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PENNSYLVANIA STATUTES
TITLE 53. MUNICIPAL AND QUASI-MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS
PART V. CITIES OF THE THIRD CLASS
CHAPTER 81. THIRD CLASS CITY CODE
ARTICLE XXIV. CORPORATE POWERS
Date:
08/31/2009
Document:
NOTICE: As to repeal of this section where inconsistent with Act 1990, Dec. 19, P.L. 1343, No. 209, see § 2 of said act.
§ 37403. Specific powers
In addition to other powers granted by this act, the council of each city shall have power, by ordinance:
1. Payment of debts and expenses.--To provide for the payment of the debts and expenses of the city, and to appropriate money therefor.
1.1. Creation of capital reserve fund for anticipated capital expenditures.--To create and maintain a separate capital reserve fund for any anticipated legal capital expenditures, which fund shall be designated for a specific purpose or purposes at the time of its creation. The money in the fund shall be used, from time to time, for the construction, purchase or replacement of or addition to municipal buildings, equipment, machinery, motor vehicles or other capital assets of the city as specified at the time of the creation of the fund and for no other purpose. Provided, That it may be used for capital expenditure other than the purpose or purposes specified at the time it was created, if city council by a four-fifths vote shall declare that the original purpose or purposes have become impracticable, inadvisable or impossible, or that conditions have arisen in the city which make other capital expenditures more urgent than those for which the fund was created.
The council may appropriate moneys from the general city funds to be paid into the capital reserve fund, or place in the fund any moneys received from the sale, lease or other disposition of any city property or from any other source unless received or acquired for a particular purpose. The fund shall be controlled, invested, reinvested and administered and the moneys therein and income from such moneys expended for the specific purpose or purposes for which the fund is created in such manner as may be determined by the council. The money in the fund, when invested, shall be invested in securities designated by law as legal investments for sinking funds of municipalities.
2. Hiring of employes; salaries.--To provide for and regulate the manner of hiring and discharging employes and laborers, and the fixing of their salaries or compensation.
3. Creation of necessary offices, boards or departments.--To create any office, public board, or department which it may deem necessary for the good government and interests of the city, and, unless otherwise provided by this act, appoint the members of any board, bureau or commission; to prescribe the powers thereof, and to regulate and prescribe the terms, duties, and compensation of all such officers, and of all officers who are members of any public board or any department so created, but no ordinance shall be passed increasing or diminishing the salary or compensation of any officer, or of any member of any board, bureau or commission, after his or their appointment. The provisions of this clause as to the creation of any public board, bureau or commission, and prescribing the duties thereof, shall not apply to the creation of any board of commissioners of water-works of any city wherein the title to the water-works therein located is in the name of the commissioners of water-works.
4. Lock-ups and police stations.--To provide for the erection, lease or purchase of lock-ups and police stations for the detention and confinement of persons arrested for any cause, or of persons convicted under city ordinances and sentenced for periods not in excess of ten days.
5. Market houses and milk depots.--To purchase, lease and own ground for, and to erect, maintain, and establish, market houses, milk depots, and market places, for which latter purpose parts of any streets, sidewalks or city property may be temporarily used; to provide and enforce suitable general market regulations; to contract with any person or persons or association of persons, companies, or corporations, for the erection and regulation of market houses, milk depots, and market places, on such terms and conditions and in such manner as the council may prescribe; to raise all necessary revenue therefor as herein provided; and to levy and collect a license tax from every person or persons who may be authorized by council to occupy any portion of the streets, sidewalks or city property for temporary market purposes.
6. Collection and removal of garbage.--To provide for and regulate the collection, removal and disposal of garbage, ashes and other waste or refuse material, either by contract or by municipal conduct of such services, and to impose and collect, by lien or otherwise, reasonable fees and charges therefor, and to prescribe fines and penalties for the violation of ordinances regulating such matters.
