PRINTER'S NO. 894
No. 817 Session of 1999
INTRODUCED BY GREENLEAF, APRIL 16, 1999
REFERRED TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT, APRIL 16, 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," providing for the selection, duties and
5 compensation of a township tax collector; further providing
6 for the duties of township treasurers; providing for the
7 compensation of township treasurers; and making a repeal.
8 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
9 hereby enacts as follows:
10 Section 1. Section 503 of the act of June 24, 1931
11 (P.L.1206, No.331), known as The First Class Township Code,
12 reenacted and amended May 27, 1949 (P.L.1955, No.569), is
13 amended to read:
14 Section 503. Elected Officers Enumerated.--The electors of
15 each township shall elect (a) at least five township
16 commissioners, (b) one township treasurer, (b.1) one township
17 tax collector, (c) except as hereinafter otherwise provided, one
18 township assessor and one assistant township assessor, and (d)
19 except as otherwise hereinafter provided, three elected auditors
20 or one appointed auditor, or one controller where such office
1 has been established. All elected township officers shall be
2 registered electors of the township.
3 Section 2. The heading of subarticle (c) of Article V of the
4 act is amended to read:
5 ARTICLE V
6 ELECTION OF OFFICERS; VACANCIES IN OFFICE
7 * * *
8 (c) Treasurer and Tax Collector
9 * * *
10 Section 3. Section 511 of the act is amended to read:
11 Section 511. Eligibility.--The same person may hold the
12 office of township treasurer and treasurer of the school
13 district, but no township treasurer shall hold any other
14 township office [except that of tax collector].
15 Section 4. The act is amended by adding sections to read:
16 Section 512. Election of Tax Collector.--(a) (1) At the
17 municipal election in the year two thousand and one, and every
18 fourth year thereafter, the electors of each township shall
19 elect a township tax collector for a term of four years, from
20 the first Monday of January next following his election.
21 (2) For each township in which a township treasurer was
22 elected at the municipal election in the year one thousand nine
23 hundred and ninety-nine, the electors shall, at the municipal
24 election in the year two thousand and three, and every fourth
25 year thereafter, elect a township tax collector for a term of
26 four years, from the first Monday of January next following the
27 township tax collector's election.
28 (b) When the township tax collector is unable to perform the
29 duties of his office and fails or refuses to appoint a deputy,
30 the court of common pleas, on petition of the township
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1 commissioners, shall appoint a deputy tax collector to serve
2 until the tax collector is again able to perform the duties of
3 his office, or until the deputy is removed by the court, but in
4 no instance shall the deputy serve beyond the term of the tax
5 collector in whose office he is serving as deputy tax collector.
6 The court shall also fix the compensation of the deputy tax
7 collector at a rate not to exceed that paid to the elected
8 township tax collector. For the time the deputy shall serve,
9 such compensation shall be deducted from the compensation
10 otherwise payable to the township tax collector. The deputy
11 shall furnish bond in the same manner as the bond of the tax
12 collector.
13 Section 513. Compensation of Tax Collector.--The
14 compensation of a township tax collector elected in accordance
15 with section 512 shall be determined in the same manner as set
16 forth for township treasurers in section 34 of the act of May
17 25, 1945 (P.L.1050, No.394), known as the "Local Tax Collection
18 Law."
19 Section 5. Section 530 of the act, amended May 1, 1981
20 (P.L.32, No.12), is amended to read:
21 Section 530. Vacancies in General.--When a vacancy occurs in
22 the office of township commissioner, auditor, controller,
23 treasurer, tax collector, assessor, assistant auditor, or
24 assistant triennial assessor in any township, by reason of
25 death, resignation, removal from the township or ward, or
26 otherwise, the board of township commissioners of such township
27 shall fill such vacancy by appointing by resolution a registered
28 voter of the ward or township, as the case may be, in which the
29 vacancy occurs. If the board of township commissioners of any
30 township shall refuse, fail, or neglect, or be unable for any
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1 reason whatsoever, to fill such vacancy within thirty (30) days
2 after the vacancy occurs, then the vacancy board shall fill the
3 vacancy within fifteen (15) additional days by appointing a
4 registered elector of the ward or township, as the case may be,
5 in which the vacancy occurs. The vacancy board shall consist of
6 the board of commissioners and one registered elector of the
7 township, who shall be appointed by the board of township
8 commissioners at the board's first meeting each calendar year or
9 as soon thereafter as practical, and who shall act as chairman
10 of the vacancy board. If the vacancy board does not fill the
11 vacancy within the prescribed time, the chairman shall, or in
12 the case of a vacancy in the chairmanship the remaining members
13 of the vacancy board shall, petition the court of common pleas
14 to fill the vacancy by appointing a registered elector of the
15 ward or township, as the case may be, in which the vacancy
16 occurs. In the case where there are vacancies in a majority of
17 the offices of commissioners, the court of common pleas shall
18 fill such vacancies upon presentation of petition signed by not
19 less than fifteen (15) registered electors of the township. In
20 all cases, the person so appointed shall hold the office if the
21 term thereof continues so long, until the first Monday in
22 January after the first municipal election occurring more than
23 sixty (60) days after the vacancy occurs, at which election an
24 eligible person shall be elected for the remainder of the term
25 and shall have been a resident of the township continuously for
26 at least one (1) year before his appointment. In townships
27 divided into wards, all appointed commissioners shall reside in
28 the ward in which the vacancy occurred and shall have resided in
29 said ward continuously for at least one (1) year before
30 appointment. No person who was convicted of or pled guilty or no
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1 contest to a felony shall be eligible for appointment to fill a
2 vacancy on the board of commissioners for a period of three (3)
3 years from the date of the conviction or plea.
