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Combo of Municipalities on the Ballot in Eastern PA

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www.alleghenyinstitute.org_images__Merger

While the Brief from yesterday talked about municipalities going out of business via dis-incorporation (and how unlikely that will be under the conditions set forth in the Act 47 changes) next week two Berks County municipalities will see voters go to the polls to decide whether to join together to form a new home rule municipality.

While the terms “merger” and “consolidation” are often interchanged when describing the marriage of a county, municipality, or groups of municipalities, etc. the state defines a “merger” as “a boundary change where one unit goes out of existence and is absorbed by another, usually larger unit” and a “consolidation” as “a boundary change action where the corporate lives of two or more units terminate upon their combination to create a new and different municipal corporate entity”.  The proposed creation of the Municipality of Antietam Valley with a new home rule government would certainly qualify as the latter.  Between 2000 and 2007, the state saw one consolidation and four mergers.  The last recorded action in Allegheny County came in 1952 when Eden Park Borough merged into McKeesport.

The motivations for the Antietam Valley proposal are savings through efficiencies and fewer elected officials (now ten between the two municipalities, the total would shrink to five).  A majority vote in both municipalities would be required for approval.

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Allegheny Institute
Allegheny Institute

The Allegheny Institute is a non-profit research and education organization. Our mission is to defend the interests of taxpayers, citizens and businesses against an increasingly burdensome and intrusive government.

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