7. Comfort and waiting stations and drinking fountains; waiting rooms in court houses.--To take, purchase or acquire, property for the purpose of erecting, providing, maintaining, and operating thereon comfort stations, waiting stations and drinking fountains; and to construct and maintain such stations and fountains on such property or in any of the streets or public places within its corporate limits; to provide and equip and maintain in the court house, in cooperation with the county commissioners of the county wherein the city is situated, whenever such city is the county seat, rest or waiting rooms and provide attendants therefor. The cost of providing such waiting and rest rooms, and of maintaining the same, including salaries and all incidental expenses, shall be paid by the county, and by the city, in such proportion as may be agreed upon.
8. Running at large of animals, et cetera.--To provide for the erection of all needful pens, pounds, and other means of confinement, within or without the city limits; to appoint keepers thereof; and to regulate or prohibit the running or being at large of stock and domestic animals, and fowls; and to cause such as may be at large to be impounded and sold to discharge the costs and penalties provided for the violations of such prohibitions and the expenses of impounding and of keeping the same and of such sale. To regulate the maintaining and care of dogs within the city. To regulate or prohibit the keeping of bee hives within the city.
9. Destruction of dogs.--To destroy dogs found at large contrary to the laws of the Commonwealth, or to prohibit or regulate, by its own ordinance, the running at large of dogs, cats or other animals, and, in the enforcement of such regulations, to direct the killing of dogs, cats or other animals, or their seizure and detention, including reasonable charges therefor, or to provide for their sale for the benefit of the city. The powers herein expressed shall be exercised in conformity with the Dog Law of 1921.
10. Inspection and regulation of fireplaces, chimneys, et cetera; smoke regulations.--To regulate the construction and inspection of fireplaces, chimneys, stoves, stovepipes, ovens, boilers, kettles, forges, or any apparatus used in any building, manufactory, or business, and to order the suppression or cleaning thereof when deemed necessary; to regulate and control the production and emission of unnecessary smoke or fly-ash from any chimney or other source, except railroad locomotives.
11. Manufacture, sale, storage and transportation of explosives; offensive business.--To regulate or prohibit the manufacture, sale, storage, or transportation of inflammable or explosive substances within the city, and to regulate or prohibit dangerous, obnoxious, or offensive business within the city.
12. Regulation of division fences, party walls, foundations.--To provide regulations for party walls and division fences and for the foundations of buildings, to enter upon the land or lands, lot or lots, of any person or persons, within the city, at all reasonable hours, by its duly appointed city engineer, or building inspectors, in order to enforce such regulations and set out foundations; and to prescribe reasonable fees for the service of city officers in the inspection and regulation of party walls, division fences and foundations, and to enforce the payment of the same. To provide fines or penalties for violations of such regulations. In setting out foundations and regulating party walls as to breadth and thickness, the city shall cause the foundations to be laid equally upon the lands of the persons between whom the party wall is to be made, and the builder thereof or his successor in interest shall be reimbursed one moiety of the charge of said wall or for so much thereof as the next builder shall have occasion to make use of before such next builder shall or may use or break into said wall.
13. Public wells, cisterns, aqueducts, and reservoirs.--To establish, make, and regulate public wells, cisterns, aqueducts, and reservoirs, and to provide for filling the same.
14. Construction of levees and ferries; deepening of channels.--Subject to the provisions of State law, to provide for the construction and maintenance of levees and ferries within the jurisdiction of the city and within the limits thereof; to erect wharves on navigable waters adjacent to the city, regulate the use thereof, collect wharfage, and establish wharf and dock lines; to provide for protection against floods; to construct and maintain docks, retaining walls, dams, or embankments; and to remove obstructions from, deepen and widen the channels of rivers and streams flowing through or adjacent to the city.
