Westmoreland County Taking Suggestions On How To Spend Impact Fee Revenue

Scott Detrow

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Scott Detrow is a congressional correspondent for NPR. He also co-hosts the NPR Politics Podcast.

Detrow joined NPR in 2015 to cover the presidential election. He focused on the Republican side of the 2016 race, spending time on the campaign trail with Donald Trump, and also reported on the election's technology and data angles.

Detrow worked as a statehouse reporter for member stations WITF in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and KQED in San Francisco, California. He has also covered energy policy for NPR's StateImpact project, where his reports on Pennsylvania's hydraulic fracturing boom won a DuPont-Columbia and national Edward R. Murrow Award in 2013.

June 8, 2012 | 2:44 PM

What to do with all that impact fee money? Westmoreland County’s commissioners want input from the municipalities within its borders. As the Tribune-Review reports, they’ll hold five meetings this summer to solicit suggestions.
Westmoreland is set to receive around $2 million. Click here to see StateImpact Pennsylvania’s estimate of how much money each county will take in.
From the Trib:

“We want to have an opportunity for people in the county to weigh in,” Chairman Charles Anderson said.
Commissioners announced on Thursday that they will conduct the meetings during the summer in Greensburg and Washington, Mt. Pleasant, Rostraver and Derry townships.
County Planning Director Jason Rigone said the state law that authorized the impact fees set up13 categories that county commissioners can spend the money. Rigone said the first year of the impact fees will allow commissioners to spend as much as $1.3 million on discretionary projects.
The money could be used for tax reductions; road, bridge and infrastructure repairs; water system repairs; emergency response; environmental programs; reclamation of water supplies; safe and affordable housing initiatives; mapping projects; social services; and operation of the judicial system.