SENATE AMENDED
PRIOR PRINTER'S NOS. 1311, 2464, 3715 PRINTER'S NO. 3736
No. 1158 Session of 1999
INTRODUCED BY BARD, ROSS, COY, HERMAN AND LESCOVITZ,
APRIL 7, 1999
AS AMENDED ON THIRD CONSIDERATION, IN SENATE, JUNE 13, 2000
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," providing for school crossing guards; further
5 providing for budget forms, for filing copies and for uniform
6 forms; and making editorial changes.
7 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
8 hereby enacts as follows:
9 Section 1. Section 1416 of the act of June 24, 1931
10 (P.L.1206, No.331), known as The First Class Township Code,
11 reenacted and amended May 27, 1949 (P.L.1955, No.569) and
12 amended December 7, 1965 (P.L.1044, No.392), is amended to read:
13 Section 1416. [Special Police] School Crossing Guards.--(a)
14 The board of township commissioners, by resolution, may appoint
15 [special police] school crossing guards who shall [have the duty
16 of controlling and directing traffic at or near schools and
17 churches, and who shall be in uniform and shall display a badge
18 or other sign of authority, and who shall be vested with all of
19 the powers of local police officers.] BE IN UNIFORM AND be <--
1 authorized only in the management of traffic and pedestrians.
2 Such [police] school crossing guards shall serve at the pleasure
3 of the board of township commissioners, except as provided in
4 subsection (b), and shall not come within the civil service
5 provisions of this act, nor shall they be eligible to join any
6 [police] TOWNSHIP pension fund. [maintained for the township <--
7 police.] Their compensation shall be fixed by the board of <--
8 township commissioners and they shall be paid by the board of
9 township commissioners, or jointly by the board of township
10 commissioners and the board of school directors in a ratio to be
11 determined by the two boards. If the board of township
12 commissioners and board of school directors are unable to
13 determine the ratio of compensation of the [police] school
14 crossing guards to be paid by each board, each such board shall
15 pay one-half of the compensation of such [police] school
16 crossing guards who shall have the duty of controlling and
17 directing traffic at or near schools.
18 (b) The board of township commissioners may approve an
19 ordinance allowing a board of school directors to assume hiring
20 and oversight of school crossing guards. Before the board of
21 township supervisors COMMISSIONERS may approve such an <--
22 ordinance, the board of directors of the school district shall
23 approve a resolution requesting the authority to assume the
24 hiring and oversight of school crossing guards. The ordinance
25 shall outline how the police department will provide any
26 necessary training and assistance of the school crossing guards
27 while on duty. Such school crossing guards will be authorized
28 only in the management of traffic and pedestrians in and around
29 areas identified by the police department and the school
30 district superintendent or his or her designees. The school
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1 crossing guards shall not come within the civil service
2 provision of this act, nor shall they fall under the bargaining
3 unit of the school district nor as BE CONSIDERED an employe as <--
4 defined under section 1101-A of the act of March 10, 1949
5 (P.L.30, No.14), known as the "Public School Code of 1949," OR A <--
6 "SCHOOL EMPLOYE" AS DEFINED UNDER 24 PA.C.S. § 8102 (RELATING TO
7 DEFINITIONS), or under any plans hereafter enacted EFFECTIVE. <--
8 Once the ordinance receives approval by the board of township
9 commissioners, the school district shall assume the cost of
10 compensation, including fixing such compensation, if any, of the
11 school crossing guards. Auxiliary policemen, appointed as
12 prescribed by general law, may be hired by the school district
13 to serve as school crossing guards. The board of school
14 directors shall notify the board of township commissioners of
15 those hired to serve as school crossing guards and request that
16 the necessary training or assistance be provided as outlined by
17 the ordinance.
18 Section 2. Sections 1701 and 1701.1 of the act, amended or
19 added August 11, 1967 (P.L.213, No.74) and December 14, 1967
20 (P.L.819, No.351), are amended to read:
21 Section 1701. Fiscal Year; Annual Budget; Regulation of
22 Appropriations.--(a) The fiscal year in townships of the first
23 class shall commence on the first day of January of each year.
24 (b) The board of township commissioners shall each year, at
25 least thirty days prior to the adoption of the annual budget,
26 begin preparation of a proposed budget for all funds showing an
27 estimate of the several amounts of money which will be required
28 for the several specific purposes of township government and
29 expenses for the ensuing fiscal year, and by ordinance
30 appropriate, out of the revenues available for the year, the
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1 specific sums required as shown by the budget as finally
