PRINTER'S NO. 1746
No. 1415 Session of 1976
INTRODUCED BY ZEMPRELLI AND HAGER, MARCH 22, 1976
REFERRED TO BUSINESS AND COMMERCE, MARCH 22, 1976
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of November 30, 1967 (P.L.658, No.305),
2 entitled, as amended, "An act authorizing townships,
3 boroughs, cities of the first class, cities of the second
4 class A and cities of the third class to designate business
5 improvement districts, create bonded or other evidences of
6 indebtedness to acquire and finance improvements in such
7 districts, and assess and collect special ad valorem
8 assessments from benefited properties in such districts,"
9 making the act uniform for all municipal corporations and
10 further providing for the method of imposing and collecting
11 assessments for improvements.
12 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
13 hereby enacts as follows:
14 Section 1. The title and sections 2 and 4, act of November
15 30, 1967 (P.L.658, No.305), known as the "Business Improvement
16 District Act of 1967," amended July 18, 1974 (P.L.463, No.164),
17 are amended to read:
18 AN ACT
19 Authorizing [townships, boroughs, cities of the first class,
20 cities of the second class A and cities of the third class]
21 municipal corporations to designate business improvement
22 districts, create bonded or other evidences of indebtedness
23 to acquire and finance improvements in such districts, and
1 assess and collect special [ad valorem] assessments from
2 benefited properties in such districts.
3 Section 2. Powers of Governing Body.--The governing body of
4 every [township, borough, city of the first class, city of the
5 second class A and city of the third class] municipal
6 corporation shall have the power:
7 [(a)] (1) To establish within the political subdivision an
8 area or areas designated as a business improvement district
9 which district or districts may be designated as all or part of
10 any sector of a community which is zoned commercial or which is
11 used for general commercial purposes.
12 [(b)] (2) To appropriate and expend such amounts as may be
13 necessary for preliminary planning or feasibility studies to
14 determine needed improvements in such districts and to recommend
15 improvement to individual properties and to provide where
16 required basic design criteria. Public hearings, shall be
17 required before passage of the enabling ordinance. At such
18 public hearings any interested party may be heard. Notice of
19 such hearings shall be advertised at least ten days prior
20 thereto in a newspaper circulating in such political
21 subdivisions. Said ordinance shall specify improvements, with
22 respective costs, to be undertaken. "Costs of any improvement,"
23 or "total cost of improvements" as used in this act shall
24 include but not be limited to the improvements themselves,
25 engineering, architectural, attorney or other consulting fees,
26 preliminary planning, feasibility studies, financing costs and
27 all other costs necessary and incidental to the completion of
28 the improvement or improvements. Said ordinance shall not become
29 effective if before the expiration of twenty days after its
30 enactment, property owners of the proposed district whose
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1 property valuation as assessed for taxable purposes shall amount
2 to more than fifty per cent of the total property valuation of
3 the district, shall sign and file, in the office of the
4 prothonotary of the court of common pleas of the county in which
5 the district is located, a written protest against said
6 ordinance.
7 [(c)] (3) To appropriate and expend in accordance with the
8 specific provisions of the enabling ordinance such amounts as
9 may be required to acquire by purchase or lease, real or
10 personal property to effectuate the purposes of the improvement
11 district including but not limited to sidewalks, retaining
12 walls, street paving, street lighting, parking lots, parking
13 garages, trees and shrubbery purchased and planted, pedestrian
14 walks, sewers, water lines, rest areas, acquisition and
15 remodeling or demolition of blighted buildings and similar or
16 comparable structures. In no case shall improvement be made to
17 property which has not been acquired.
18 [(d)] (4) To acquire by gift, purchase or eminent domain,
19 land, real property or right of ways which may be needed for the
20 purposes of the projected improvements within the district.
21 [(e)] (5) To issue bonds notes or guarantees in accordance
22 with the provisions of general laws authorizing borrowing by
23 cities of the first class or in accordance with the provisions
24 of the act of July 12, 1972 (P.L.781, No.185), known as the
25 "Local Government Unit Debt Act," whichever is applicable in
26 such amounts and for such periods as may be necessary to finance
27 the projected improvements for any district.
28 Section 4. Method of Assessment.--(a) The total cost of the
29 improvements in such district shall be assessed to all of the
30 benefited properties in the district by either of the following
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1 methods:
2 [(a)] (1) By an assessment determined by multiplying the
3 total improvement cost by the ratio of the assessed value of the
4 benefited property to the total assessed valuation of all
5 benefited properties in the district.
6 [(b)] (2) By an assessment upon the several properties in
7 the district in proportion to benefits as ascertained by viewers
8 appointed in accordance with law.
9 (3) By an assessment upon the several properties in the
10 district abutting on the improvements, or, where more than one
11 type of improvement is involved, designated types thereof, by
12 the front-foot method, with such equitable adjustments for
13 corner properties and other cases as may be provided for in the
14 assessment ordinance. Any property which cannot be equitably
15 assessed by the front-foot method may be assessed by the method
16 provided in clause (2).
17 (b) The governing body may by ordinance authorize the
18 payment of such assessment in equal annual, or more frequent
19 installments over such time and bearing interest at such rate
20 [not in excess of six per cent] as may be specified in said
21 ordinance provided that where bonds shall have been issued and
22 sold, or notes or guarantees given or issued, to provide for the
23 cost of the improvements such assessment in equal installments
24 shall not be payable beyond the term for which such bonds, notes
25 or guarantees are payable.
26 (c) Claims to secure the assessments shall be entered in the
27 prothonotary's office of the county at the same time and in the
28 form and shall be collected in the same manner as municipal
29 claims are filed and collected [notwithstanding the provisions
30 of this section as to installment payments] except that, where
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1 installment payments are authorized, pursuant to subsection (b),
2 the ordinance may contain any or all of the following
3 provisions:
4 (1) Notwithstanding the filing of such claims, all
5 assessments which are made payable in installments shall
6 constitute liens and encumbrances upon the respective benefited
7 properties, at the beginning of each calendar year, except as
8 provided in clause (2), only in an amount equal to the sum of
9 (i) the annual, or other, installments becoming payable in such
10 year, with interest and penalties, if any, thereon, and (ii) the
11 total of all installments, with interest and penalties thereon,
12 which became due during prior years and which remain due and
13 unpaid at the beginning of the current year.
14 (2) In the case of default in the payment of any installment
15 and interest for a period of ninety days after the same shall
16 become due, the assessment ordinance may provide either for the
17 entire assessment with accrued interest and penalties to become
18 due and become a lien from the due date of the installment, or
19 may provide solely for the enforcement of the claim as to the
20 overdue installment (with interest and penalties) in which case
21 the ordinance shall further provide that if any installment or
22 portion thereof shall remain due and unpaid for one year after
23 it has become due and payable, then the entire assessment with
24 accrued interest and penalties shall become due and become a
25 lien from the due date of the installment.
26 (3) No action taken to enforce a claim for any installment
27 or installments shall affect the status of any subsequent
28 installment of the same assessment, each of which shall continue
29 to become a lien upon the property annually pursuant to clause
30 (1).
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1 (4) The ordinance may contain any other provision relating
2 to installment assessments which is not inconsistent with
3 applicable law.
4 [In the case of default in the payment of any installment and
5 interest for a period of sixty days after the same shall become
6 due, the entire assessment and accrued interest shall become
7 due.]
8 (d) Any owner of property, against whom an assessment has
9 been made, may pay the same in full, at any time, with accrued
10 interest and costs thereon, and such payment shall discharge the
11 lien of such assessment or installments then constituting a
12 lien, and also release the claim to any later installments.
13 Section 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
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