CCAP unveils 2007 Legislative Priorities
January 17 Press Release
The following are the 2007 Key Priorities of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania:
Tax Fairness Now
Funding Human Services
Repair 911 Funding System
Conservation and Land Use
Prisoner Place of Confinement/Reimbursement
County Recycling Fee Authorization
Bridges and Mass Transit
Correcting District Attorney/Judicial Pay
Improve Election Administration
Correct Constable Fees and Billing
Tax Fairness Now (PDF)
During the past two sessions of the General Assembly, legislation has been approved to address school property taxes. Counties have been seeking legislation during this same period to address the complaints of taxpayers who pay taxes on their property to fund county government, including state and federal responsibilities that have seen increasing funding shortfalls during this same period. Counties were asked to wait while the Governor and the House and the Senate grappled with ways to reform the property tax system that funds Pennsylvania's education system. Counties can wait no longer.
It is becoming typical that in each year more than half of the counties have been compelled to raise taxes, and sometimes being required to do so at double-digit rates. Counties have no choice; these difficult decisions are responsible ones, which counties are compelled to make in light of several years of sharp funding decreases at the state and federal levels. While state and federal government must do more to maintain their fair share of funding for mandated services, when a county is forced to rely on its local bases it is important that it have some alternative other than the real property tax, currently the almost-exclusive source of county tax revenue.
Pennsylvania's counties, municipalities and the vast majority of school districts rely on property taxes as their main local revenue source, but the system does not equitably or adequately reflect a homeowner's economic condition, placing them an unfair burden. Pennsylvania's counties believe that local taxes should be equitable and fair; no one should have to pay more than their fair share. "Tax fairness" targets a change in the generation of revenue to support local government. Effective measures that are tax fair allow local governments to reduce the real estate tax in proportion to revenue generated by other sources of income, such as personal income or sales taxes, but should not generate a windfall in revneue for the taxing entity. Any tax fairness measure has to consider more than school taxes; options should be available to address county inequities as well. Counties should be able to choose their options based on what is best for their communities.
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Funding Human Services (PDF)
Statewide, 60 percent of county budgets are dedicated to the provision of human services. For decades, counties have fulfilled their obligation to provide a comprehensive array of vital services to residents. Counties are in the forefront in providing necessary services, and have had to continually increase their fiscal share for these services as state and federal funds have not kept pace with state and/or federal mandates, the increasing need for services or the actual costs of providing services. Counties have acted as a "safety net" for those individuals most in need.
Regardless of the source of funding, abused, neglected and delinquent children continue to need care; individuals and families living with addiction or mental illness continue to need treatment and resources; the elderly must have options available to address their long term care needs. All of these services are required to ensure individuals and communities in Pennsylvania have their basic needs met. In the face of decreasing state and federal funding, Pennsylvania counties have chosen to continue to fund programs for their most vulnerable citizens at the expense of other public services.
This year, the impact of the loss of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) funds has been temporarily softened by the infusion of one-time funding. These limited but critical funds will be available for the remainder of the 2006-07 state fiscal year. Compounding the problem has been a series off failed state initiatives to maximize federal revenue in Title IV-E and Medical Assistance. Counties have advanced local funds in anticipation of federal revenue, which has not materialized.
Counties have already been forced to allocate a greater share of local funding in their 2007 budgets to compensate for these losses to assure mandated services continue. However, counties are at a point where this cost shifting to the local level must stop. Many human service programs are mandated, but there are other more creative prevention programs, including early intervention services and training opportunities for staff, which are provided at local discretion. Discretionary programs are the first to be eliminated when tough funding decisions must be made even though data indicate that they often have the most positive impact on the community and ultimately save money. As an example, every dollar spent on preventive and community based treatment services will save $10 to $27 in future placement costs.
Counties are also faced with increasing jail populations with 80 to 85 percent of the jail population having mental health, drug and/or alcohol addiction and other human service needs that must be addressed to reduce recidivism and increase the possibility of successfully re-entering and living in the community.
Our citizens and communities in all 67 counties will feel the impact of the loss of vital programs, especially those whose health and safety depends on our help. In addition, the economic impact of these programs is huge, as human services agencies are important employers in many communities. The success of local economic development efforts also depend on sustainable funding for this key sector of the economy.