15. Railroad crossing; flagmen; speed of locomotives.--Subject to the provisions of the Public Utility Law, to provide for and require the construction and maintenance of bridges or other crossings over or under railroad tracks; and to enter into contracts with railroad companies for the construction and maintenance of the same; to require the erection of safety-gates and the placing of flagmen or warning devices at the intersection of railroads with streets; to forbid the obstruction of the said crossings by locomotives or railroad cars; and to regulate the rate of speed at which locomotives, cars or trains shall pass upon or across the streets within the built-up portions of the city.
15.1. Railroad companies; conveyances and grants of rights of way.--Subject to the provisions of the Public Utility Law, to lease, license or grant rights of way to railroad companies through tunnels or over bridges and viaducts, to enter into agreements with railroad companies for the maintenance of any such tunnels, bridges or viaducts, and to convey such tunnels, bridges or viaducts to railroad companies that have paid in part for their construction, where legal title to said tunnels, bridges or viaducts is not vested in the city but will vest in the city by operation of law or under the terms of any contract.
16. Nuisances and obstructions.--To prohibit nuisances, including, but not limited to, accumulations of garbage and rubbish and the storage of abandoned or junked automobiles or other vehicles on private or public property, and the carrying on of any offensive manufacture or business, and to require the removal of any nuisance or dangerous structure from public or private places upon notice to the owner, and, upon his default, to cause such removal and collect the cost thereof, together with a penalty of ten per centum of such cost, from the owner, by an action in assumpsit. The cost of removal and the penalty may be entered as a lien against such property in accordance with existing provisions of law. In the exercise of the powers herein conferred, the city may institute proceedings in courts of equity.
17. Regulation of signs, porches, et cetera.--To regulate, by uniform rules and regulations, porches, porticoes, benches, doorsteps, railings, bulk, bay or jut windows, areas, cellar doors and cellar windows, signs and sign posts, boards, poles or frames, awnings, awning posts, or other devices or things, projecting over, under, into or otherwise occupying the sidewalks or other portion of any of the streets, the building of cellars and basement ways and other excavations through or under the sidewalks, and boxes, bales, barrels, hogsheads, crates, or articles of merchandise, lumber, coal, wood, ashes, building materials, or any other article or thing whatsoever, placed in or upon any of the said sidewalks or other portion of said streets; and also to prevent and require or cause the removal of, upon notice, all encroachments thereon. In the exercise of the powers herein conferred, the city shall have the same remedies, penalties and procedures as are expressed in clause 16 of this article.
18. Trees.--To regulate the planting, trimming, care and protection of shade trees in or extending over the streets.
19. Numbering of buildings.--To require and regulate the numbering of buildings and lots.
20. Cab-stands.--To establish stands for coaches, cabs, omnibuses, carriages, wagons, automobiles, and other vehicles for hire, and to enforce the observance and use thereof.
21. Police force.--To establish and maintain a police force, and define the duties of the same.
22. Police protection, et cetera, parks, et cetera; commitment of professional thieves.--To establish and enforce suitable police regulations for the protection of persons and property at public squares, parks, depots, depot grounds, and other places of public resort, owned, controlled or managed by the city or an agency or bureau thereof, whether within or without the city, in whole or in part, and for the arrest and commitment of professional thieves, and suspicious persons found in any part of the city who can give no reasonable account of themselves. The mayor or any alderman of the city shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine violations of such ordinances and to impose any judgment or penalty therefor as provided in such ordinances.
23. Rewards for apprehension of certain criminals.--To offer rewards for the arrest and conviction of persons guilty of capital or other crimes within the city.
24. Gaming, prostitution, et cetera.--To restrain, prohibit, and suppress houses of prostitution, gambling houses, gaming, cock or dog fighting, and other disorderly or unlawful establishments or practices, desecration of the Sabbath day, commonly called Sunday, and all kinds of public indecencies.
25. Prevent riots.--To prevent and restrain riots, noises, disturbances, or disorderly assemblies in any street, house, or place in the city.
26. Regulate guns, et cetera.--To regulate, prohibit, and prevent the discharge of guns, rockets, powder, or any other dangerous instrument or combustible material within the city, and to prevent the carrying of concealed deadly weapons.
