1Providing for grants to municipalities that provide services to
2certain universities and for powers and duties of the
3Department of Community and Economic Development; and making
4an appropriation.

5The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
6hereby enacts as follows:

7Section 1. Short title.

8This act shall be known and may be cited as the Municipal
9Service Grant Act.

10Section 2. Definitions.

11The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
12have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
13context clearly indicates otherwise:

14"Department." The Department of Community and Economic
15Development of the Commonwealth.

16"Host municipality." A municipality where the majority of
17tax-exempt properties owned by a university are located.

18"Impacted municipality." A municipality that provides the
19majority of primary municipal services, such as police, fire

1protection and code enforcement to the off-campus student
2population of a university.

3"Real estate tax millage rate." The millage rate designated
4by a municipality for use on a university's tax-exempt property.

5"University." A university within the State System of Higher
6Education.

7"University's tax-exempt property." The term includes any
8tax-exempt property used by a university that is owned by the
9State System of Higher Education, the Commonwealth, a university
10or a foundation formed by the university.

11Section 3. Municipal Service Grants.

12Beginning with the 2013-2014 fiscal year and for each fiscal
13year thereafter, the department shall make payments in the form
14of grants for the purpose of reimbursing those municipalities
15that provide primary municipal services to universities.

16Section 4. Reimbursable expenses.

17Grants shall be awarded in accordance with section 5 and
18shall be used to reimburse municipalities for all of the
19following:

20(1) The cost of providing primary municipal services to
21a university.

22(2) The loss of tax revenue incurred by the presence of
23tax-exempt properties owned by a university.

24Section 5. Distribution formula.

25Grants awarded under this act shall be distributed to each
26municipality according to the following formula, and the data
27utilized in the formula for each municipality shall be reviewed
28every three years by the department:

29(1) Divide the university's full-time equivalent student
30enrollment for the previous academic year by the total full-

1time equivalent student enrollment for the previous academic
2year of the State System of Higher Education, expressed as a
3percentage.

4(2) Multiply the municipality's real estate tax millage
5rate by the assessed value of the university's tax-exempt
6property to determine the tax revenue actually lost. Then
7divide the result expressing the tax revenue lost by the sum
8of the total tax revenue lost by all the municipalities
9providing primary municipal services to universities,
10expressed as a percentage.

11(3) To equally weight the two ratios, combine the
12percentage under paragraph (1) with the percentage under
13paragraph (2) and divide by two, expressed as a percentage.

14(4) Multiply the result of paragraph (3) by the total
15amount of funding appropriated for the purposes of this act.

16Section 6. Main campus in multiple municipalities.

17If a university's main campus is located in or immediately
18adjacent to more than one municipality, the grant for primary
19municipal services shall be allocated and distributed to each
20affected municipality proportionately as follows:

21(1) Proportionality shall be determined for the impacted
22municipality by the percentage determined under section 5(1)
23and for the host municipality by the percentage determined
24under section 5(2).

25(2) Each factor separately shall then be divided by two.

26(3) Separately, each result shall be multiplied by the
27total amount of funding appropriated for the purposes of this
28act.

29The department shall designate only one municipality as the host
30municipality and only one municipality as the impacted

1municipality for each regional State System of Higher Education
2university.

3Section 7. Appropriation.

4The amount of $3,000,000 is hereby appropriated to the
5Department of Community and Economic Development for the fiscal
6year 2013-2014 to carry out the provisions of this act.

7Section 8. Effective date.

8This act shall take effect immediately.