Pennsylvania legislator wants annual fee for municipalities relying on state troopers

DAUPHIN COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) — A Dauphin County Democrat wants municipalities who rely on Pennsylvania State Police coverage to pay an annual fee.

State Rep. Justin Fleming (D-Dauphin), in a co-sponsorship memo Wednesday, said it cost State Police $234 per resident in 2017 to provide police services to municipalities without local departments.

About two-thirds of municipalities rely on State Police instead of maintaining a full-time force, Fleming said, covering 82% of the state’s land and 25% of the population.

Fleming said residents with local forces fund their departments through municipal taxes and subsidize State Police for the rest of the state through state taxes. This funding comes from the Motor License Fund, Fleming said.

“Although the Pennsylvania Constitution permits the use of Motor License Fund dollars for PSP highway and road patrols, it prohibits their use for non-traffic-related policing duties such as burglary investigations, shoplifting, and other criminal cases,” Fleming said. “Yet PSP routinely performs these services in municipalities without their own police.”

Fleming wants to phase out the diversion of Motor License Fund dollars, totaling $500 Million in the 2022-23 state budget, and instead implement an annual fee.

Municipalities with a part-time force would pay one-third the rate and municipalities that either establish a police force or join a regional police department will be exempt from the fee.

The fees as proposed, he said, would be significantly below the actual cost of providing services. The proposed fees, though, were not provided in the memo.

A bill has not yet been introduced.

Fleming’s district includes all or part of Lower Paxton and Susquehanna Townships as well as Penbrook Borough, which all have full-time local police coverage.