Sustainable and predictable state and federal funding for human services is an absolute necessity. A responsible and long-term solution is needed to address funding of mandated and entitlement services to meet the needs of Pennsylvania communities. Without a commitment by the state and federal governments to honor their human service obligations, counties are forced to increase local taxes, as they did in 2004, 2005 and 2006, or eliminate other vital public services.
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Repair 911 Funding System (PDF)
One of the key public safety responsibilities that counties have is the operation of the 911 call-taking and dispatch system. Counties are in the midst of implementation of enhanced systems to locate wireless callers, ut there are major problems with administration of the fund by the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA), resulting in significant cash flow difficulties for counties and questions on whether or not PEMA has inflated costs or approved unnecessary purchases or inappropriate equipment. Counties are also seeking legislation to facilitate location of callers from PBX and similar systems. Legislative and administrative assistance is also needed to assure that users of new technologies, including Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) and other internet services, can place emergency calls to the correct call center, and be assured of correct emergency dispatch. A key component of this system is assurance that telephone system providers are properly collecting and remitting the subscriber fees that support the development, deployment and operation of these systems.
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Conservation and Land Use (PDF)
Counties have a role in land use planning, farmland and open space preservation, water quality and other environmental issues. The Association supports programs to promote use of alternatives to fossil-based transportation fuels, including incentives for counties to deploy hybrid vehicles and vehicles operated by alternative fuels. Counties seek increased funding for farmland and open space preservation, as well as authority to levy a realty transfer tax of up to one percent to generate revenue for farmland and open space preservation. CCAP also seeks funding for water quality initiatives such as the Chesapeake Bay Tributary Strategy, including development and implementation of stormwater management plans.
To maintain Pennsylvania's status as the leading state in agricultural preservation, counties support legislation that will clearly protect landowners from liability for injuries to recreational users on properties that are open to the public.
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Prisoner Place of Confinement/Reimbursement (PDF)
The County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania supports a statutory change requiring all offenders sentenced to more than two years to be committed to the state correctional system for confinement. Currently, judges have discretion about where they send state offenders sentenced to two to five years - either county or state prison. Pennsylvania is the only state in the country that permits this type of sentencing discretion. Most states prohibit those sentenced to more than one year to serve that sentence in a county facility. States that do permit sentences of up to two years in county facilities generally provide reimbursement to the county for the costs of housing those inmates, unlike Pennsylvania, where county property taxes fund the jails. Requiring state prison confinement for inmates sentenced for two or more years would provide inmates with programs such as vocational training, addictions counseling, and other needed services that are proven to reduce recidivism and reduce the burden on taxpayers, but are often unavailable in county jails. Many county jails are overcrowded and counties across the state are forced to ask the property taxpayers to fund building and expansion projects taht could be avoided if inmates with state sentences served their time in state facilities.
In the absence of a change in the place of confinement statute, the Association is calling for state reimbursement to countiesfor all offenders sentenced to the county correctional system for more than two years.
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County Recycling Fee Authorization (PDF)
Due to the court decision, counties can no longer levy a local administrative fee to fund supplemental county recycling programs such as household hazardous waste collection, electronics recycling, recycling drop-off centers, illegal dump enforcement and cleanup and tire recycling. The Commonwealth Court has ruled that county administrative fees are illegal because they are not specifically authorized in Act 101, the Municipal Waste Planning, Recycling and Waste Reduction Act. This ruling has left counties without a source of revenue to fund these programs and, beginning in 2007, many supplemental local recycling programs will be reduced or eliminated. A decrease in the availability of recycling programs will result in mor recyclable goods filling up space in landfills, and a proliferation of illegal dumping on public and private lands. This will have an adverse impact on the Commonwealth's environment and the quality of life of many Pennsylvania residents, and will undermine the public's investment in the Growing Greener bond initiative. Counties are seeking an alternative funding stream for these recycling programs. CCAP urges the General Assembly to give counties authority to levy a local administrative fee that would be dedicated to county solid waste planning and administration.
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Bridges and Mass Transit (PDF)
Counties are responsible for the maintenance of more than 4,000 county-owned bridges, funded with a gas tax allocation that has remained largely unchanged since 1930. With a lack of infrastructure funding, many of these bridges are structurally deficient and many others are approaching the end of their useful life. Mass transit funding issues are also significant to all 67 counties, with 38 urban and rural fixed route transit systems and more than 35 community transit systems.
