The problem is I pay twice once for our local police who respond to us in Lancaster Township and I also pay for the people in the state who do not have or do not want local police so they can keep their taxes low. So we that have local police pay twice.

""It's a fairness issue," said state Rep. Mike Sturla, a Democrat representing the 96th District and the primary sponsor of the bill."

B.S.
State grasping for shrinking funds. Got a state entity in your business? Expect more just like this. Bills for services we already are taxed for.
Ambitious lout, isn't he? Pave the way to your next job with good service, instead of disservice.

LT Taxpayer is absolutely right. If our taxes paid to the state covered police action, then the state should fully fund all local police departments. They obviously don't, so many areas have people that must pay the state taxes (to fund YOUR police) and then local taxes (to fund MY police). That is inherently unfair.

I also disagree with the idea of charging per incident. We never know when or where incidents will be required, but the police must be ready for anything. They need to hire more troopers and provide better coverage...even if the "use" of the police (e.g. incidents) is relatively low.

The other problem is the geographic challenges posed by the helter skelter nature of the municipalities which use state police for coverage. Think about it...the Ephrata barracks covers Rapho, Elizabeth, Brecknock and Caernarvon townships. Look at a map and see how far apart these areas are! That is insane to expect a single police force with limited manpower to cover such disperate locales.

If these municipalities want to continue using the state police, pony up and pay for it so that the state police can hire more troopers. In doing so, they provide better coverage for these areas, and free up other troopers to do the tasks that make ALL OF US safer instead of much of their time being lost to municipalities who want to do things on the cheap.

If these townships don't have to pay for state police coverage, then I think my town should disband its own police force and rely on the troopers.
Our population is equal to or less to that of Rapho Twp....

there it is. Just another ploy to raise taxes.