27. Sale and use of fireworks.--To regulate or prohibit and prevent the sale, use and discharge of fireworks, firecrackers, sparklers, and other pyrotechnics.
28. Arrest of vagrants.--To arrest, fine, or set at work on the streets, or elsewhere, all vagrants found in said city.
29. Racing; dangerous practices; et cetera.--To prevent the racing of horses, cars and other vehicles, fact driving or riding in the streets or public places in the city, and all games, practices, or amusements, therein likely to result in danger or damages to any person or property.
30. Riding or driving on sidewalks.--To prevent or regulate the riding or driving of animals, or the passage of any vehicle over, along and across sidewalks, and to regulate the passing of the same through the streets.
31. Regulations of skating-rinks, theatres, et cetera.--Subject to the provisions of general laws of the Commonwealth regarding the same, to regulate all skating-rinks, operas, theatres, concerts, shows, circuses, menageries, and all kinds of public exhibitions for pay (except those for religious, educational or charitable purposes); and to restrain and prohibit, under fines or penalties, all exhibitions of indecent or immoral character.
32. Bathing; boat houses and bath houses.--To regulate the time and place of bathing in rivers and other public water in and adjoining the said city, and to construct, maintain and manage municipal boat houses and bath houses.
33. Prohibition of fire producing devices in certain retail stores.--To prohibit the smoking or carrying of lighted cigarettes, cigars, pipes or matches, and the use of matches or fire producing devices, in retail stores arranged to accommodate one hundred persons or more, or which employ ten or more employes: Provided, That any such ordinance passed under this provision shall not prohibit smoking in any restaurant room, rest room, beauty parlor, executive office, or any room designated for smoking in such store. To provide penalties for the violation of such ordinances.
34. Appropriations to Post of Veterans.--To appropriate annually to each camp of the United States War Veterans in the city, and to each post of the American Legion, and to each post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and to each post of the Veterans of World War I of the U.S.A., Inc., and to each post of the American Veterans of World War II (AMVETS), to each post of the Catholic War Veterans, Inc., and to each detachment of the Marine Corps League, and to each Naval Association, and to each post of the Grand Army of the Republic, and to each post of the Disabled American Veterans of the World War, and to each chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, and to each post of the Jewish War Veterans, and to each organization of American Gold Star Mothers, and to each post of the Italian American War Veterans of the United States, Incorporated, and to any other such organization of ex-service persons in the city, incorporated under the laws of the Commonwealth, a sum not to exceed three hundred dollars, to aid in defraying the expenses of Memorial Day and Armistice Day. Where the Grand Army of the Republic has ceased to exist or to function, such appropriation may be made to the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, or, in the absence of such order, to a duly constituted organization which conducts the decorating of the graves of Union veterans of the Civil War. Such payments shall be made to defray actual expenses only. Before any payment is made, the organization receiving the same shall submit verified accounts of their expenditures.
35. Support of National Guard Units.--To appropriate annually a sum not exceeding seven hundred and fifty dollars for the support and maintenance, discipline and training of any dismounted company or similar unit of the National Guard, and a sum not to exceed fifteen hundred dollars for the support and maintenance of any mounted or motorized troop or similar unit of the National Guard. Where such units are organized as a battalion, regiment or similar organization, the total amount due may be paid to the commanding officer of the battalion, regiment or similar organization. Any moneys so appropriated shall be paid by warrant drawn to the order of the commanding officer of such company, battalion, regiment or similar organization, only when it shall be certified to the city, by the Adjutant General of the Commonwealth, that the said company or companies have satisfactorily passed the annual inspection provided by law. The moneys so appropriated shall be used and expended solely and exclusively for the support and maintenance, discipline and training of the said company, battalion, regiment, or similar organization; and the commanding officer shall account, by proper vouchers to the said city each year, for the expenditure of the moneys so appropriated, and no appropriation shall be made for any subsequent year until the expenditure of the previous year is duly and satisfactorily accounted for.