2 adopted. At the option of the township commissioners, such
3 budget may be prepared and adopted prior to the first Monday of
4 January of the fiscal year to which such budget shall apply.
5 Whenever the township commissioners shall exercise such option,
6 the first reading of the budget shall take place in November and
7 the budget shall be finally adopted in the month of December
8 prior to the fiscal year to which such budget shall apply. Said
9 budget shall reflect as nearly as possible the estimated
10 revenues and expenditures of the township for the year for which
11 the budget is prepared. It shall be unlawful to prepare and
12 advertise notice of a proposed budget when the same is knowingly
13 inaccurate. Where, upon any revision of the budget, it appears
14 that the estimated expenditures in the adopted budget will be
15 increased more than ten percent in the aggregate, or more than
16 twenty-five percent in any individual item, over the proposed
17 budget, it shall be presumed that the tentative budget was
18 inaccurate, and such budget may not be legally adopted with any
19 such increases therein unless the same is again advertised once,
20 as in the case of the proposed budget, and an opportunity
21 afforded to taxpayers to examine the same and protest such
22 increases. The tax levied by the township commissioners shall be
23 fixed at such figure within the limit allowed by law, as with
24 all other sources of revenue will meet and cover said
25 appropriations. The total appropriation shall not exceed the
26 revenues available for the fiscal year. If the funds available
27 from taxation and other sources shall be estimated to be in
28 excess of the requirements of the ensuing fiscal year, an
29 appropriation may be made for the payment of township orders or
30 indebtedness of the previous years. A budget adopted in the
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1 December prior to the fiscal year to which the budget applies
2 may be amended.
3 [The budget shall be prepared on a uniform form prepared and
4 furnished as provided in section one thousand seven hundred and
5 one A of this act.] Final action shall not be taken on the
6 proposed budget until after at least ten days public notice. The
7 proposed budget shall be published or otherwise made available
8 for public inspection at least twenty days prior to the date set
9 for the adoption of the budget. The township commissioners after
10 making such revisions and changes therein, as appear advisable,
11 shall adopt the budget not later than the thirty-first day of
12 December.
13 (c) The township commissioners may at any time by resolution
14 make supplemental appropriations for any lawful purpose from any
15 funds on hand or estimated to be received within the fiscal year
16 and not appropriated to any other purpose, including the
17 proceeds of any borrowing now or hereafter authorized by law.
18 (d) The township commissioners shall have power to authorize
19 the transfer within the same fund of any unencumbered balance,
20 or any portion thereof, from one spending agency to another, but
21 such action shall be taken only during the last nine months of
22 the fiscal year. However, when a transfer of over five percent
23 of an appropriation item is made within a fund, or when a
24 transfer of over five percent of the total appropriation to a
25 fund is made from said fund to another fund, an affirmative vote
26 of two-thirds of the township commissioners shall be required.
27 [(e) Within fifteen days after the adoption of the budget,
28 the township commissioners shall file a copy of the same in the
29 office of the Department of Community Affairs.]
30 Section 1701.1. Amending Budget; Notice.--During the month
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1 of January next, following any municipal election, the
2 commissioners of any township may amend the budget and levy and
3 tax rate to conform with its amended budget. A period of ten
4 days' public inspection at the office of township secretary of
5 the proposed amended budget after notice by the township
6 secretary to that effect is published once in a newspaper, as
7 provided in section 110 of this act, shall intervene between the
8 proposed amended budget and the adoption thereof. Any amended
9 budget must be adopted by the township commissioners on or
10 before the fifteenth day of February.
11 No such proposed amended budget shall be revised upward in
12 excess of ten percent in the aggregate thereof, or as, to an
13 individual item in excess of twenty-five percent of the amount
14 of such individual item in the proposed amended budget.
15 [Within fifteen days after the adoption of an amended budget,
16 the township secretary shall file a copy thereof in the office
17 of the Department of Community Affairs.]
18 Section 3. Section 1701a of the act, amended October 5, 1967
19 (P.L.345, No.148), is amended to read:
20 Section 1701a. Committee to Prepare Uniform Forms.--Uniform
21 forms for the annual reports of township auditors and
22 controllers to the Department of Community [Affairs] and
23 Economic Development, as required in sections 1003 and 1103 of
24 this act, [and the uniform form for the annual budget, as
25 required in section 1701,] shall be prepared by a committee
26 consisting of four representatives from the Pennsylvania State
27 Association of Township Commissioners and the Secretary of
28 Community [Affairs] and Economic Development, or his agent who
29 shall be a person trained in the field of municipal finance.
30 Such representatives shall be appointed by the president of
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1 said organization within sixty days after the effective date of
2 this act. As far as possible, such representatives shall be
3 chosen to represent townships in the various population groups
4 within the range of townships of the first class. The president
5 of said organization shall supply to the Department of Community
6 [Affairs] and Economic Development the names and addresses of
7 such representatives immediately upon their appointment.
8 Said representatives shall serve without compensation, but
9 they shall be reimbursed by the Commonwealth for all necessary
10 expenses incurred in attending meetings of the committee. The
11 committee shall meet at the call of the Secretary of Community
12 [Affairs] and Economic Development, or his agent, who shall
13 serve as chairman of the committee.
14 It shall be the duty of the Secretary of Community [Affairs]
15 and Economic Development, or his agent, to see to it that the
16 forms required by this act are prepared in cooperation with said
17 committee. In the event that said committee should for any
18 reason fail to furnish such cooperation, the Secretary of
19 Community [Affairs] and Economic Development, or his agent,
20 shall complete the preparation of the forms. After their
21 preparation, he shall issue said forms and distribute them
22 annually, as needed, to the proper officers of each township.
23 Section 4. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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