A look at the legislative priorities of local municipal governments kicked off the 109th meeting of the Lebanon County Association of Municipal Officials on Thursday, Oct. 10.
The information-packed convention brings together officials from Lebanon County’s 24 municipal governments and had about 85 attendees at this year’s session. The event was held at the Lebanon Valley Exposition Center and Fairgrounds.
Local government leaders come to the convention to learn, network and get information that helps them do a better job on behalf of the residents they serve.
Dave Sanko, executive director of the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors (PSATS), highlighted five legislative priorities, other legislative issues impacting municipal governments and some bills recently signed into law by Gov. Josh Shapiro.
New laws include a salary increase for township supervisors, which Sanko said hasn’t been adjusted since 1995. He said the raise will go into effect at the start of the next term and then staggered from 2025 through 2030 as officials retire or resign.
“It still doesn’t come anywhere near what it costs you to do it, but if you want to have that as a tool, it is now a new tool in your toolbox to pass your optional compensation increase, beginning with the next term,” said Sanko. “It will take until 2030 until everyone is in unless there’s been appointments or resignations that would make it occur sooner.”
A separate raise for municipal auditors was also passed into law and will increase pay for individuals from $10 an hour to $18 per hour.
Sanko noted a law was amended that requires police officers to collect demographic data from motorists pulled over during traffic stops. Now, he said, the law requires officers to gather the data without asking directly about nationality, gender or ethnicity.
“They are to collect demographic data from the people they stop. They have to put on the citations – they have to track racial and ethnic data to make sure there is no racial profiling going on,” said Sanko. “But they are not allowed to ask. I guess it’s by observation. You are not allowed to ask about race, ethnicity or gender.”
Sanko noted state police troopers will be trained and will work with data vendors that are permitted to compile and report that information to the state. Sanko said the new law doesn’t go into effect for a year.
He also informed attendees that the rate for payments for state game lands and state parks in lieu of taxes for municipalities increased from $1.20 to $2.40 per acre and will increase to $3 per acre next year.
Another law pertaining to data breaches requires municipalities to bear responsibility for information in their possession that gets hacked by bad actors. The law requires municipal governments to notify residents by letter and to provide credit protection for one year if that information has been compromised.
“Those are costly expenses, so it’s worth a little bit to ensure your data is secure upfront,” added Sanko.
A confounding initiative put forth by the Legislature provides municipalities the option to put flashing green lights along with flashing yellow lights at construction zones since research shows that multiple flashing warnings are more likely to get a driver’s attention. However, why green is the color of choice has come into question.
“Somebody, somewhere in another state came up with the idea that it will draw more attention, so the legislature passed a law that gives you the option – and I would stress option – to put with a flashing yellow light a green light,” said Sanko.
Sanko said he gets bewildered looks when he tells this to highway maintenance workers who say, “Why would you put a flashing green light with a yellow light?” Sanko said that everyone knows yellow means slow and that green sends the wrong signal to drivers. (Green is recognized as a sign to “go” while yellow is a warning to slow down and practice caution.)
He said a legislative priority for the association is to provide additional legal advertising options to municipalities, adding that printed newspaper advertising for public meeting notices alone generates $38 million annually.
“Crazy, right? If you have a piece of that or that you have a better way to spend your share of that $38 million,” said Sanko. “So we’ve been trying to get electronic advertising.”
He said reforms are needed for the “crushing” impact of commercial Right-to-Know law requests, many of which are being generated by artificial intelligence (AI) technology. A bill will be introduced in the next legislative session since the current one is down to three days.
Two other legislative priorities include additional support for public safety and ensuring there is dedicated local transportation funding. He stated that if local public safety volunteers, or first responders, go away, there will be a huge financial burden on local governments.
“The fire commissioner says if that goes away, there will be a $10 billion, that’s 10 with a B, dollar cost to put career fire, fire police and emergency services in place,” said Sanko. “That’s probably unsustainable from a property tax base. We have to figure out how to get partnerships.”
Later in the morning, three Lebanon County legislators – state Senator Chris Gebhard and state Reps. Russ Diamond and John Schlegel – provided brief comments. Gebhard highlighted the dedicated transportation funding issue since revenues collected from the gas tax have been stagnant due to more fuel efficient vehicles and the advent of more electric cars on highways.
Because the gas tax is used to fund highway construction projects and EVs don’t currently pay to help maintain the roads they use, Gebhard said there will be an annual fee for each EV registration of $250 that will increase up to $375 in a few years.
He noted those figures came from calculations of what gas-powered vehicle drivers pay on average annually via the gas tax and that the new registration fee will create a better balance between gas-powered vehicles and EVs to fund highway construction projects.
All three Lebanon County Commissioners gave brief overviews of county activities. One item noted was the upcoming election on Nov. 5. Chairman Robert Phillips said a record number of voters have registered – 94,000 – with 13,000 requesting mail ballots.
Attendees were told that early voting is underway in Lebanon County but it was not mentioned that it continues through the close of the county offices on Oct. 29, one week before the election. Phillips said that it is hoped that early voting alleviates some of the long lines at polling precincts that are expected on Election Day.
