A Position Statement:

Townships: Successful by Design, Purpose and Vision

"The government closest to the people serves the people best."

– Thomas Jefferson

Township government is effective government
Township government is the closest thing to a citizen-responsive government. And because it is closest to the people, township government can best respond to the needs and requests of its citizens.

Elected by their neighbors and fellow residents to carry out the day-to-day responsibilities of running their community, township supervisors reflect the values of the people they serve.

Townships are the oldest form of organized
government in the United States. Pilgrims made townships the first political subdivisions in the new world.

As early as 1683, William Penn, who owned all the land that is now Pennsylvania, established townships, cities, boroughs, and counties to share public service responsibilities.

The Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors, established in 1921, represents and supports the interests of second class townships. Today, PSATS represents Pennsylvania’s 1,457 townships of the second class and some 10,000 elected township officials. With more than 4.6 million residents, townships represent more people than any other type of political subdivision in the commonwealth, including cities.

Providing what is needed locally
Townships are structured to reflect the wants and needs of the people they serve.

Small townships in rural areas may have no formal department structure and only one or two full-time employees. Large townships in urban areas may have separate departments for police, finance, road and street maintenance, sanitation, water, and parks and recreation.

Townships are governed by a board of three or five supervisors elected at large by voters for a six-year term.

Some townships appoint managers to serve as their chief administrative officer or delegate routine duties to a township secretary. Other townships have full-time supervisors. Most townships retain an attorney to act as legal counsel and an engineer to oversee road, sewer, and water projects.

By design, the township structure is flexible, allowing local residents to determine what best serves their local needs.

Responding to growing needs
Until recent decades, township supervisors’ main responsibilities were maintaining roads and bridges. In and of itself, this is a major responsibility. Townships maintain more than 52,000 miles of roads (nearly 20 percent more than PennDOT) and an estimated 27,000 bridges (nearly 10 percent more than PennDOT).

As the wants and needs of their residents have grown, townships have taken on a greater role in providing new services and facilities.

Township supervisors are empowered to:

• organize a planning commission
• adopt building, zoning, housing, and parking regulations
• construct and maintain sewage systems
• provide and operate parks, playgrounds, and other recreational facilities
• establish a police force
• provide for fire protection
• develop local emergency management and disaster preparedness plans
• provide street lighting

As a township’s legislative body, supervisors also set policy, enact local ordinances, adopt budgets, and levy taxes.

Rolling out the public welcome mat
Today’s townships are still governed by local residents who work, shop, and raise families in the same communities as the people they serve. In many respects, townships retain the values and heritage of our founding fathers.

Township meetings provide citizens with the opportunity to participate directly in the affairs of their community and to shape its direction. The doors to township meetings, held at least once a month, are always open.

About PSATS
Since 1921, the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors (PSATS) has represented the interests of townships and has helped to shape laws that have laid the foundation for township and municipal government. Today, PSATS represents Pennsylvania’s 1,457 townships of the second class and some 10,000 elected township officials. With more than 4.6 million residents, townships represent more people than any other type of political subdivision in the commonwealth, including cities.