Opinion by
This is still another annexation case upon which much time, talent and treasure has and will be expended because the Legislature has over the years at the urging of municipalities, enacted inconsistent statutes on the subject and has as yet been unable to enact the uniform legislation mandated by Article 9, Section 8 of the Constitution of this Commonwealth, adopted by the electorate on April 23, 1968. These cases are always difficult and this one especially so because the issue here presented is before an appellate court for the first time.
The Borough of Marietta, Lancaster County, acting pursuant to Section 426 of The Borough Code, Act of February 1, 1966, (1965) , No. 581, 53 P.S. §45426, annexed 111.1 acres of land in East Donegal Township. The Township acting pursuant to Section 1010 of The Borough Code, 53 P.S. §46010, filed complaint as to the legality of the annexation ordinance. After litigation, the annexation was approved. Marietta Borough Annexation Case, 61 Lanc. 303, aff'd, 213 Pa. Superior Ct. 76, 245 A. 2d 706 (1968). The municipalities being unable to agree upon the financial settlement occasioned by the annexation, the Township, to the same
In fine, the question is whether, in annexation proceedings commenced and pursued under The Borough Code, the financial settlement for and on account of the annexation should be determined in whole or part pursuant to provisions other than those contained in The Borough Code. The issue is here acute because the Supendsors of East Donegal Township, by action laudable in private affairs but often unwise and sometimes unfair in municipal undertakings, expended substantial sums for storm sewers and fireplugs out of current tax revenues instead of borrowing. The ToAvnship Avould avoid exclusive application of Sections 441 and 442 of The Borough Code, 53 P.S. §§45441, 45442, which are as follows:
§441 — “Whenever a part of any toAvnship is annexed to any borough, the borough council and the governing body of the township shall make a just and proper adjustment of all the public property, both real
“In adjusting property and indebtedness, streets, sewer and utilities shall not be considered except to the extent that current and unpaid indebtedness was incurred for the construction and improvement thereof. In making such adjustment and apportionment, the township shall be entitled to a division of the property and indebtedness in proportion that the assessed valuation of the taxable real estate in the annexed portion of the township bears to the assessed valuation of the taxable real estate in the entire township immediately prior to the annexation and the borough shall be entitled to the remainder of such property and indebtedness. Where indebtedness was incurred by the township for an improvement located wholly within the limits of. the territory annexed to the borough, such indebtedness shall be assumed by the borough and where any part of such improvement is located wholly within the limits of such annexed territory, the part of such indebtedness representing the part of the improvement located within such annexed territory shall be assumed by the borough, and the adjustment and apportionment of any remaining debt and public property of the township shall be made as hereinabove provided. Such adjustment and apportionment shall be reduced to writing, and shall be duly executed and acknowledged by the clerk or secretary of the borough and shall be filed with the clerk of the court of quarter sessions of the county or counties in which the borough and the township are located, and a copy thereof shall also be filed with the Department of Internal Affairs of the Commonwealth.”
§442 — “In case the borough council and the governing body of the township cannot, within six months after an annexation becomes effective, arrive at a determination of the cost of [on] value of certain im
Section 308 of The Second Class Township Code, 53 P.S. §65308, unpalatable to the Borough, is as follows:
“(a) Except as hereinafter provided, whenever the boundaries of any townships have been altered and a portion thereof has been annexed by a borough or city, the township shall be paid by such borough or city the following costs or value of improvements located within the portion of the township so annexed: (1) the value of all roads improved by the township within five
“(b) The township shall not be reimbursed for any improvements, the cost of which has been assessed against abutting property owners.
“(c) If any present indebtedness of the township exists by reason of any improvements located in annexed area, and a city of the third class assumes a portion of said indebtedness as provided in section 510 of the act, known as ‘The Third Class City Code’, as reenacted and amended by the act, approved the twenty-eighth day of June, one thousand nine hundred fifty-one (Pamphlet Laws 662), or a borough assumes a portion of said indebtedness as provided in section 702 of the act, known as ‘The Borough Code’, as reenacted and amended by the act, approved the tenth day of July, one thousand nine hundred forty-seven (Pamphlet Laws 1621), such payment on account of indebtedness shall be considered to be a credit to such city of the third class or borough on account of the cost of said improvement.
“(d) Whenever an amicable settlement cannot be made on the amount to be paid as provided in subsection (a) of this section, the court of quarter sessions, upon application of the governing body of the city, borough or township, shall determine the amount to be paid.” Under this provision the Borough would have to pay the cost of the storm sewers and the value of the fireplugs installed by East Donegal Township, although there is no unpaid indebtedness therefor.
The court below dismissed the motion to strike because it concluded that the quoted provisions of The
In Jenner Township Annexation Case, 423 Pa. 609, 225 A. 2d 247 (1967), in which one issue
The Township has directed our attention to Mt. Joy Borough Annexation Case, 41 D. & C. 2d 510 (1966), in which the court awarded the township the value of roads and. buildings and the cost of sewers, as provided by The Second Class Township Code, less the amount the Borough would have had to pay the Township under the provisions of The Borough Code. Since this case antedated Jenner, supra, and the question here posed seemed not to have been there raised, it is not persuasive authority.
Our holding that, following Jenner, the settlement between these municipalities must be made solely by reference to The Borough Code, is, we believe, supported by a close examination of the legislation. The Legislature has so persisted in its ambivalence on the subject that no conclusion other than that it intends the continued existence of the mutually repugnant provisions is possible. The appellant Borough contends reasonably enough that Section 441 of The Borough Code, enacted in 1966, impliedly repealed the inconsistent provision of Section 308 of The Second Class Township Code, enacted in 1947. The holding of
However, Section 308(a) of The Second Class Township Code was amended by the Act of October 19, 1967, P. L. 455 by the addition of the sentence. “All such costs or values shall be paid within one year after the final Act of annexation.” (Emphasis supplied.) Plainly the Legislature demonstrated thereby its desire that Section 308(a) should continue to have virtue. The
We hold, therefore, that the settlement here must be made by exclusive reference to and application of Sections 441 and 442 of The Borough Code, supra.
The order of the court below is reversed; the petition of the Township of East Donegal is stricken; and the record is remanded to the court below for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.
Significantly the affirmative of this issue was urged by the Township Association of Pennsylvania as amicus curaie.
The reference in Section 442 of The Borough Code to the Act of . July 20, 1953, P. L. 550, 53 P.S. §67501 would not change this result because the latter Act is not a part of The Second Class Township Code and because it contains no substantive provisions for adjustment between the municipalities.
