Title 8, BOROUGHS AND INCORPORATED TOWNS

(a) Residency.--The following shall apply: (1) Only registered electors of the borough shall be eligible to elective borough offices. (2) Except as provided under subsection (c) and 53 Pa.C.S. § 1142 (relating to residency during military service), before being sworn into office,…

Elections for borough officers shall be at the time and place designated by law for the holding of municipal elections.

Certificates of election of all borough officers shall be filed with the borough secretary and preserved among the records of the borough for a period of six years.

(a) Terms.--The following shall apply: (1) Except as provided under paragraph (2), an individual elected to a borough office shall serve for the term for which the individual was elected. (2) If a vacancy in office occurs, it shall be filled in the manner provided under this part…

(a) Officers.--The officers of a borough provided for under section 806 (relating to officers elected) shall be elected at the appropriate municipal election and take office on the first Monday of January succeeding the election if any of the following occur: (1) A borough is inc…

(a) Officers.--The electors of the borough may elect: (1) A mayor, who shall be elected at municipal elections every four years. (2) A tax collector, who shall be elected at municipal elections every four years and must be a properly qualified individual. A magisterial district j…

Biennially, at the municipal election, a sufficient number of members of council shall be elected to fill the places of members whose terms shall, under this part, expire on the first Monday of January following the election. Members elected under this section shall serve for a t…

(a) General rule.--If council, by ordinance, divides any borough into wards, erects new wards out of two or more wards or parts of wards or divides a ward already erected into two or more wards, the ordinance shall provide for the election of an equal number of members of council…

If, upon the division of a borough into wards or the creation of a new ward, the number of members of council cannot be equally divided among the wards of the borough, it shall be lawful for council to increase the number of council members to and not exceeding a number that will…

Council may, upon petition of at least 5% of the registered electors of the borough, increase the number of members of council to any number not exceeding two for each ward. The sufficiency of the number of signers to the petition shall be ascertained as of the date when the peti…

(a) General rule.--If, in any borough divided into wards, the council consists of more than seven members, at least 5% of the registered electors of the borough shall have the power to petition council for a decrease in the number of members of council from each ward, except that…

(a) Abolishing.--If council, by ordinance, abolishes all wards in a borough, the ordinance shall provide for the election of seven members of council at large for the borough in a manner as not to interfere with the terms of those ward members of council previously elected. If th…

If a vacancy is created in the office of a member of council by any ordinance or decree of court as provided in this subchapter after a primary election, it may be filled by nomination made by the committee as is authorized by the rules of the party to make nominations in the eve…

(a) Petition by electors.--The court of common pleas shall, upon petition of at least 5% of the registered electors of any borough not divided into wards, certify the question of a proposal to reduce the total number of members of council for the borough to five or three or incre…

(a) Vacancies.--If any vacancy occurs in the office of the mayor, member of council, auditor, controller or tax collector, by death, resignation under subsection (a.1) or termination of residency from the borough, or from a ward in the case of a ward office, or by failure to take…

If a vacancy in the office of tax collector exists and no registered elector of the borough has, within 30 days, received the appointment to fill the vacancy, the county commissioners, the council and the board of school directors of the school district shall collect the tax for …

If an individual, elected or appointed as a member of council and notified of election or appointment refuses or neglects to qualify as a member of council within ten days following the beginning of the individual's term of office, unless prevented by sickness or necessary absenc…

(a) Rule.--A borough officer who is elected or appointed to fill a vacancy in elective office may be removed from office as follows: (1) By impeachment. (2) By the Governor for reasonable cause after notice and full hearing on the advice of two-thirds of the Senate. (3) On convic…

If for any reason two or three vacancies exist in the office of borough auditors, the council may temporarily appoint and reasonably compensate a qualified individual, who need not be an elector of the borough, who shall have all the powers and duties of the two or three auditors…

(a) Organization.--The council shall organize on the first Monday of January of each even-numbered year by electing one member as president and one member as vice president, who shall hold the offices at the pleasure of the council. If the first Monday is a legal holiday, the mee…

Before entering upon the duties of their offices, the members of council shall take and subscribe an oath or affirmation of office under 53 Pa.C.S. § 1141 (relating to form of oaths of office). The oath or affirmation may be taken before any judge or magisterial district judge of…

(a) Presiding over meetings.--The mayor shall preside over the organization of the council until it is organized as provided in section 1001 (relating to organization of council, quorum, participation by telecommunication device, voting, compensation and eligibility) and shall be…

If the council of any borough fails to organize within ten days from the time prescribed in this chapter, the court of common pleas, upon the petition of at least ten registered electors of the borough verified by the affidavit of one of the petitioners, shall issue a rule upon t…

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…