1/29/2024 0 Comments Budget dredge 2018Lawmakers acknowledge that the somewhat-slapdash funding system isn’t sustainable. In 2002, for instance, only $340 million was taken from the Motor License Fund to pay for police service, but that amount also covered 60 percent of police expenses. That has increased exponentially over the last few decades-largely because police costs have jumped dramatically. The more than $800 million sum constituted 29 percent of all payments made from the fund. Last fiscal year, 65 percent of that budget came from the Motor License Fund. It costs state police an average of $240 per person-though that number doesn’t include administrative expenses or support services, like special operations.Īll told, state police spend an average of about $600 million dollars on municipal law enforcement every year-around half of their entire budget. That coverage goes to predominantly rural areas, which encompass about 20 percent of the commonwealth’s total population, but 80 percent of its geographic area. 400 more use part-time state police coverage, according to the department. Pennsylvania has over 2,500 municipalities, and almost 1,300 of those rely on the state police for all their law enforcement needs. Motor License money has long been routed to the state police under the logic that its constitutional purpose includes the safety of public roads and bridges.īut municipalities without their own police departments have increasingly leaned on troopers for routine law enforcement-and that’s expensive. But despite repeated efforts, the issue hasn’t budged much in years. Lawmakers agree that system needs to change. Most of the department’s annual budget comes from the commonwealth’s Motor License Fund, which is supposed to pay for roads and bridges. Pennsylvania lawmakers are trying to figure out a better way to pay for state police.
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