The accounts of such expenditures shall be subject to the inspection of the Department of Military Affairs, and shall be audited by the city controller in the manner provided by this act for the audit of accounts of city moneys.
36. Appropriation of money, et cetera, to assist in erection of armories.--To appropriate money or convey land, either independently or in conjunction with any other political subdivision, to the Commonwealth, for the purpose of assisting the Armory Board of the State of Pennsylvania in the erection of armories for the use of the National Guard, and to furnish water, sewer services, light, or fuel free of cost to the Commonwealth for use in any armory of the National Guard; and to do all things necessary to accomplish the purpose of this clause.
37. Eminent domain for National Guard purposes.--To take, by right of eminent domain, for the purpose of appropriating to itself for the use of the National Guard of Pennsylvania, such public lands, easements, and public property as may be in its possession or control and used or held by it for any other purpose. Such right, however, shall not be exercised as to any street or wharf.
38. Lands for Armory Purposes.--To acquire, by purchase or by gift, or by the right of eminent domain, any land for the use of the National Guard of Pennsylvania; and to convey such lands so acquired to the Commonwealth in order to assist the Armory Board in the erection of armories. The power conferred by this clause shall not be exercised to take any church property, grave-yard, or cemetery. Lands within three miles outside the limits of the city may be acquired in like manner for the use of the National Guard.
39. Purchase of Burial Grounds for Deceased Service Persons.--To appropriate money for and purchase plots of ground in any cemetery or burial ground, within their respective limits, for the interment of such deceased service persons as shall hereafter die within such city, or shall die beyond such city and shall have a legal residence within such city at the time of their death, and whose bodies are entitled to be buried by the county under the provisions of existing laws.
40. Payment of rent for veterans' organizations.--By a two-thirds vote of the council, to appropriate money to any incorporated organization of veterans of any war in which the United States was engaged, to be used in the payment of the rent of any building or rooms in which such organization has its regular meetings.
41. Rooms for Meetings of Veterans.--To furnish, upon application, to each organization composed of veterans of the Civil War, veterans of the Spanish American War, veterans of the World War or World War II, veterans of any foreign war, and children of veterans, a room or rooms in any public building of such city, sufficient for the meeting of each of such organizations at least once each month.
42. Care of memorials.--To take charge of, care for, maintain, and keep in good order and repair, at the expense of the city, any soldiers' monument, gun or carriage, or similar memorial, situate in the city, and not in the charge or care of any person, body, or organization, and not put up or placed by the Government of the United States, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the commissioners of the county, or by the direction or authority of any other state of the Union, and to receive from any persons or organization any moneys or funds which can be used for the benefit of such memorials, and to expend the same.
43. Manufacture and sale of ice.--To manufacture ice, and to sell the same to the inhabitants of the city at such rates as shall be fixed by ordinance, and to erect, equip, and maintain such buildings and other structures, and purchase or hire and maintain such vehicles, as may be deemed necessary for such purpose.
44. Inspection of milk.--To provide for the inspection of milk sold or consumed within the city and milk depots, and dairies which offer milk or milk products for retail sale within the city, under such rules and regulations as will protect the people from adulteration and dilution of the same.
45. Municipal music.--To appropriate money to defray the expenses of musical entertainments held under the auspices of the city, and for the purpose of having music in any public park or place.
46. Regulation and licensing of auction sales.--To regulate and license sales of merchandise at public auction, other than judicial sales, sales by executors or administrators, or sales by or in behalf of licensed pawnbrokers of unredeemed pledges in the manner provided by law.
47. Aid to Historical societies.--To make annual appropriations not exceeding one thousand dollars for the support and maintenance of the principal historical society located therein, which shall be incorporated under the laws of the Commonwealth, shall maintain permanent quarters and shall keep the same open to the public, shall have a membership of at least one hundred persons who have paid into the treasury of the society a membership fee of at least two dollars for the support of the society, shall hold, annually, at least two regular meetings that shall be open to the public, and shall at all times maintain facilities for the free storage, deposit, and inspection of official documents and records of the city, and other proper public or historical archives and records.
