Pennsylvania Act 1929-510 — SECOND CLASS A CITIES, TAX COLLECTION WITHIN

Act text

AN ACT

Relating to the collection of city, county, school, and poor taxes within the territorial limits of cities of the second class A; establishing the office of collector of taxes therein; defining its duties and powers; changing the powers of and imposing duties upon cities of the second class A, counties, school districts and poor districts, and the officers thereof; and imposing penalties.

Section 1. Be it enacted, &c., That there is hereby established, in cities of the second class A, the office of collector of taxes. Said collector shall be elected in the same manner, at the same times, and for the same term, and shall take office the same time, as the mayors of said cities under existing laws. The first election under this act shall be held in the year one thousand nine hundred and twenty-nine. No such collector shall be eligible to serve for more than two terms in succession.

(1 amended June 22, 1931, P.L.666, No.240)

Section 2. Said collector shall be charged with the duty of collecting all city, county, school, and poor taxes collectible within the territorial limits of cities of the second class A. The proper authorities of the city, county, school district and poor districts shall promptly turn over to said collector their respective tax duplicates, covering taxes collectible within such territorial limits, as provided by law. Such collector shall, before any tax shall become payable, mail or deliver to each taxpayer a bill, stating the location or nature of the property taxed, the amount of the assessment, the rate or rates of tax, and the respective dates when such taxes shall become payable, and when and in what amount discounts will be allowed and penalties added. It shall be unlawful for the collector of taxes wilfully to ask, demand, or bill any taxpayer for any higher or lower amount of taxes, penalties, or costs than is lawfully due upon any particular assessment.

(2 amended June 22, 1931, P.L.666, No.240)

Section 3. On or before the first day of January of each year, said collector shall file, with each municipal corporation for which he shall act, a surety bond to the Commonwealth for the use of such municipal corporation, in such reasonable amount as shall be fixed by the taxing authority of the municipal corporation, conditioned for the faithful performance of his duties during the ensuing year. The amounts of and the sureties on such bonds shall be approved by the court of common pleas in banc of the county; and no such bond, when given, shall be surrendered by any officer to whose custody it shall be committed, except to his successor in office, unless in the case of full payment thereof as a result of a breach of condition. The costs of such bonds shall be paid by the respective municipal corporations for the benefit of which the bonds shall be given.

For the purpose of this act, the term "municipal corporation" shall be deemed to include cities, counties, school districts and poor districts.

(3 amended June 22, 1931, P.L.666, No.240)

Section 4. The collector shall receive a salary of seven thousand five hundred dollars ($7,500) per year, and, in addition thereto, shall be entitled to receive and retain a commission of ten per centum of the penalties collected by him upon all taxes which shall have been delinquent for a period of more than six months at the date of collection. The collector shall appoint all necessary clerks and assistants, whose number and salaries shall be fixed by a salary board, consisting of the chairman of the board of county commissioners, the mayor of the city, and the president of the board of school directors. He shall receive no part of any penalties where the tax and penalties shall be collected by suit, or after return to the county commissioners.

(4 amended June 22, 1931, P.L.666, No.240)

Section 5. The county commissioners of the proper county shall provide and furnish said collector with suitable office space, furniture, equipment, stationery, supplies, printing of notices, postage, light, heat, telephone, and janitor service, and shall pay the customary premiums on the collector's surety bonds aforesaid. The salary of the collector and of his clerks and assistants shall be paid in monthly instalments, in equal proportions, one-half thereof by the city and one-half by the school district.

Section 5.1. All persons, now or hereafter employed in the office of the collector of taxes, shall be permitted to join any existing retirement system in effect in the city of the second class A in which such office is located, if the city council and the board of school directors shall each agree to contribute one-half, and do contribute to the retirement fund established by the act of Assembly under which such retirement system was established, from time to time one-half each, the moneys required to build up the reserves necessary for the payment of the cities annuity of such employes upon retirement.

Upon joining any such retirement system the employes of the office of the collector of taxes shall enjoy all the rights, and be subject to all the requirements and duties, as provided by the act of Assembly under which such retirement system operates.

(5.1 added July 3, 1947, P.L.1232, No.501)

Section 6. All moneys collected by said collector shall be forthwith deposited, at not less than the customary interest rate for similar deposits, in one or more state or national banks or trust companies located within said city, in accounts to be designated respectively "City Funds Account," "County Funds Account," "School Funds Account," or "Poor Funds Account," as the case may be, and the moneys of the respective municipal corporations shall not be intermingled in the same account. In case of loss due to insolvency of any such banking depository, said collector shall not be responsible for such loss, unless he deposited or retained funds on deposit in a depository which he had reasonable ground for believing to be insolvent. All interest earned upon such accounts shall belong to the municipal corporation to whom the principal of the fund belongs. Neither the collector nor any member of his family shall receive, nor shall any person offer or give, directly or indirectly, any gift or other thing of value to influence the said collector in the selection of a depository, or the performance of any other official duty. Nor shall any such person receive, directly or indirectly, any gift, money or other thing of value from any alderman, justice of the peace, constable, deputy constable, or other agent or collector, where the person paying or giving the same shall have been engaged in or about the collection or enforcement of payment of current or delinquent taxes; nor shall the said collector of taxes or any member of his family receive any emoluments whatever arising, directly or indirectly, out of his office other than the compensation provided by law: Provided, however, That members of the family of the collector of taxes shall be eligible to serve in the office of such collector, and receive a salary therefor on the same basis as other persons. A breach of any of the provisions of this section shall be a misdemeanor, and shall subject any person found guilty thereof to a fine of not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000), or imprisonment for not more than two years, or both, at the discretion of the court of quarter sessions.

