[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council of the Borough of
Spring Grove 4-5-1999 by Ord. No.
1-1999 (Ch. 78 of the 1985 Code). Amendments noted
where applicable.]
The purpose and intent of this chapter 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 Borough which are at the time of such fire damage
insured by an insurance company, association or exchange doing business
in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
In the event of fire damage to a building or structure within
the Borough, the Borough 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:
A.
A certificate or, at the discretion of the Borough, 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 Borough nor any other municipality
to the knowledge of the Treasurer, has certified any amount as total
costs incurred by the Borough or other municipality for the removal,
repair or securing of a building or other structure on the property;
or
B.
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 Borough 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 Borough shall certify to the Treasurer the total amount, if any,
of such costs.
C.
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 Borough under
applicable law.
D.
Upon receipt of a certificate and bill pursuant to Subsection B of this section, the insurance company, association or exchange shall return the bill to the Borough 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 Borough shall receive the amount and apply or credit it to payment of the items shown in the bill.
E.
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 Borough
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
Borough Treasurer shall return the amount of the fund in excess of
the estimate to the named insured if the Borough has not commenced
to remove, repair or secure the building or other structure.
A.
Upon receipt of proceeds by the Borough as authorized by this chapter, the Borough 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 Borough. When transferring the funds as required in § 204-2 of this chapter, an insurance company, association or exchange shall provide the Borough with the name and address of the named insured, whereupon the Borough shall contact the named insured, certify that the proceeds have been received by the Borough, 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 Borough secretary or Treasurer has not incurred any costs for repairs, removal or securing. If the Borough 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 Borough shall transfer the remaining funds to the named insured. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to limit the ability of the Borough to recover any costs for repairs, removal or securing of the building or other structure which exceed the fund provided in § 204-2 of this chapter.
C.
Nothing in this chapter 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 chapter, or to make the Borough 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 chapter.
D.
Any insurance company, association or exchange making payments of
policy proceeds under this chapter shall have the full benefit of
such payment, including all rights of subrogation and of assignment.
An exact copy of this chapter 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.