4 Section 6. The heading of Article VIII of the act is amended
5 to read:
6 ARTICLE VIII
7 TOWNSHIP TREASURER AND TOWNSHIP TAX COLLECTOR
8 Section 7. Section 801 of the act, amended July 2, 1953
9 (P.L.326, No.71), is amended to read:
10 Section 801. Fidelity Bond.--The treasurer of each township
11 and the tax collector of each township shall give a fidelity and
12 not a surety bond to the Commonwealth in a sum to be prescribed
13 by ordinance or resolution and at least equal to fifty per
14 centum of the probable amount of the annual township tax. Such
15 bond shall be subscribed by a surety company or companies duly
16 authorized to do business in this Commonwealth. The bond given
17 by the treasurer shall be conditioned on a just accounting for
18 and paying over all moneys belonging to the township funds that
19 may come into his hands, as treasurer[, from taxation or
20 otherwise,] for the payment over thereof only in the manner
21 prescribed by law, for the delivery to his successor in office
22 of all papers, books, documents, and other things held in right
23 of his office, for the payment to such successor of any balance
24 in money remaining in his hands or charged against him in the
25 settlement of his accounts[, and that, as tax collector]. The
26 bond given by the tax collector shall be conditioned on a just
27 accounting for and paying over all tax moneys, for the delivery
28 to his successor in office of all papers, books, documents or
29 other things held in right of the office and for the payment to
30 such successor of any balance of money remaining in his hands or
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1 charged against him in the settlement of his accounts of
2 township, county, poor, institution district, and school taxes[,
3 he]. The tax collector shall account for and pay over all moneys
4 received by him as taxes, penalties and interest. The township
5 [treasurer] tax collector and his sureties shall be discharged
6 from further liability on any bond as tax collector as soon as
7 all tax items, contained in the duplicates delivered to him, are
8 either--(1) collected and paid over to the proper taxing
9 district; or (2) set forth in schedules filed with or certified
10 to the proper tax authorities; or (3) returned to the county
11 commissioners for sale of the real estate by the county
12 treasurer, or returned in accordance with the Real Estate Tax
13 Sale Law approved July 7, 1947, Pamphlet Laws 1368; or (4) in
14 the case of occupation, poll, and per capita taxes, accounted
15 for by payment over or by exoneration which shall be granted by
16 the taxing district upon oath or affirmation that as tax
17 collector he has complied with section 20 of the Local Tax
18 Collection Law approved May 25th, 1945 (Pamphlet Laws 1050). The
19 township treasurer and the township tax collector shall each be
20 required to give but one bond, which shall include his duties as
21 township treasurer [and] or as tax collector of township,
22 county, school, institution district, and poor taxes, and shall
23 cover the full term of his office. Should the township, county,
24 school district, institution district or poor district be of the
25 opinion at any time, that the bond given is not sufficient,
26 additional security may be required to be given at the expense
27 of the taxing district requiring the same. The [treasurer] tax
28 collector shall not, in any event, be required to give bond or
29 bonds aggregating an amount in excess of the taxes to be
30 collected by him. The bond or bonds given by the township
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1 [treasurer] tax collector shall be for the use of the township,
2 the county, the institution district, and the school district.
3 Said bond shall be filed with the township commissioners.
4 Section 8. Sections 805 and 806 of the act are amended to
5 read:
6 Section 805. Powers as Tax Collector.--The township
7 [treasurer, by virtue of his office as treasurer, shall be tax
8 collector. He] tax collector shall collect all county,
9 institution district, township, school, and other taxes, within
10 such township, levied by authorities empowered to levy taxes. He
11 shall, in addition to the powers, duties, and responsibilities
12 enumerated in this act, have all the powers, perform all the
13 duties, and be subject to all the obligations and
14 responsibilities as are now by law vested in, conferred upon, or
15 imposed upon, collectors of the several classes of taxes
16 hereinbefore mentioned.
17 It is the purpose and intent of this section that no local
18 taxes shall be collected in any township, except by the
19 [treasurer] tax collector of the township.
20 Section 806. Oath.--The [treasurer] tax collector of every
21 township shall, before he enters upon the duties of his office
22 as collector of taxes for the county, take and subscribe an oath
23 of office and file the same in the office of the court of
24 [quarter sessions] common pleas.
25 Section 9. The act is amended by adding a section to read:
26 Section 809. Compensation of Township Treasurer.--After a
27 township elects a township tax collector in accordance with
28 section 512, the township treasurer for the township shall no
29 longer be compensated as provided in section 34 of the act of
30 May 25, 1945 (P.L.1050, No.394), known as the "Local Tax
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1 Collection Law." Thereafter, the compensation of the township
2 treasurer shall be fixed by the township commissioners.
3 Section 10. Section 1712 of the act, amended December 14,
4 1967 (P.L.819, No.351), is amended to read:
5 Section 1712. Delivery of Duplicates.--The board of township
6 commissioners shall within thirty days after adoption of the
7 budget or within thirty days after receipt of the assessment
8 roll from the county, whichever is later, deliver a duplicate of
9 the assessment of township taxes to the township [treasurer] tax
10 collector, together with their warrant for the collection of the
11 same.
12 Section 11. Section 34 of the act of May 25, 1945 (P.L.1050,
13 No.394), known as the Local Tax Collection Law, is repealed
14 insofar as it is inconsistent with this act.
15 Section 12. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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