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Proposed State Police Fee Generates Mixed Reactions

Charging for state police protection has been debated for years. But the issue has moved to the front burner recently as more cash-strapped local governments statewide opt to do away with police coverage.

(TNS) - Emergencies don't respect municipal boundaries.

So when Northern Berks Regional Police officers are asked to help in the areas around their three-municipality patrol area, they oblige.

The department serves, and is funded by, Maidencreek and Ontelaunee townships and Leesport. Some neighboring municipalities also have local police. Three others - Perry, Centre and Ruscombmanor townships - opt to forgo local law enforcement and rely on state police.

But state troopers, tasked with patrolling a large swath of the county, can't be everywhere at once. So sometimes Northern Berks officers are called to lend a hand.

"That's fine. We have reciprocal agreements. They help us, and we help them," Chief Scott W. Eaken said. "But after a while, it becomes problematic because people in those areas aren't paying for our police to go there."

That's why Eaken's happy to see Gov. Tom Wolf's proposal to charge municipalities that use state police as their primary law enforcement agency. The governor's 2017-18 budget proposal calls for a $25 per capita fee on municipalities without local police.

Charging for state police protection has been debated for years. But the issue has moved to the front burner recently as more cash-strapped local governments statewide opt to do away with police coverage.

That's resulted in more strain on the state police. And funds intended for road and bridge repairs are being siphoned off to help cover the extra spending on state police. Wolf's plans would bring in an estimated $63 million in the initial year to help cover costs.

But for municipalities that haven't had to budget for police coverage, a fee means extra spending that would have to be offset with tax hikes or cuts to other services.

With a population of about 31,000, Lower Macungie Township in Lehigh County is one of the largest municipalities in the state without a local police force. Under Wolf's proposal, Lower Macungie would pay more than $750,000 a year with the fee.

"It's not like we're not paying anything," Lower Macungie Township Manager Bruce Fosselman said.

He noted that residents pay $36 million to the state through income taxes.

"We feel like we're served well by the state police," Fosselman said. "And we think it's unfair for the governor to want to tap more into that."

In the map below, the municipalities in red are ones that rely solely on state police coverage, and clicking on one will show you that municipality's expected costs for state police if Gov. Tom Wolf's plan is approved.

Fairness at issue

Others, like Eaken, say the current setup is unfair.

Just about every municipality uses some state police services, such as testing for suspected drugs. But he said it doesn't make sense for the cost to be spread equally between places that use troopers as their primary police and those that don't. He pointed to counties in the northern and western parts of the state without any local police.

"The rest of the state's footing the bill for them," Eaken said. "That's bad news."

In general, Berks and the Tri-County area have more local police coverage than most parts of the state.

An Associated Press analysis estimated that only 25 percent of the Berks population lives in municipalities without local police coverage. That puts Berks 54th out of 67 counties for reliance on state police. Montgomery County ranks 64th with 8 percent, and Chester County falls at 51st with 31 percent.

In contrast, eight counties have no local police. And in another 10, at least 80 percent of the population lives in municipalities that rely entirely on state police.

But even in Berks, Wolf's proposal could have a big effect on the 27 of the county's 70 municipalities with no municipal police. Those municipalities would pay annual fees ranging from $4,550 in Lenhartsville to $190,850 in Maxatawny Township.

Only a few Tri-County area municipalities lack local coverage. Upper Frederick Township would pay $89,075. South Coventry Township would pay $65,250, and Warwick Township would pay $63,425.

"It makes sense that these municipalities pay for police services like other municipalities presently do," Berks County District Attorney John T. Adams said. "The other municipalities are double taxed because they're paying not only for their own services but they're paying for state police services through their other taxes."
 

Other considerations

Adams said he hopes a fee would bolster public safety by providing troopers the funding they need and deterring municipalities from doing away with local coverage. Eliminating the free option, he said, could prompt more communities to work with their neighbors to make police protection affordable.

"This should encourage those municipalities that are relying solely on state police to consider joining a regional department," Adams said. "Right now, without this legislation, you're encouraging municipalities to drop their police forces and we've got to stop that."

Public safety isn't the only area affected by more demand on state police. To cover increases in the department's budget, the state's dipped into funding reserved for transportation projects.

That practice has occurred for decades, but it has come under scrutiny as the state police payments threaten to eclipse the funds generated by a 2013 law that hiked driver fees and gas taxes to finance more road work.

"We bit the bullet and did the funding increase and now see the money being whittled away by police pensions and what not," said Fred Levering, chairman of the Greater Reading Chamber of Commerce & Industry's transportation committee. "People have done their part of paying higher gas taxes but expect to see it paying for transportation things."

The flip side

Lower Macungie has never taken the decision to forgo local police lightly, Fosselman said.

Though it's unusual for large suburban municipalities not to have a department, the township manager said multiple studies reached the same conclusion: Lower Macungie doesn't need one.

The township has low crime and is mostly residential. And residents are thrilled with their coverage by state troopers, Fosselman said.

"We take this very seriously," he said. "It's not something where we bury our heads in the sand and say: 'Oh sure, we don't need a police force.' "

Even with the fee, the township would likely still opt to be covered by state police, Fosselman said. But he said it's unfair to penalize communities with additional taxes for making their own decisions about police coverage.

"It's money that we wouldn't be able to spend or would have to put additional taxes on the township residents," he said. "We think we are paying our fair share at this point."

The fee probably wouldn't change the coverage calculus for Lyons either. The borough along with nearby Topton and Maxatawny and Upper Macungie townships, had been covered by the Berks-Lehigh Regional Police before the agency disbanded in 2012.

Lyons would pay $14,000 under Wolf's plan, which is still a bargain compared with the $29,000 it cost to be part of a regional force, borough council President Steve Haring said.

Residents have been happy with the state police coverage, he said, and there aren't enough police incidents in the small borough to merit local coverage.

"I don't even know if we ever had a month that we ever had more than 10 calls," he said. "How do you justify a police department for five calls?"

Topton has also gone without local coverage since the regional force disbanded.

There's been a difference in coverage, borough council President K. Ray Stauffer said.

Troopers often take longer to respond than local officers, he said, and there's not always a regular police presence in town. But, he said, local coverage is cost-prohibitive.

The borough would likely have to raise taxes to cover the $53,000 coverage fee, Stauffer said. But, he said, Topton residents may not mind as much if it means getting more troopers on the ground.

"If we have to pay a little bit more and we have better coverage," he said, "then the pill is a little bit easier to swallow."

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