Exploring Home Rule for Lancaster City
On May 16, 2023, voters will have a historic opportunity to decide whether the City of Lancaster should explore home rule. Since 1953, Lancaster City has operated under a third-class city charter that limits local authority. A home rule charter would give Lancaster City residents greater control over what happens in their own community, which could lower property taxes and improve city services, among other benefits.
Voting “Yes” on the May 16 ballot gives the City permission to study home rule, not enact it – a vote on whether to adopt a home rule charter would occur no earlier than November 2024. In the upcoming May 16 election, voters will also be asked to select nine commissioners for a Home Rule Study Commission.
All of the below candidates are Democrats running for the Home Rule Study Commission:
Carl Feldman, Policy Specialist, Pennsylvania Dept. of Human Services
Brian Adams, Associate Teaching Professor of Mathematical Sciences, Penn State Harrisburg
Michael Rowan, Small Business Owner
Marshall Miller, Chair, Lancaster City Democratic Committee
Amy Ruffo, Communications Director, Fair Districts PA
Maxine Cook, Assistant Director of Faculty Affairs, Lincoln University
What will the Home Rule Study Commission do?
The first task of the Home Rule Study Commission will be to provide an objective assessment of the current form of City government. The Commission will then evaluate alternatives and determine whether to recommend home rule. If so, the Commission will draft a home rule charter to put before Lancaster City voters for approval.
What would home rule mean for Lancaster City?
If Lancaster City embraces home rule, it will not be alone: 26 cities, seven counties, and 56 other municipalities in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania have adopted it. Home rule transfers the authority to act from state law to a local charter, offering limited independence within the confines of the Pennsylvania and US Constitutions. The key benefit is that localities can develop governance that more closely meets the needs of their citizens.
Lancaster City’s current city charter lacks that flexibility. For example, as the costs of city services have risen, Lancaster City has been compelled to rely too heavily on property tax increases, because that’s the only tax the City has the power to control. Rates for local services taxes, earned income taxes, and real estate transfer taxes are set by state law – and the latter two have not changed since 1965. Under home rule, all those revenue sources would be controlled locally by City Council.
