[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the Township
of Washington as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted
where applicable.]
[Adopted 11-16-2011 by Ord. No. 2011-06]
The Township Manager, or his or her designee, is hereby appointed
as the designated officer who is authorized to carry out all responsibilities
and duties set forth in this article.
A.
No insurance company, association or exchange ("insuring agent")
doing business in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania shall pay a claim
of a named insured for fire damage to a structure located within the
Township of Washington, Berks County, Pennsylvania (the "Township"),
where the amount recoverable for the fire loss to the structure under
all policies exceeds $7,500 unless the insuring agent is furnished
with a certificate pursuant to Section 508(b) of Act 98 of 1992, 40
P.S. § 638 et seq., as amended (the "Act"), and unless there
is compliance with the procedures set forth in Subsections 508(c)
and 508(d) of the Act and the provisions of this article.
B.
The Township Treasurer shall, upon the written request of the named
insured, specifying the tax description of the property, the name
and address of the insuring agent and the date agreed upon by the
insuring agent and the named insured as the date of the receipt of
a loss report of the claim, furnish the insuring agent either of the
following within 14 working days of the request:
(1)
A certificate or, at the discretion of the Township, a verbal notification
which shall be confirmed in writing by the insuring agent to the effect
that, as of the date specified in the request, there are no delinquent
taxes, assessments, penalties or user charges against the property
and that, as of the date of the Township Treasurer's certificate
or verbal notification, no municipality has certified any amount as
total costs incurred by the 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
in the request that have not been paid as of the date of the certificate
and also showing, as of the date of the Township Treasurer's
certificate, the amount of the total costs, if any, certified to the
Township Treasurer that have been incurred by the Township for the
removal, repair or securing of a building or other structure on the
property. For the purposes of this subsection, the Township shall
certify to the Township Treasurer the total amount, if any, of such
costs. A tax, assessment, penalty or user charge becomes delinquent
at the time and on the date a lien could otherwise have been filed
against the property by the municipality under applicable law.
C.
Upon receipt of a certificate and bill pursuant to Subsection B(2) of this section, the insuring agent shall return the bill to the designated officer and transfer to the designated officer 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.
Where, pursuant to § 89-2B(1) of this article and Section 508(b)(1)(i) of the Act, the Borough Treasurer issues a certificate indicating that there are no delinquent taxes, assessments, penalties or user charges against the real property, the insuring agent shall pay the claim of the named insured in accordance with the policy terms, unless the loss agreed to between the named insured and the company, association or exchange equals or exceeds 60% of the aggregate limits of liability on all fire policies covering the building or other structure. In the case of such a loss, the following procedures shall be followed:
A.
The insuring agent shall transfer from the insurance proceeds to
the designated officer of the Township in the aggregate $2,000 for
each $15,000 and each fraction of that amount of a claim; or
B.
If, at the time of the loss report, the named insured has submitted
a contract or 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 insuring agent shall transfer from the insurance proceeds the
amount specified in the contract or estimate.
C.
The transfer of proceeds shall be on a pro rata basis by all companies,
associations or exchanges insuring the building or other structure.
D.
After the transfer, the named insured may submit a contract or contractor's
signed estimate of the costs of removing, repairing or securing the
building or other structure, and the designated officer 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.
E.
Upon receipt of the proceeds under this section, the following procedures
shall be followed:
(1)
The designated officer shall place the proceeds in a separate fund
to be used solely as security against the total cost of removing,
repairing or securing the building or structure incurred by the Township.
Such costs shall include, without limitation, any engineering, legal
and administrative costs incurred by the Township in connection with
such removal, repair or securing of the building or other structure
or any proceedings related thereto; and
(2)
The insuring agent shall provide the Borough with the name and address
of the named insured. Upon receipt of the transferred funds and the
name(s) and address(es) of the name insured(s), the designated officer
shall contact the named insured(s), certify that the proceeds have
been received by the Township, and notify the named insured(s) that
the procedures under this section and Section 508(d) of the Act shall
be followed; and
(3)
When the repairs, removal or securing of the building or other structure
have been completed in accordance with all applicable regulations
and orders of the Township, and the required proof of such completion
is received by the designated officer, and if the Township has not
incurred any costs for the repairs, removal or securing, then the
fund shall be paid to the named insured(s). 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 remain,
the Township shall transfer the remaining funds to the named insured(s);
and
(4)
To the extent that interest is earned on the proceeds held by the
Township pursuant to this section and not returned to the named insured(s),
such interest shall belong to the Township. To the extent that the
proceeds are returned to the named insured(s), interest earned on
such proceeds shall be distributed to the named insured(s) at the
time that the proceeds are returned.
(5)
Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the ability of
the Township to recover any deficiency. Furthermore, nothing in this
section shall be construed to prohibit the Township and the named
insured(s) from entering into an agreement that permits the transfer
of funds to the named insured(s) or some other reasonable disposition
of the damaged property that has been negotiated.
Nothing in this article shall be construed to make an insurance
company, association or exchange liable for any amount in excess of
proceeds payable under its insurance policy or for any other act performed
pursuant to this article or to make the Township, any Township official,
a municipality 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.
An insurance company, association or exchange making payment
of policy proceeds under this article for delinquent taxes or structure
removal liens or removal expenses incurred by the Township shall have
a full benefit of such payment, including all rights of subrogation
and of assignment.
This article shall be liberally construed to accomplish its
purpose to deter the commission of arson and related crimes, to discourage
the abandonment of property and to prevent urban blight and deterioration.
The Secretary of the Township shall transmit a certified copy
of this article promptly to the Pennsylvania Department of Community
and Economic Development.
The Board of Supervisors of the Township may, but need not,
adopt by resolution procedures and regulations to implement the Act
and this article and may, by resolution, fix reasonable fees to be
charged for Township activities or services provided pursuant to the
Act and this article, including, without limitation, issuance of certificates
and bills, performance of inspections, and opening separate escrow
fund accounts.
Any owner of property, any named insured(s) or any insuring
agent who shall violate any provision of this article shall, upon
conviction thereof before the District Justice, be sentenced to pay
a fine of not more than $1,000 and costs of prosecution and/or to
undergo imprisonment for a term not to exceed 30 days. Each day that
a violation continues shall constitute a separate offense.
The provisions of this article are severable. If any sentence,
clause, provision or section of this article is for any reason found
to be unconstitutional, illegal or invalid, such decision shall not
affect the validity of any of the remaining sentences, clauses, provisions
and sections of this article. It is hereby declared as a legislative
intent that this article would have been adopted had such unconstitutional,
illegal or invalid provision not been included herein.