48. Establishment of institutions to collect educational collections.--To establish institutions authorized to collect and hold certain scientific, educational and economic collections, the object of each being the instruction of the public concerning commerce, manufacturing, mining, and agriculture; said institutions to have power to purchase or accept by gift any real estate, money, or personal, property necessary for their use and promotion, and power to use, convey, or transfer the same, as if they were bodies corporate, to be governed by boards of trustees, nominated, appointed, and confirmed in such manner as council may determine.
49. Sprinkling of streets.--To cause any street, or part thereof, not less than one block, to be sprinkled with water or, if such street is paved, to be cleaned during such time as it may be necessary, at the expense of the owners of property abutting upon the same. Upon the petition of the owners of such property, who shall represent a majority of the feet front on the street or part thereof, it shall be the duty of council to cause such sprinkling or cleaning to be done at the expense of the owners of property abutting thereon. Council may cause such sprinkling to be done with the water of the city, when water works are owned and operated by the city, and with sprinkling carts and apparatus owned by the city, or may contract for the use of said carts and apparatus with the lowest responsible bidder.
50. Electric wires may be placed underground in certain districts.--To define a reasonable district within which all electric light wires, telephone and telegraph wires shall be placed under ground in conduits owned and constructed either by the municipality or by corporations owning such wires, or by corporations organized for the purpose of laying such conduits and renting space therein. In all cases in which such conduits are owned by any private corporation, partnership, or individual, there shall be reserved to the city, whether expressed in the ordinance or not, the right to regulate, by ordinance, the manner in which such conduit shall be used, and the terms and conditions of such use, and also the right to take such conduits, either by purchase, upon agreement of the owners thereof and the city, or by condemnation proceedings; in which latter case the proceedings for the assessment of damages shall be the same as provided in this act for property taken, injured or destroyed.
The court of quarter sessions upon the appeal of any person may review any ordinance passed in pursuance of this clause, and may annul such ordinance if deemed unreasonable, capricious or arbitrary, such appeal to be taken within thirty days from the approval of such ordinance.
51. Ambulances and Service; Maintenance.--To acquire, by purchase, gift or bequest, or to operate and maintain ambulances or ambulance service for the purposes of conveying sick and injured persons in the city and the vicinity to and from hospitals, or in lieu thereof, to hire a private ambulance service, and, for such purposes, to appropriate and expend moneys of the city; or to appropriate money annually toward a nonprofit community ambulance service. All appropriations of money heretofore made and contracts for hire of private ambulance service heretofore entered into by any city are hereby validated and confirmed.
52. Weighing and measuring of commodities.--To regulate the weighing and measuring of every commodity sold in the city, in all cases not otherwise provided for by law, including the measuring of gas, water, and electric currents; to provide for and regulate the inspection and weighing of hay, grain, and coal, and the measuring of wood, bark, and fuel, to be used in the city, and to designate the place or places of inspecting and weighing the same; to regulate and prescribe the place or places for exposing for sale hay, coal, bark and wood; to demand and receive reasonable fees for such inspection, weighing and measuring; for the regulation and stamping of weights and measures; and the regulation and inspection of meters, except as otherwise provided by law.
53. Insurance.--To make contracts of insurance with any mutual or other fire insurance company, association or exchange, duly authorized by law to transact insurance business in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, on any building or property owned by the city.
