses, other than officers of the borough, appearing before the auditors and individuals or officers serving subpoenas shall be paid, out of the borough treasury upon authorization signed by a majority of the auditors and orders drawn on the borough treasury, the same fees as…

If any person in possession of documents relative to public accounts before auditors refuses to produce the same or if any officer whose accounts are to be settled and adjusted by the auditors refuses to appear or submit to examination as directed by this subchapter, the auditors…

(a) Report.--The auditors shall complete the annual audit, adjustment and settlement as soon as possible after the end of the fiscal year. The auditors shall, within ten days after completing the annual audit, publish once, in at least one newspaper of general circulation, concis…

(a) Neglect.--An auditor neglecting or refusing to comply with this chapter commits a summary offense. (b) Financial interest.--An auditor who is financially interested, directly or indirectly, in a borough transaction commits a summary offense.

(a) Powers and duties.--If an independent auditor is appointed under section 1005(7) (relating to powers of council), the independent auditor shall have the same powers and duties and be subject to the same penalties as the auditors under this chapter. The independent auditor sha…

The borough auditors may employ an attorney if deemed advisable by a majority of the auditors. The auditors, with the agreement of council, shall determine the compensation to be paid to the attorney. If the auditors and council cannot agree on the compensation, upon petition of …

(a) Surcharges.-- (1) The amount of any balance or shortage or of any expenditure of a kind or made in a manner prohibited or not authorized by statute which causes a financial loss to the borough shall be a surcharge against any officer against whom the balance or shortage shall…

It shall be lawful for the borough, or any taxpayer of the borough on its behalf, or any person whose account is settled or audited, to appeal from the settlement or audit, as shown in the auditors report, to the court of common pleas of the county no later than 40 days from the …

No appeal by a taxpayer or officer may be allowed unless, within the time of taking the appeal, the appellant secures a bond in the sum of $1,000 with sufficient surety to prosecute the appeal and to pay all costs of appeal, in case, if the appellant is a taxpayer, the appellant …

(a) Evidence and burden.--In any proceeding upon an appeal from a report of the auditors, the accounts of the office or officers or the person, corporation, association, organization, committee or commission in question may be investigated de novo, and the burden shall be upon ea…

After the hearing, the court shall file its findings of fact and law and enter judgment accordingly, and the judgment so entered may be enforced by the prevailing party by any appropriate proceeding. Appeals from the court's ruling may be taken in accordance with law.

(a) Fees awarded.--Upon final determination of an appeal taken under section 1059.4 (relating to appeals from audit) from any report, audit or settlement of the account of any borough officer, attorney fees shall be awarded as follows: (1) If, in the opinion of the court, the fin…

A balance in a report of the auditors against an officer of the borough shall constitute a surcharge against the officer as fully as if expressly stated in the report to be a surcharge. The amount of a balance and of any express surcharge shall, if no appeal is taken or after an …

The borough controller shall, before entering upon the duties of office, take the required oath or affirmation of office under 53 Pa.C.S. § 1141 (relating to form of oaths of office). The controller shall give bond to the borough with a surety company to be approved by the counci…

The council shall fix the annual salary of the controller. Any change in salary, compensation or emoluments of the elected office shall become effective at the beginning of the next term of the controller.

(a) General duties and powers.--The borough controller shall manage the fiscal affairs of the borough. The controller shall examine, audit and settle all accounts in which the borough is concerned either as debtor or creditor if provision for the settlement is made by law. If no …

The controller shall countersign all warrants upon the borough treasurer, with the form of the warrant to be prescribed by council, except that no warrant shall be countersigned unless there is money in the treasury to pay the warrant. If a warrant on the treasurer shall be prese…

The controller shall not permit any appropriation made by the council to be overdrawn. If an appropriation is exhausted, the object of which is not complete, the controller shall immediately report the fact to the council and accompany the report with a statement of the money whi…

(a) General rule.--A contract involving appropriation of money shall designate the item of appropriation on which it is founded, and the estimated amount of the expenditure which shall be charged against the item, and certified by the borough controller on the contract, before it…

The borough controller shall, as often as the controller may deem expedient or the council shall direct, suggest plans to the council for the management and improvement of the borough finances.

The borough controller shall keep a regular set of books which shall be opened and keep as many accounts, under appropriate titles, as may be necessary to show separately and distinctly all the estates and property, real and personal, vested in the borough, all trusts in the care…

Appeals may be taken from the settlement and audit of the controller, as shown in the controller's report to the court of common pleas of the county, by the same persons in the same manner within the same time subject to the same conditions and procedure and with like effect in e…

(a) General rule.--This subchapter shall not become operative or effective in any borough not having a controller until the borough shall, by ordinance, accept this chapter. If a borough accepts this subchapter, the court of common pleas, upon petition of council, shall appoint a…

(a) General rule.--Except as otherwise provided in subsection (b), the tax collector shall be the collector of all State, county, borough, school, institution district and other taxes levied within the borough by the authorities empowered to levy taxes. (b) Exception.-- (1) No ta…