PRINTER'S NO. 1311
No. 1158 Session of 1999
INTRODUCED BY BARD, ROSS, COY, HERMAN AND LESCOVITZ,
APRIL 7, 1999
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT, APRIL 7, 1999
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of June 24, 1931 (P.L.1206, No.331), entitled
2 "An act concerning townships of the first class; amending,
3 revising, consolidating, and changing the law relating
4 thereto," further providing for budget forms, for filing
5 copies and for uniform forms; and making editorial changes.
6 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
7 hereby enacts as follows:
8 Section 1. Sections 1701 and 1701.1 of the act of June 24,
9 1931 (P.L.1206, No.331), known as The First Class Township Code,
10 reenacted and amended May 27, 1949 (P.L.1955, No.569) and
11 amended or added August 11, 1967 (P.L.213, No.74) and December
12 14, 1967 (P.L.819, No.351), are amended to read:
13 Section 1701. Fiscal Year; Annual Budget; Regulation of
14 Appropriations.--(a) The fiscal year in townships of the first
15 class shall commence on the first day of January of each year.
16 (b) The board of township commissioners shall each year, at
17 least thirty days prior to the adoption of the annual budget,
18 begin preparation of a proposed budget for all funds showing an
19 estimate of the several amounts of money which will be required
1 for the several specific purposes of township government and
2 expenses for the ensuing fiscal year, and by ordinance
3 appropriate, out of the revenues available for the year, the
4 specific sums required as shown by the budget as finally
5 adopted. At the option of the township commissioners, such
6 budget may be prepared and adopted prior to the first Monday of
7 January of the fiscal year to which such budget shall apply.
8 Whenever the township commissioners shall exercise such option,
9 the first reading of the budget shall take place in November and
10 the budget shall be finally adopted in the month of December
11 prior to the fiscal year to which such budget shall apply. Said
12 budget shall reflect as nearly as possible the estimated
13 revenues and expenditures of the township for the year for which
14 the budget is prepared. It shall be unlawful to prepare and
15 advertise notice of a proposed budget when the same is knowingly
16 inaccurate. Where, upon any revision of the budget, it appears
17 that the estimated expenditures in the adopted budget will be
18 increased more than ten percent in the aggregate, or more than
19 twenty-five percent in any individual item, over the proposed
20 budget, it shall be presumed that the tentative budget was
21 inaccurate, and such budget may not be legally adopted with any
22 such increases therein unless the same is again advertised once,
23 as in the case of the proposed budget, and an opportunity
24 afforded to taxpayers to examine the same and protest such
25 increases. The tax levied by the township commissioners shall be
26 fixed at such figure within the limit allowed by law, as with
27 all other sources of revenue will meet and cover said
28 appropriations. The total appropriation shall not exceed the
29 revenues available for the fiscal year. If the funds available
30 from taxation and other sources shall be estimated to be in
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1 excess of the requirements of the ensuing fiscal year, an
2 appropriation may be made for the payment of township orders or
3 indebtedness of the previous years. A budget adopted in the
4 December prior to the fiscal year to which the budget applies
5 may be amended.
6 [The budget shall be prepared on a uniform form prepared and
7 furnished as provided in section one thousand seven hundred and
8 one A of this act.] Final action shall not be taken on the
9 proposed budget until after at least ten days public notice. The
10 proposed budget shall be published or otherwise made available
11 for public inspection at least twenty days prior to the date set
12 for the adoption of the budget. The township commissioners after
13 making such revisions and changes therein, as appear advisable,
14 shall adopt the budget not later than the thirty-first day of
15 December.
16 (c) The township commissioners may at any time by resolution
17 make supplemental appropriations for any lawful purpose from any
18 funds on hand or estimated to be received within the fiscal year
19 and not appropriated to any other purpose, including the
20 proceeds of any borrowing now or hereafter authorized by law.
21 (d) The township commissioners shall have power to authorize
22 the transfer within the same fund of any unencumbered balance,
23 or any portion thereof, from one spending agency to another, but
24 such action shall be taken only during the last nine months of
25 the fiscal year. However, when a transfer of over five percent
26 of an appropriation item is made within a fund, or when a
27 transfer of over five percent of the total appropriation to a
28 fund is made from said fund to another fund, an affirmative vote
29 of two-thirds of the township commissioners shall be required.
30 [(e) Within fifteen days after the adoption of the budget,
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1 the township commissioners shall file a copy of the same in the
2 office of the Department of Community Affairs.]
3 Section 1701.1. Amending Budget; Notice.--During the month
4 of January next, following any municipal election, the
5 commissioners of any township may amend the budget and levy and
6 tax rate to conform with its amended budget. A period of ten
7 days' public inspection at the office of township secretary of
8 the proposed amended budget after notice by the township
9 secretary to that effect is published once in a newspaper, as
10 provided in section 110 of this act, shall intervene between the
11 proposed amended budget and the adoption thereof. Any amended
12 budget must be adopted by the township commissioners on or
13 before the fifteenth day of February.
14 No such proposed amended budget shall be revised upward in
15 excess of ten percent in the aggregate thereof, or as, to an
16 individual item in excess of twenty-five percent of the amount
17 of such individual item in the proposed amended budget.
18 [Within fifteen days after the adoption of an amended budget,
19 the township secretary shall file a copy thereof in the office
20 of the Department of Community Affairs.]
21 Section 2. Section 1701a of the act, amended October 5, 1967
22 (P.L.345, No.148), is amended to read:
23 Section 1701a. Committee to Prepare Uniform Forms.--Uniform
24 forms for the annual reports of township auditors and
25 controllers to the Department of Community [Affairs] and
26 Economic Development, as required in sections 1003 and 1103 of
27 this act, [and the uniform form for the annual budget, as
28 required in section 1701,] shall be prepared by a committee
29 consisting of four representatives from the Pennsylvania State
30 Association of Township Commissioners and the Secretary of
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1 Community [Affairs] and Economic Development, or his agent who
2 shall be a person trained in the field of municipal finance.
3 Such representatives shall be appointed by the president of
4 said organization within sixty days after the effective date of
5 this act. As far as possible, such representatives shall be
6 chosen to represent townships in the various population groups
7 within the range of townships of the first class. The president
8 of said organization shall supply to the Department of Community
9 [Affairs] and Economic Development the names and addresses of
10 such representatives immediately upon their appointment.
11 Said representatives shall serve without compensation, but
12 they shall be reimbursed by the Commonwealth for all necessary
13 expenses incurred in attending meetings of the committee. The
14 committee shall meet at the call of the Secretary of Community
15 [Affairs] and Economic Development, or his agent, who shall
16 serve as chairman of the committee.
17 It shall be the duty of the Secretary of Community [Affairs]
18 and Economic Development, or his agent, to see to it that the
19 forms required by this act are prepared in cooperation with said
20 committee. In the event that said committee should for any
21 reason fail to furnish such cooperation, the Secretary of
22 Community [Affairs] and Economic Development, or his agent,
23 shall complete the preparation of the forms. After their
24 preparation, he shall issue said forms and distribute them
25 annually, as needed, to the proper officers of each township.
26 Section 3. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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