To make contracts of insurance with any insurance company, or nonprofit hospitalization corporation, or nonprofit medical service corporation, authorized to transact insurance business within the Commonwealth, insuring its elected or appointed officers, officials and employes, or any class or classes thereof, or their dependents, under a policy or policies of group insurance covering life, health, hospitalization, medical service, or accident insurance, and to contract with any such company granting annuities or pensions for the pensioning of such persons; and, for such purposes, to agree to pay part or all of the premiums or charges for carrying such contracts, and to appropriate out of its treasury any money necessary to pay such premiums or charges, or portions thereof. All contracts procured hereunder shall conform and be subject to all the provisions of any existing or future laws concerning group insurance and group annuity contracts. The proper officer, agency, board or commission of the city having authority to enter into such contracts of insurance is hereby authorized, enabled and permitted to deduct from the officer's or employe's pay, salary or compensation, such part of the premium as is payable by the officer or employe and as may be so authorized by the officer or employe in writing.
53.1.. Repealed. 1978, Nov. 26, P.L. 1399, No. 330, § 802, effective in 60 days.
54. Parking Lots.--To acquire by lease, purchase, or condemnation proceedings, any land which in the judgment of city council may be necessary and desirable for the purpose of establishing and maintaining lots for the parking of motor vehicles, and for no other use or purpose, and to regulate the use thereof and to establish or designate, at the discretion of council, areas exclusively reserved for parking by handicapped individuals and to post signs regulating such areas.
55. Disorderly conduct.--To define disorderly conduct within the limits of the city and to provide for the imposition of penalties for such conduct in such amounts, without limitation except as in this act provided, as council shall establish, and notwithstanding any statutes of the Commonwealth upon disorderly conduct and the penalties therefor.
56. Official expenses on city business.--To make appropriations for the reasonable expenses of city officials actually incurred in the conduct of city business.
57. Insurance against burglary, etc.--To insure against burglary or theft of city property, or against fire and other calamities, and against public liability.
58. To provide against hazards of war.--To build or establish bomb shelters or assist in so doing to provide against all hazards of war and their consequences; and for all such purposes, to have the power of eminent domain, to cooperate with any other unit and agency of government, Federal, State, or local, in every lawful way, for purposes of defense and against the hazards of war.
59. Municipality authorities; cooperation with other political subdivisions.--To form municipality authorities as authorized by law. To cooperate with other political subdivisions in the conduct of city affairs as authorized by law.
60. Local Self-Government.--In addition to the powers and authority vested in each city by the provisions of this act, to make and adopt all such ordinances, by-laws, rules and regulations, not inconsistent with or restrained by the Constitution and laws of this Commonwealth, as may be expedient or necessary for the proper management, care and control of the city and its finances, and the maintenance of the peace, good government, safety and welfare of the city, and its trade, commerce and manufactures; and also all such ordinances, by-laws, rules and regulations as may be necessary in and to the exercise of the powers and authority of local self-government in all municipal affairs; and the said ordinances, by-laws, rules and regulations to alter, modify, and repeal at pleasure; and to enforce all ordinances inflicting penalties upon inhabitants or other persons for violations thereof, and impose penalties in accordance with section 4131.1: Provided, however, That no ordinance, by-law, rule or regulation shall be made or passed which contravenes or violates any of the provisions of the Constitution of the United States or of this Commonwealth, or of any act of Assembly heretofore or that may be hereafter passed and in force in said city.
61. Historical Property.--To acquire by purchase or by gift, and to repair, supervise, operate and maintain ancient landmarks and other property of historical or antiquarian interest, which is either listed in the Catalogue of Historical Sites and Buildings in Pennsylvania issued by the Joint State Government Commission, or approved for acquisition by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission as having historical significance.
62. Appropriations for handling, storage and distribution of surplus foods.--The council of any city to which this act applies may appropriate from city funds moneys for the handling, storage and distribution of surplus foods obtained either through a local, State or Federal agency.
All appropriations of moneys heretofore made by the council of any city for the handling, storage and distribution of surplus foods obtained, either through a local, State or Federal agency, are hereby validated.
63. Junk dealers and junk yards.--To regulate and license junk dealers and the establishment and maintenance of junk yards and scrap yards including, but not limited, to automobile junk or grave yards.
