Mission Statements

Sound Land Use & Growth Management Mission Statement

LOCAL LAND USE DECISIONS AFFECT PEOPLE - people who deserve the right to have input at the local level. By design, a township is a form of government that is close to the people. It makes sense that locally elected township officials make decisions about land use--decisions that will alter our local landscapes for generations. As the fastest growing form of municipality in Pennsylvania, townships are concerned about urban sprawl. More than ever, townships need laws with teeth to make strides against grid-locked roads, strained sewage systems, and a lowered quality of life. Voluntary cooperation among governments--local, county and state--is commendable. But recent initiatives to push all planning to regional and county levels are misguided. Regional, top-down, cookie-cutter approaches to land use and growth management are greater problems, not simpler solutions. WITH THE RIGHT TOOLS TO MANAGE GROWTH, township officials can protect farmland, woodland, and open spaces for our future generations.

TOOL #1: THE ABILITY TO SAY "NO"
It's a common misconception that local officials encourage development even when there is insufficient infrastructure, such as roads, and sewer systems, to support it. The truth: Township officials can rarely say "no" to development. Under the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, each municipality must provide every conceivable type of land use within it's borders. Local officials are often unable to reject development that may not be in the best interest of the municipality. Township officials simply must have the ability to deny development that does not meet their community's land use requirements. They also need protection from being sued by developers who won't take a justifiable "no" for an answer.

TOOL #2: CONCURRENCY
With all but a few exceptions, developers in Pennsylvania can build wherever they want. As a result, new homes and new businesses are often constructed before proper roads are built and adequate sewer systems are in place. That's why the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors supports concurrency. Concurrency requires development to occur only when and where infrastructure is in place to accommodate it. With concurrency, development could be channeled to areas where infrastructure is in place or where it is practical and desirable to build new infrastructure.

TOOL #3: IMPACT FEES
Townships need a means to finance the improvements that accommodate growth. When development requires infrastructure improvements, a township must be allowed to negotiate in good faith with developers to pay for them. Pennsylvania's existing impact fee law, established in 1990, does not work and must be revised. Very few municipalities successfully collect money from developers, and those that do are often sued by developers over the little money they do collect. Until developers are willing to partner with municipalities, and pay impact fees to provide infrastructure, haphazard growth will continue in Pennsylvania.

TOOL #4: LOCAL DECISION MAKING
Local land use decisions must be made at the level closest to the people - the municipal level. The elected people who live in the municipality know what belongs in their own backyards and have the best interest of their neighbors at heart. County, regional and comprehensive plans can provide a vision for the future, but even the best plans cannot take into account every community need for many years to come. Municipalities do not need regional tiers of bureaucracy. Where warranted, voluntary cooperation among local governments is the workable solution to land use planning. All townships need effective planning tools. Municipal planning tools deserve meaningful funding at the state level to help townships develop comprehensive zoning and subdivision ordinances and other land use procedures. DECISIONS THAT FOREVER CHANGE THE LOCAL LANDSCAPE should be made at the local level by the people who care the most about the community and its future.

Efficient Local Government Mission Statement

TOWNSHIP GOVERNMENT is efficient government.
Experience shows that bigger is not always better, and certainly bigger is not always cheaper. Bigger governments are often more expensive, more bureaucratic and generally less accountable to and far removed from the people they are supposed to serve than the township system of local self-rule. Pennsylvania townships are testament to the fact that government doesn’t have to be big to be efficient and that government doesn’t have to be expensive to be effective. Despite the pressures placed on township officials by state and federal mandates, the township way of life is a simpler life. Townships live within their spending means, balancing budgets every single year — no exceptions. Townships only borrow money they can afford to pay back.

LOW ON EXPENSES, high on services.
Through their cooperative spirit and frugal spending habits, townships keep their operating expenses low. When it doesn’t make economic sense to own certain types of equipment, townships work out voluntary agreements with neighboring communities to share or jointly own that equipment. Also, townships often join together to bulk-purchase road salt and other supplies as part of their money-saving initiatives. Where it makes sense and public sentiment supports it, township governments are forming areawide police departments. Township government staffs are traditionally kept as small as possible. Many township supervisors have full-time jobs in addition to their duties as elected officials. Some townships appoint managers to serve as their chief administrative officer or delegate routine duties to the township secretary. Townships with small- to medium-size populations often operate with a small staff of a township manager or secretary and a few full- or part-time maintenance personnel. In some townships, supervisors may work full-time for the township, and in others, larger staffs serve the needs of the township’s larger population. Staffing at township government reflects the needs and desires of the community, and very often, the employees live in the township they work for. Each township decides what structure best serves its citizens.

