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PENNSYLVANIA STATUTES
TITLE 53. MUNICIPAL AND QUASI-MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS
PART I. GENERAL MUNICIPAL LAW
CHAPTER 24A. LOCAL TAX ENABLING ACT
CHAPTER 3. LOCAL TAXES
Date:
08/31/2009
Document:
§ 6924.330. Restricted use
(a) Any municipality deriving funds from the local services tax may only use the funds for:
(1) Emergency services, which shall include emergency medical services, police services and fire services.
(2) Road construction and maintenance.
(3) Reduction of property taxes.
(4) Property tax relief through implementation of a homestead and farmstead exclusion in accordance with 53 Pa.C.S. Ch. 85 Subch. F (relating to homestead property exclusion).
(a.1) A municipality shall use no less than twenty-five percent of the funds derived from the local services tax for emergency services.
(b) In the event that a municipality decides to implement a homestead and farmstead exclusion for purposes of providing property tax relief in accordance with subsection (a)(4), the following shall apply:
(1) The decision to provide a homestead and farmstead exclusion shall be made, by ordinance, prior to December 1, with the homestead and farmstead exclusion to take effect for the fiscal year beginning the first day of January following adoption of the ordinance. Upon adopting an ordinance in accordance with this paragraph, a municipality shall, by first class mail, notify the assessor, as defined in 53 Pa.C.S. § 8582 (relating to definitions), of its decision to provide a homestead and farmstead exclusion.
(2) The assessor shall provide a municipality that will be imposing a homestead and farmstead exclusion in accordance with subsection (a)(4) with a certified report, as provided in53 Pa.C.S. § 8584(i) (relating to administration and procedure), listing information regarding homestead and farmstead properties in the municipality as determined pursuant to applications filed with the assessor in connection with this or any other law under which a homestead or farmstead exclusion has been adopted. In the year in which an ordinance is adopted in accordance with paragraph (1), the assessor shall provide the certified report after being notified by the municipality of its decision to provide a homestead and farmstead exclusion. In each succeeding year, the assessor shall provide the certified report by December 1, or at the same time the tax duplicate is certified to the municipality, whichever occurs first. Any duty placed on an assessor in accordance with this paragraph shall be in addition to those established in 53 Pa.C.S. Ch. 85 Subch. F and the act of June 27, 2006 (1st Sp. Sess. P.L. 1873, No. 1), known as the "Taxpayer Relief Act."
(3) Only homestead or farmstead properties identified in the certified report of the assessor obtained in any year shall be eligible to receive the exclusion for the next fiscal year.
(4) In the year in which a municipality adopts the ordinance evidencing its decision to implement a homestead and farmstead exclusion, the municipality shall notify by first class mail the owner of each parcel of residential property within the municipality which is not approved as a homestead or farmstead property or for which the approval is due to expire of the following:
(i) That the homestead and farmstead exclusion program is to be implemented to provide property tax relief as authorized by subsection (a)(4), beginning in the next fiscal year.
(ii) That only properties currently identified in the certified report of the assessor as having been approved in whole or in part as homestead or farmstead properties shall be entitled to an exclusion in the next fiscal year.
(iii) That owners of properties that have not been approved by the assessor as homestead or farmstead properties may file an application in accordance with 53 Pa.C.S. § 8584(a)by the annual application deadline of March 1 in order to qualify for the program in the year following the next fiscal year.
(5) The one-time notice required by paragraph (4) may be combined and made together with the annual notice required by paragraph (7) or with an annual notice by a coterminous political subdivision that has implemented a homestead and farmstead exclusion.
(6) In the year in which the initial decision to provide a homestead and farmstead exclusion is made and in each succeeding year, a municipality shall, by resolution, fix the dollar amount that is to be excluded from the assessed value of each homestead and farmstead property for the next fiscal year, consistent with 53 Pa.C.S. § 8583 (relating to exclusion for homestead property) and 8586 (relating to limitations). This determination of the amount of the homestead and farmstead exclusion shall be made, after receipt of the tax duplicate and the certified report from the assessor, at the time the governing body of a municipality determines the municipal budget and estimates revenues to be derived from the local services tax for the next fiscal year.
(7) Each year after the year in which the municipality implements a homestead and farmstead exclusion and no later than one hundred twenty days prior to the application deadline, the municipality shall give notice of the existence of the municipality's homestead and farmstead exclusion program; the need to file an application in accordance with 53 Pa.C.S. § 8584(a) in order to qualify for the program; and the application deadline, which, notwithstanding 53 Pa.C.S. § 8584(b), shall be December 15. This annual notice, which shall be given by first class mail, need only be sent to the owner of each parcel of residential property in the municipality which is not approved as homestead or farmstead property or for which the approval is due to expire.
(c) For purposes of this section, the term "municipality" does not include a school district.
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