64. Appropriations for Industrial Promotions.--To make appropriations to an industrial development agency as defined in section 3, act of May 31, 1956 (P.L. 1911), known as the "Industrial Development Assistance Law," when the city is located within the area for which the agency has been authorized to make application to and receive grants from the Department of Commerce for the purposes specified in the "Industrial Development Assistance Law."
65. Non-debt Revenue Bonds.--To issue non-debt revenue bonds pursuant to provisions of the act of June 25, 1941 (P.L. 159), known as the "Municipal Borrowing Law," and its amendments, to provide sufficient moneys for and toward the acquisition, construction, reconstruction, extension or improvement of municipal facilities, including water systems or facilities, sewers, sewer systems and sewage disposal systems or facilities, systems for the treatment or disposal of garbage and refuse, buildings, machinery and apparatus for manufacturing and distributing electric, gas or light, aeronautical facilities including but not limited to airports, terminals and hangars, park and recreational facilities, parking lots and public auditoriums to be secured solely by the pledge of the whole or part of the rent, toll or charge for the use or services of such facilities. Included in the cost of the issue may be any costs and expenses incident to constructing and financing the facilities and selling and distributing the bonds.
66. Appropriations for Urban Common Carrier Mass Transportation.--To appropriate funds for urban common carrier mass transportation purposes from current revenues and to make annual contributions to county departments of transportation or to urban common carrier mass transportation authorities to assist the departments or the authorities to meet costs of operation, maintenance, capital improvements, and debt service, and to enter into long-term agreements providing for the payment of the said contributions.
67. Adoption and Amendment of Codes by Reference.--To incorporate by reference the provisions of any code or portions of any code, or any amendment thereof, properly identified as to date and source, without setting forth in full the provisions to be adopted: Provided, however, That no portion of any code which limits the work to be performed to any type of construction contractor, or labor or mechanic classification shall be adopted. Not less than three copies of such code, portion, or amendment which is incorporated or adopted by reference, shall be filed with the clerk of the city and kept with the city ordinance book, and available for public use, inspection and examination. The filing requirements herein prescribed shall not be deemed to be complied with unless the required copies of such codes, portion, or amendment or public record are filed with the clerk of such city at least ten days before council considers the proposed ordinance.
Any ordinance adopted by reference to any code shall be enacted within sixty days after it is filed with the clerk of the city, and shall only encompass the provisions of the code effective as of the code date stated in the ordinance. Any subsequent changes in the code shall be adopted by the city before they may become effective as an ordinance of the city.
Any city that has adopted any code by reference may adopt subsequent ordinances which incorporate by reference any subsequent changes thereof, properly identified as to date and source, as may be adopted by the agency or association which promulgated the code.
Any ordinances which incorporate code amendments by reference shall become effective after the same procedure and in the same manner as is herein specified for original adoption of any such code.
68. Appropriation for Nonprofit Art Corporation.--To appropriate moneys annually, not exceeding an amount equal to one mill of the real estate tax to any nonprofit art corporation for the conduct of its artistic and cultural activities. For the purposes of this section nonprofit art corporation shall mean a local arts council, commission or coordinating agency, or any other nonprofit corporation engaged in the production or display of works of art, including the visual, written or performing arts. Artistic and cultural activities shall include the display or production of theater, music, dance, painting, architecture, sculpture, arts and crafts, photography, film, graphic arts and design and creative writing.
69. Emergency Services.--(a) THE CITY SHALL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ENSURING THAT FIRE AND EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES ARE PROVIDED WITHIN THE CITY BY THE MEANS AND TO THE EXTENT DETERMINED BY THE CITY, INCLUDING THE APPROPRIATE FINANCIAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANCE FOR THESE SERVICES.
(b) The city shall consult with fire and emergency medical services providers to discuss the emergency services needs of the city.
(c) The city shall require any emergency services organizations receiving city funds to provide to the city an annual itemized listing of all expenditures of these funds before the city may consider budgeting additional funding to the organization.
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