THE “INVISIBLE” PROVIDERS
Township officials serve citizens with little fanfare. In many ways, township governments are often invisible providers, quietly going about their jobs of supplying many of the basic necessities of modern life such as road maintenance, Street lighting, and police and fire protection. These township officials are dependable, responsive providers. Township officials know what’s happening in their own backyard and strive to serve their neighbors’ needs quickly.

ABOUT PSATS
Since 1921, the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors(PSATS) has represented the interests of townships and has helped to shape laws that have laid the foundation for township and municipal government. Today, PSATS represents Pennsylvania's 1457 townships of the second class and some 10,000 elected township officials. With more than 4.6 million residents, townships represent more people than any other type of political subdivision in the commonwealth, including cities.

PSATS
3001 Gettysburg Road, Camp Hill, PA 17011-7296
Phone: 1-717-763-0930
Website: www.psats.org

Townships: Successful by Design, Purpose, and Vision Mission Statement

"The government closest to the people serves the people best." - Thomas Jefferson

TOWNSHIP GOVERNMENT is effective government.
Township government is the closest thing to a citizen-responsive government. And because it is closest to the people, township government can best respond to the needs and requests of its citizens. Elected by their neighbors and fellow residents to carry out the day-to-day responsibilities of running their community, township supervisors reflect the values of the people they serve. Townships are the oldest form of organized government in the United States. Pilgrims made townships the first political subdivisions in the new world. As early as 1683, William Penn, who owned all the land that is now Pennsylvania, established townships, cities, boroughs, and counties to share public service responsibilities.

PROVIDING what is needed locally.
Townships are structured to reflect the wants and needs of the people they serve. Small townships in rural areas may have no formal department structure and only one or two full-time employees. Large townships in urban areas may have separate departments for police, finance, road and street maintenance, sanitation, water, and parks and recreation. Townships are governed by a board of three or five supervisors elected at large by voters for a six-year term. Some townships appoint managers to serve as their chief administrative officer or delegate routine duties to a township secretary. Other townships have full-time supervisors. Most townships retain an attorney to act as legal counsel and an engineer to oversee road, sewer, and water projects. By design, the township structure is flexible, allowing local residents to determine what best serves their local needs.

RESPONDING to growing needs.
Until recent decades, township supervisors’ main responsibilities were maintaining roads and bridges. In and of itself, this is a major responsibility. Townships maintain more than 52,000 miles of roads (nearly 20 percent more than PennDOT) and an estimated 27,000 bridges (nearly 10 percent more than PennDOT). As the wants and needs of their residents have grown, townships have taken on a greater role in providing new services and facilities.

Township supervisors are empowered to:
• organize a planning commission
• adopt building, zoning, housing, and parking regulations
• construct and maintain sewage systems
• provide and operate parks, playgrounds, and other recreational facilities
• establish a police force
• provide for fire protection
• develop local emergency management and disaster readiness plans
• provide street lighting

As a township’s legislative body, supervisors also set policy, enact local ordinances, adopt budgets,and levy taxes.

ROLLING OUT the public welcome mat.
Today’s townships are still governed by local residents who work, shop, and raise families in the same communities as the people they serve. In many respects, townships retain the values and heritage of our founding fathers. Township meetings provide citizens with the opportunity to participate directly in the affairs of their community and to shape its direction. The doors to township meetings, held at least once a month, are always open.

About PSATS
Since 1921, the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors(PSATS) has represented the interests of townships and has helped to shape laws that have laid the foundation for township and municipal government. Today, PSATS represents Pennsylvania's 1457 townships of the second class and some 10,000 elected township officials. With more than 4.6 million residents, townships represent more people than any other type of political subdivision in the commonwealth, including cities.

PSATS
3001 Gettysburg Road, Camp Hill, PA 17011-7296
Phone: 1-717-763-0930
Website: www.psats.org