(6 amended June 22, 1931, P.L.666, No.240)

Compiler's Note: Section 28 of Act 207 of 2004 provided that any and all references in any other law to a "district justice" or "justice of the peace" shall be deemed to be references to a magisterial district judge.

Section 7. Said collector shall make monthly reports of collections and moneys on hand to the respective municipal corporations, and shall, each month, pay into the treasuries of the respective municipal corporations all moneys collected during the preceding month. He shall be allowed exonerations in the same manner as the collectors of the aforesaid taxes have heretofore been exonerated under existing laws.

Section 8. Said collector shall, at all times, keep true and accurate books, records, and accounts, showing all the business affairs of his office, which shall be public records, open to the inspection of any citizen during business hours. The office of the collector shall be closed on Sundays and legal holidays, but shall be open for business from nine A.M. until noon on Saturdays, and from nine A.M. until five P.M. on all other days.

Section 9. The powers and duties of the appropriate municipal authorities, with reference to filing, reviving, and collection of tax liens, and the practice upon surcharge and appeal, shall remain as under existing laws. The city controller shall make annual audits, in detail, of all of the accounts of the said collector of taxes, covering both taxes for the current year and delinquent taxes, and, for this purpose, shall be provided by the city council with such assistance as may be necessary. All such audits shall be completed, and a copy thereof filed in the court of common pleas, within six months after the end of the fiscal year of the municipal corporation concerned.

(9 amended June 22, 1931, P.L.666, No.240)

Section 9.1. The city controller shall make annual reports to council, on the first Monday of March and oftener if so required by council, of the audits which he shall have made of the accounts of the officers having charge, custody, control and disbursements of public moneys, showing the balance in their hands, respectively, at the end of the fiscal year, and at the same time shall file a copy of the said annual report with the prothonotary of the court of common pleas. It shall be lawful for the city or any taxpayer thereof on its behalf or any officer whose account is settled or audited to appeal from the settlement or audit to the court of common pleas of the county within forty-five days after the said annual report to council has been filed in the court of common pleas. If the appellant is a taxpayer or any officer charged as aforesaid, he shall file a bond with one or more sufficient sureties, conditioned to pay all costs thereafter accruing in case a decision shall not be obtained more favorable to the party on whose behalf the appeal shall be taken than that contained in the said report.

(9.1 added July 17, 1953, P.L.467, No.114)

Section 10. Except as otherwise specified in this act, said collector shall have all the powers, rights, and remedies to compel the payment of taxes, and shall be subject to all the penalties and liabilities, and duty to make return of unpaid taxes, in force under existing laws with reference to tax collectors of the respective municipal corporations for which he acts.

Section 11. In case of any vacancy in the office of any said collector of taxes, by reason of death, resignation, removal from office, failure to file a bond as provided in section three, or any similar cause, a successor to serve for the unexpired term shall be elected at the next municipal election, held not less than ninety days after such vacancy occurs, which said successor shall take office on the first day of January of the year following his election. When necessary, a temporary collector of taxes shall be appointed by a board composed of the chairman of the board of county commissioners, the mayor of the city, and the president of the board of school directors, which temporary collector of taxes shall hold office until his successor has been elected and qualified.

Section 11A. For any wilful violation of this act, or of the act to which this is an amendment, arising after the date of the approval hereof, the collector of taxes may be removed from office by the court of common pleas, sitting en banc, upon the petition of not less than thirty taxpayers of such city, which shall be verified by the oath of at least one of said petitioners, to which petition the said collector of taxes shall have fifteen days for reply. At the time of filing such petition, the petitioners shall also file a bond in the sum of two thousand dollars, with surety to be approved by the court, conditioned to pay the costs and counsel fees of the collector of taxes in case such proceedings for removal shall be unsuccessful. The amount of counsel fees chargeable against unsuccessful petitioners shall be subject to the approval of the court--the total of costs and counsel fees so chargeable in no case to exceed the amount of the bond.

(11A added June 22, 1931, P.L.666, No.240 and repealed in part June 3, 1971, P.L.118, No.6)

Section 11B. The city solicitor shall act as the legal advisor of the collector of taxes on all matters affecting his office. The collector of taxes may, however, at his own expense, employ private counsel in proceedings for his removal from office or in such other matters as he deems proper.

(11B added June 22, 1931, P.L.666, No.240)

Section 12. The provisions of this act are severable, and, if any of its provisions are declared unconstitutional, the decision so holding shall not be construed to impair any other provision of this act. It is hereby declared as a legislative intent that this act would have been enacted had such unconstitutional provision not been included therein.

Section 13. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed.