[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors
of the Township of East Manchester as indicated in article histories.
Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 4-21-1999 by Ord. No. 1999-6 (Ch.
53 of the 1988 Code)]
The purpose and intent of this article is to
comply with the requirements of Act 93 of 1994, Act of October 13,
1994, P.L. 609, 40 P.S. § 638, relating to fire damage to
buildings or structures located within the Township which are at the
time of such fire damage insured by an insurance company, association
or exchange doing business in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
A.
In the event of fire damage to a building or structure
within the Township, the Township Treasurer shall, upon written request
of the named insured, which written request shall specify the tax
description of the property, the name and address of the insurance
company, association or exchange, and the date of the receipt of a
loss report of a claim, furnish the identified insurance company,
within 14 working days of the request, the following:
(1)
A certificate
or, at the discretion of the Township, a verbal notification, that,
as of the date specified in the request, there are no delinquent taxes,
assessments, penalties or user charges against the identified property,
and that, as of the date of the Treasurer's certificate or verbal
notification, neither the Township nor any other municipality to the
knowledge of the Treasurer, has certified any amount as total costs
incurred by the Township or other municipality for the removal, repair
or securing of a building or other structure on the property; or
(2)
A certificate
and bill showing the amount of delinquent taxes, assessments, penalties
and user charges against the property as of the date specified and
the requests that have not been paid as of the date of the certificate,
and also showing, as of the date of the Treasurer's certificate, the
amount of the total costs, if any, certified to the Treasurer that
have been incurred by the Township or any other municipality known
to the Treasurer, for the removal, repair or securing of a building
or other structure on the property. For purposes of this subsection,
the Township shall certify to the Treasurer the total amount, if any,
of such costs.
B.
A tax, assessment, penalty or user charge becomes
delinquent for purposes of this section at the time and on the date
a lien could otherwise have been filed against the property by the
Township under applicable law.
C.
Upon receipt of a certificate and bill pursuant to Subsection A(2) of this section, the insurance company, association or exchange shall return the bill to the Township Treasurer and transfer to the Treasurer an amount from the insurance proceeds necessary to pay the taxes, assessments, penalties, charges and costs as shown on the bill. The Township shall receive the amount and apply or credit it to payment of the items shown in the bill.
D.
When the loss as determined by agreement between the
insured and the insurance company, association or exchange equals
or exceeds 60% of the aggregate limits of liability on all fire policies
covering the structure, the insurance company, association or exchange
shall transfer from the insurance proceeds to the Treasurer of the
Township in the aggregate $2,000 for each $15,000 and each fraction
of that amount of a claim, or, if at the time of a loss report the
named insured has submitted a contractor's signed estimate of the
costs of removing, repairing or securing the building or other structure
in an amount less than the amount calculated under the foregoing transfer
formula, the insurance company, association or exchange shall transfer
from the insurance proceeds the amount specified in the estimate.
In the event that the named insured submits a contractor's signed
estimate of the costs of removing, repairing or securing the building
or other structure after the transfer authorized in this subsection,
then the Township Treasurer shall return the amount of the fund in
excess of the estimate to the named insured if the Township has not
commenced to remove, repair or secure the building or other structure.
A.
Upon receipt of proceeds by the Township as authorized by this article, the Township Treasurer shall place the proceeds in a separate fund to be used solely as security against the total cost of removing, repairing or securing incurred by the Township. When transferring the funds as required in § 115-2 of this article, an insurance company, association or exchange shall provide the Township with the name and address of the named insured, whereupon the Township shall contact the named insured, certify that the proceeds have been received by the Township, and notify the named insured that the procedures under this section shall be followed.
B.
The fund shall be returned to the named insured when repairs, removal or securing of the building or other structure have been completed, and the required proof received by the Township Secretary or Treasurer has not incurred any costs for repairs, removal or securing. If the Township has incurred costs for repairs, removal or securing of the building or other structure, the costs shall be paid from the fund, and, if excess funds remains, the Township shall transfer the remaining funds to the named insured. Nothing in this article shall be construed to limit the ability of the Township to recover any costs for repairs, removal or securing of the building or other structure which exceed the fund provided in § 115-2 of this article.
C.
Nothing in this article shall be construed to make
an insurance company, association or exchange liable for any amount
in excess of the proceeds payable under its insurance policy, for
any other act performed pursuant to this article, or to make the Township
or a public official an insured under a policy of insurance, or to
create an obligation to pay delinquent property taxes or unpaid removal
liens or expenses other than as provided in this article.
D.
Any insurance company, association or exchange making
payments of policy proceeds under this article shall have the full
benefit of such payment, including all rights of subrogation and of
assignment.
An exact copy of this article shall be filed
with the Governor's Center for Local Government Services, which is
the designated successor to the Department of Community Affairs, which
was the designated recipient in the Act, but which Department has
been abolished.
