Many Lehigh Valley municipalities, as well as those throughout Pennsylvania, don’t pay for their own police protection. They instead rely on state police to protect residents from crimes and respond to serious accidents.
“The problem is, police service costs,” Bath Borough Manager Brad Flynn said. “Whether operating a standalone agency or being part of a regional department, to equip, train, provide wages and benefits for police officers is a very costly endeavor.”
A Lehigh Valley lawmaker hopes to solve that problem by letting municipalities levy a new tax, which would be dedicated solely for public safety.
In 2019, Bath exited Colonial Regional police and began using state police for coverage, which it still has. At the time, leaders of the Northampton County borough said, the community could no longer afford the $413,546 annual outlay.
What Bath went through is happening elsewhere across the state, according to state Rep. Joshua Siegel, D-Lehigh. He said while those communities using state police appreciate the coverage as a way to lessen municipal property taxes, it puts a strain on state police manpower.
“Every second counts when you have a serious public safety dilemma,” said Siegel, pointing to a 2020 state Legislative Budget and Finance Committee study which notes more than two-thirds of Pennsylvania’s boroughs, cities and townships rely on state police for protection.
Despite that, Pennsylvania has more than 1,000 police departments, more than any state, though only 15% of them have more than 10 officers.
Many smaller or rural communities such as Bath, Lower Mount Bethel and Upper Mount Bethel townships, have gone to state police coverage. But it’s not just small communities — Lower Macungie Township, the third largest municipality in the region behind Allentown and Bethlehem, according to the 2020 census — also uses state police.
, according to online news source But state police have limits on personnel, according to the legislative committee report.
John Brown, who served as Bangor mayor before becoming Northampton County executive in 2014, recalled Bangor police sometimes had to respond to mutual aid requests for state police in Upper Mount Bethel Township, which has not had local police for years.
“We had an obligation to back up state police if they can’t respond,” Brown said. “It happened more than you would realize.”
Catasauqua Manager Glenn Eckhart said police costs are significant for the borough. It costs about $1.6 million a year, or about 15% of its $10 million operating budget, with 10 officers including a chief. He said having its own department works for residents.
“It seems the borough wants a higher level of service,” Eckhart said.
Meanwhile, communities such as Bath have been forced to balance the cost of public safety versus other important services because they are running out of options to raise revenue necessary to fund public services, according to Siegel.
“Every municipality, including in the Lehigh Valley, is eventually going to have their backs against the wall with the limitation on being able to raise revenue,” he said.
More than two dozen communities are at the state’s statutory taxing limit of 30 mills, with hundreds more closing in on the limit, said Siegel, a former Allentown Council member who won his second term in November as a state lawmaker representing parts of Allentown and Salisbury Township.
Siegel plans in January, when the new state-lawmaking session begins, to introduce legislation that would give municipalities the option to levy a separate tax of up to 5 mills dedicated to police. Communities could use the tax revenue to start or financially bolster their police force, or pay toward a neighboring or regional department.
The legislation, he said, could provide municipalities the flexibility to be able to prioritize public as well as municipal services “without having to worry about that cap.”
Siegel said calculating how much the 5-mill levy would raise in revenue would vary among communities. He also said the legislation would not mandate that municipalities act, merely provide them with an opportunity to raise additional money.
Flynn said under Bath’s millage rate, the borough could raise a maximum of about $280,000 with the special tax, enough to possibly staff two officers. It would be about two-thirds what Bath was paying for full-time Colonial Regional police coverage, he said.
“I would not have enough manpower,” said Flynn, who said he would need seven to 10 officers for full-time police coverage.
Brown, who sits on Northampton County Council and is borough manager in Macungie, was more optimistic.
“They’re just giving the municipality another tool in the arsenal to go to the public outside the real estate tax,” he said. “I think it’s basically going to come down to community by community.
“The cost of having a local police department is not getting any less expensive, and the demands are growing,” he said. “Those that can’t afford to carry a department go to the state police. That puts a burden on surrounding municipalities.”
Siegel said he realizes the optional tax wouldn’t benefit all communities, which is why his proposal would not make the tax mandatory. But it might provide impetus for communities that are considering revamping police service.
Not every municipality is under a cap, including Allentown and Easton, which have their home rule charters. But most are, including Bethlehem, where Business Manager Eric R. Evans said public safety is the city’s largest expense. The proposed 2025 budget lists slightly more than $18 million for police in the city’s general fund out of a $113 million budget — nearly 16%. The city has 170 police department employees.
“With regard to the [Siegel] legislation,” Evans said, “we will wait to see more details.”
‘A big problem’
A 2022 report from the Pennsylvania Economy League, a good-government group, notes many municipalities are unable to increase a variety of taxes beyond limits set by state law from the 1960s. Millage caps for third-class cities and boroughs were raised about 10 years ago from 25 to 30 mills, according to the report.
Communities can raise certain special taxes, such as for fire or emergency services, but Lynne Shedlock, who worked on the report, said no special purpose taxes can be used for police funding.
“It is a really big problem,” Shedlock said. Siegel’s proposal, she said, “could make it easier for some communities that pay for local police.”
But the Pennsylvania Municipal League, which represents towns with full-time police and other services, doesn’t like Siegel’s solution.
“Chances are adding another 5 mills in taxes is going to continue that overreliance on property taxes,” said Amy Sturges, deputy executive director for advocacy. The tax would be an extra load to property owners “who are already burdened by high taxes,” she said.
Besides municipal property and special taxes such as for emergency services, residents pay taxes to counties and public school systems, with school taxes typically the highest levy.
Shedlock said another way to pay for police coverage would be to reassess properties in counties with old assessments. Northampton County’s last reassessment was in 1995; Lehigh’s was about a dozen years ago. Without higher property valuations, communities have to raise millage rates to collect more tax revenue, she said.
Flynn said state lawmakers should amend county code that would enable county sheriff’s departments to assume some policing duties in smaller communities. He came to Bath from Tennessee, where county law enforcement cover areas where it makes sense. In Camden County, New Jersey, he said, officials revamped the Camden city police about a decade ago by forming a countywide department.
“I would like to see more thought on the county level,” Flynn said.
Siegel said municipal leaders must decide but he also said communities ought to strongly consider having local or regional police presence.
“Hopefully, for communities in the Lehigh Valley that don’t provide police protection, this special millage rate might encourage them to think critically about providing this service, or beginning to provide the service, or think regionally,” he said.
Contact Morning Call reporter Anthony Salamone at asalamone@mcall.com.