Read More: Mail-in ballots for Lebanon County voters expected to ship by Oct. 1
Phillips also said 1,800 voter names have been purged from county voting records because of inactivity over two federal elections while stating there was a net gain to achieve the record number of registered voters in Lebanon County.
“Interest is high, turnout may be in the mid-80s, 85 percent, so that’s just a forethought about the lines we may be experiencing like we did in ’16 and ’20,” said Phillips.
Concerning another initiative, Phillips said the comprehensive plan is “on the front burner” with county officials.
“That will fashion what our country will look like 10 years from now,” he said. He mentioned it is vital to get input and feedback from municipal officials to make that plan a reality. “So we ask your help with that.”
Lebanon County District Attorney Pier Hess gave an overview of her department, noting that while crime is technically decreasing, she added that “from the citizen’s perspective there’s more to the picture.”
Hess said while “low-level” or misdemeanor crimes are down, more violent crime is thriving.
“I live in Lebanon city and I run and I walk through Lebanon city and all of us at certain points go to various parts of the county, and the more violent crime is what’s thriving,” she said. “So we’re seeing younger and younger defendants with knives but also unfortunately with guns.”
The comment that violent crime is thriving does not align with statistics reported by the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts (AOPC), as published by LebTown in June 2024. Violent crime is down nationwide and across Pennsylvania, according to AOPC.
Read More: Lebanon County crime rates continue to drop, reflect state and nationwide trends
LebTown reported that Pennsylvania State Police data shows a drop in reported crimes in Lebanon County from 2022 to 2023 in cases submitted to the Universal Crime Reporting website. Violent crimes are down between 16 to 20 percent while burglary and other non-violent crimes have lowered between 53 and 83 percent.
Hess told the audience that it is probably 100 times more expensive to prosecute and house a juvenile offender than an adult since juveniles can’t be housed at Lebanon County Correctional Facility.
“While crime on the surface and on paper is decreasing, our workload and the violence behind our workload is increasing,” said Hess. “I don’t say that to scare you, but I think it is important to understand that if you see it on a political commercial or an ad, it is kind of true but it is also kind of not.”
Hess referenced a rise in the use of fentanyl, adding that she can’t test it on-scene because it is so dangerous to first responders. “I don’t want to take their lives to save somebody else,” she added, referring to the need to protect public officials who serve their local municipalities.
However, the statement that the drug is dangerous to first responders is not consistent with reports from the National Institute of Health.
The NIH has published that, “The consensus of the scientific community remains that illness from unintentional exposures is extremely unlikely, because opioids are not efficiently absorbed through the skin and are unlikely to be carried in the air. In a rare case report of law enforcement officer opioid exposure in a peer-reviewed literature, clinical manifestations were not consistent with opioids, and none of the law enforcement officers tested was positive for opioid metabolites. In other words, the phenomenon of first responder opioid exposure that seemed to be frequently reported in news media has not been confirmed scientifically. Nevertheless, these media reports led to recommendations for higher level PPE for emergency responders.
“On the surface, it may seem like a reasonable, conservative recommendation to encourage emergency responders to wear maximum protective equipment if there is any small chance of unintentional opioid exposure. However, unnecessary PPE may delay emergency care to opioid-poisoned patients. A short delay in response can be lethal for a patient who is not breathing.”
A representative of the Lebanon County Department of Emergency Services highlighted recent efforts to report a new hazard mitigation plan that covers all 24 local municipalities.
Brianna Laliberte, emergency management specialist for the Lebanon County Department of Emergency Services, highlighted the recently renewed countywide hazard mitigation plan, which is required by the federal government for county governments to receive financial aid following a disaster.
She noted during her presentation that officials identified natural- and human-caused hazards that are categorized as high risk in Lebanon County.
Laliberte said each municipality can submit project opportunities as part of the plan, adding that only three municipalities submitted project opportunities for the current mitigation plan.
The new five-year plan was crafted by officials from county departments including Planning, Geographic Information Systems, and Emergency Services (DES), updating the one implemented in 2018.
Three other non-county-based presentations were provided.
Karen Groh, president of the Lebanon Valley Chamber of Commerce, highlighted economic development opportunities throughout the county, Peter Wertz, an attorney with McNees, Wallace & Nurick discussed short-term rentals and the proliferation of VRBOs, and Shawn Nelson, of CISO Glatfelter Insurance Group, provided ways for municipalities to strengthen their cyber security.
He said municipalities are prime targets for bad actors because they have money, and he also offered some latest examples of cyber crimes that these individuals are committing against local government entities.
After the program concluded with lunch, a tour of the county’s new 911 emergency center was provided to those who signed up for it. About 30 individuals had gathered in the center’s large conference room to hear a presentation by Bob Dowd, director of Lebanon County DES, before being split into two groups to see the emergency services’ new digs and ops center.
LebTown was provided a media exclusive tour of the new 911 center in July of this year.
Read More: Lebanon County’s new 911 ops center set to open soon
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