State police coverage fee sought
By tAYLOR BROWN
tbrown@yourmvi.com
Several local legislators are throwing their support behind a plan to impose per-capita based fees on municipalities without police departments.
Gov. Tom Wolf was joined by Pennsylvania State Police representatives and some lawmakers at a press conference Tuesday as he called for a fee on municipalities who rely solely on state police for coverage.
House Bill 959, proposed by state Rep. Mike Sturla, D-Lancaster, and Senate Bill 741, proposed by Sen. Jay Costa, D-Pittsburgh, would require municipalities without contracted police coverage to pay for those services.
State Rep. Bill Kortz, D-Dravosburg, attended the press conference to show his support for the bills.
Kortz noted that according to state data, PSP troopers are the only police force in 1,291 of the state’s 2,561 municipalities, and another 419 municipalities get part-time coverage. The remaining 851 pay for their own police force or share services.
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