Most of the recommendations on infrastructure contained in the Pennsylvania Transportation Funding and Reform Commission report deal with the state highway and bridge system. The Report's recommendation on county and municipal bridge and highway funding, while appreciated, lacks clarity and, depending upon the potential distribution, the funding recommendation is likely to be significantly less than is needed. The Association supports prompt legislative action on the Report, and insists that county bridge funding needs to be included in these legislative deliberations. Counties support a half-cent increase in the state's liquid fuels tax, or an equivelent amount from another transportation funding source, that would be allocated to counties based on each county's relative bridge responsibility.
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Correcting District Attorney/Judicial Pay (PDF)
District attorney (DA) salaries are the responsibility of counties with the Commonwealth providing a partial reimbursement for those salaries. The DA salaries are linked by statute to judicial pay, but the recent pay raise, pay raise repeal and partial judicial pay reinstatement, have resulted in confusion about the correct pay level for DAs. The pay raise law intended DA's salaries to be 95 percent of the judicial pay level, the repeal re-instated a higher calculation of $1,000 less than judicial pay and the judicial re-instatement did not clarify which methodology to use. CCAP supports clarification of the original legislative intent, 95 percent of judicial pay.
At the same time, the judicial pay law links state judicial pay to that of federal counterparts, where active consideration of an increase of as much as 16 percent is anticipated. Because this increase at the federal level will ultimately result in increased taxpayer expense for DA salaries at the local level, CCAP support legislation repealing the link between state judicial salaries and the salaries paid to the federal equivalent.
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Improve Election Administration (PDF)
Counties are reponsible for the most essential service in a democratic society - the conduct of elections. Counties responded exceptionally well to HAVA implementation requirements, including replacement of older voting systems with new electronic systems. Although the equipment performed almost flawlessly, unfounded fears of accountability of electronic systems continue to be perpetuated and for 2007, counties will have to respond to efforts at the state and federal level to legislate Voter Verified Paper Audit Trails (VVPAT), a measure most election professionals deem unnecessary and potentially in violation of security and privacy requirements. Legislative initiatives are also expected on changing the date of the Presidential primary, as well as on registration, identification, absentee and other matters relating to voter responsibility and election administration. CCAP will be working with state and federal officials, counties, election directors and others to assure that all of these issues are addressed in a manner that ensures the smooth and efficient conduct of elections, in a manner that maintains voter confidence in the system.
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Correct Constable Fees and Billing (PDF)
In 2006, legislation was signed into law increasing the fees that constables can collect for services that they provide. This increase was the first in quite some time. Tucked away in the law is a material change, the impact of which was not understood at the time the legislation was passed. This material change has led to a significant taxpayer burden for constable fees. As a result of a minor wording change in the law, constables can now bill mutiple $25 docket fees by constables where a single multiple-docket service that used to cost approximately $100 can now be several thousand dollars for one trip to one defendant.
Although costs are to be recovered from defendants, if the defendant is found innocent or indigent, counties must sill pay the constable at taxpayer expense. Counties across the state have been forced to increase budgets sustantially for constable payments as a result of this change. This unexpected windfall, at the expense of taxpayers, must be corrected.
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The Association serves to strengthen the Pennsylvania counties' ability to govern their own affairs and improve the well-being and quality of life of their constituents. To this end, the Association effects the achievement of favorable state and federal legislation, programs and policies, and provides appropriate programs and services to member counties.
Generally, CCAP's legislative and regulatory policies seek greater flexibility and autonomy for county government. Often CCAP resolutions favor generalization of authority for county commissioners who are closely responsive to the needs and circumstances of the people. Comparably, CCAP stands against actions at the state and federal levels which limit fiscal, administrative or programmatic authority, or which superimpose state and federal priorities over those developed locally.
However, recognizing the interdependence of federal, state, county, and local government, the Association may support legislation or regulations against this general rule of flexibility and autonomy if there is a rational need for the directive or mandate, and the program provides sufficient resources to best meet the needs of local constituents.
CCAP was founded in 1886 and is an affiliate of the National Association of Counties (NACo). Prior to 1994, the Association was known as the Pennsylvania State Association of County Commissioners.