The Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) testified before the Pennsylvania House Appropriations Committee on February 20th. I spent the 2 hours needed, watching it.
Committee members and other House Representatives had numerous questions regarding various aspects of the PSP and their requested funding, found in Governor Wolf’s proposed 2020-21 budget.
Questions regarding the service fee proposed on municipalities, the PSP’s relationship with ICE, active shooter training, diversity in the PSP ranks, a pending Radar Enforcement Bill for municipalities, and numerous other topics were asked.
All seemed to go well for the PSP, except for those times when the service fee would be broached.
According to testimony, it was the PSP that came up with Wolf’s proposal of a PSP “Service Fee” included in his budget proposal. It was the PSP that devised the “formula” for determining how much municipalities would be charged.
Representative John Lawrence (R-13th Dist.) had an interesting observation regarding PSP reporting they participated in 111,394 unreimbursed events in 2019, such as football games, little league games, and other “things.”
Conversely, for events that fell into the reimbursed category, they received less than $1.6 million.
The Troopers who attend all these events are paid overtime, rather than being hired when off-duty. PSP leadership provided no information as to the cost of that overtime for those 111,000+ unreimbursed events.
As Representative Lawrence correctly pointed out, the taxpayers are paying for PSP coverage for the unreimbursed events, rather than those entities requesting their presence.
Rep. Ryan Warner (R-52nd Dist.) asked who would be collecting the service fee – the state, or the municipality. The PSP did not know.
He further asked if Wolf’s “No Tax Increase Budget” could be considered a tax increase, if municipalities were forced to increase taxes to pay for the service fee.
“If that is your interpretation of it, yes,” responded PSP Commissioner, Col. Robert Evenchick.
Should you want to see the PSP testimony, Click HERE.
You can follow all the budget hearings HERE.
Disclaimer: On January 4, 2016, the owner of WestEastonPA.com began serving on the West Easton Council following an election. Postings and all content found on this website are the opinions of Matthew A. Dees and may not necessarily represent the opinion of the governing body for The Borough of West Easton.
