Two state legislators from Westmoreland County have revived a proposal requiring 21 large municipalities without a local police force -- including four in Westmoreland -- to pay $100 per person to the state police for their services.
House Bill 2563 would force municipalities with 10,000 or more residents to fork over millions to the state agency, create their own police force, join a regional department or contract with another community for police coverage.
But supervisors in the affected municipalities said their rural communities can't afford the new fees without imposing huge tax increases, and two state political observers said the bill is unlikely to pass this election year.
At a news conference in Harrisburg on Tuesday morning, Democratic state legislators John Pallone and James Casorio said the bipartisan bill is an issue of fairness because they claim large municipalities without police -- like 42,000-resident Hempfield -- are getting a "free ride" despite having the resources to pay for their own public safety coverage.
They also are pushing House Bill 2683, which would strip the funding these larger communities receive from vehicle offenses cited by state police within their borders.
Municipalities now receive half of the fines from these offenses. But the bill would restrict the disbursement of the money to municipalities with less than 10,000 residents or to those that provide local police services through a municipal police department, regional department or contracted services.
That bill could generate about $25 million for the state, Pallone said.
Based on 2000 U.S. Census figures, the state police service fees would generate about $32 million every year to cover the cost of hiring 3,000 to 4,000 more officers for the state police, or encourage the hiring of an equivalent number of officers for the communities that don't have police now, according to Pallone and Casorio.
A state police spokeswoman said the agency's 2007-08 budget permitted a complement of 4,660 troopers, with about 4,370 of those positions filled as of March 31.
"This is an opportunity to increase law enforcement in Pennsylvania and make Pennsylvania safer," said Pallone, D-New Kensington.
In Westmoreland, the bill also would affect Unity, with 21,137 residents; Derry Township, with 14,726 residents; and Mt. Pleasant Township, with 11,153 residents.
North Union and South Union in Fayette County along with White in Indiana County also top the 10,000-resident threshold.
According to state police, the agency provides coverage for about 27 percent of the state's residents and 60 percent of the municipalities.
"They are doing a wonderful job, but they are stretched way too thin," said Casorio, D-North Huntingdon.
Hempfield formed a 12-person task force to study police protection after Pallone introduced a similar bill in 2006, but the bill failed to move out of a state government committee.
Frequently during the conference, Pallone and Casorio cited Hempfield as the largest, fastest-growing municipality without a police force.
"This is an upper-middle-class community that is being developed, and it should be protected, and it should be protected by a local police department," Pallone said.
But supervisors in Hempfield, Unity and Derry said their residents are satisfied with state police coverage and they see the $100-per-resident fee as unfairly targeting them.
Hempfield Supervisor Doug Weimer said a spring telephone survey of 401 residents found that 99 percent feel safe in the township.
While the township has been proactive in determining its plans if the bill is passed, there's no money in the budget to cut the state a check for the estimated $4.2 million charge.
Hempfield supervisors haven't raised property taxes since 1990.
"If the state finds a need that they need to increase the state police complement, then the state should of itself fairly find a way of supporting that, not penalizing some residents of the state of Pennsylvania or some municipalities of the state of Pennsylvania, and not others," Weimer said.
Unity Supervisor Mike O'Barto, the Democratic nominee in the 59th Legislative District race, said a recent survey there found that residents "overwhelmingly" disapproved of forming a local police department.
He called the fee an "unfunded mandate" upon a township whose budget is just under $5 million annually.
O'Barto labeled the proposal "absurd," saying Unity would have to raise its taxes by about 10 mills.
"It would be nice to have a police force for many different issues that happen in our township, but it's not going to happen unless our state comes up with a way to pay for it because the people of Pennsylvania are being taxed to death right now," he said.
Derry Supervisor Vince DeCario said the state police fees would hurt his residents more than helping them.
"We could never afford it," he said. "It'd be impossible. It'd be half our budget."
Political observers said the bill doesn't have a high priority in Harrisburg.
Thomas Baldino, a political science professor at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, said the legislators have legitimate reasons for raising the issue, but he does not think it will gain much traction this year.
"Nearly every senator has one (of these municipalities), so you have constituents who will tell your representatives and senators 'You can't do this,'" he said. "The government's still not desperate enough to resort to this measure."
G. Terry Madonna, political science professor at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, said anything not included in the current budget package is unlikely to happen.
"I just don't think it's something that's going to go anywhere without any sense of urgency," he said.
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