Local municipalities throughout Bradford County saw their coffers get a little wealthier than expected this year after the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission announced how much each borough and township will receive as a result of the 2021 collection of Act 13 funds, also known as the impact fee.
The impact fee was signed into law in 2012 and charges natural gas companies for drilling for methane in the Marcellus Shale region in Pennsylvania. Sixty percent of the funds raised go to counties and municipalities hosting drilling activity, while the remaining 40 percent goes to the Marcellus Legacy Fund, which is disbursed to all counties, regardless of whether drilling activity is located there.
All the municipalities in the Morning Times coverage experienced sizable bumps from the 2020 disbursement. For last year’s collection, municipalities received the following:
- Athens Borough — $135,174.60, up from last year’s disbursement of $78,232
- Athens Township — $315,528.59, up from last year’s disbursement of $183,172
- Sayre Borough — $231,151.36, up from last year’s disbursement of $134,044
- South Waverly Borough — $46,710.14, up from last year’s disbursement of $26,928
- Litchfield Township — $181,486.55, up from last year’s disbursement of $106,253
- Ridgebury Township — $160,470.76, up from last year’s disbursement of $92,807
- Sheshequin Township — $179,758.64, up from last year’s disbursement of $105,114
- Windham Township — $125,114.15, up from last year’s disbursement of $73,205
- Smithfield Township — $283,400.42, up from last year’s disbursement of $166,839.
Approximately $234 million was distributed statewide in the most recent round of funding based on natural gas production in 2021. Bradford County, itself, received $5,872,470.61 — up from $3,396,291.30 last year.
Publication: Morning Times
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