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A resident calls the township office, and the question is not about a pothole or a permit. It is about the electric bill, which jumped again, and whether the data center everyone is talking about is the reason. Whoever picks up the phone is left with an honest answer that sits in an uncomfortable spot: some of it is connected, and almost none of it is something the township can … [Read more...] about Data centers and your residents’ electric bills: what a township can and cannot control

Upper Merion thought it had this handled. After hearing that a developer was scouting sites, township officials spent more than a year building a data center ordinance. They talked to their planner, brought in outside experts, studied Loudoun County, Virginia, the place people call the data center capital of the world, and listened to residents. Board vice chairperson Bill … [Read more...] about Get your data center zoning in place before the application lands: the Upper Merion lesson

The phone rings at the township office and it is not about a pothole or a permit. A resident heard something on the news about a new state tax credit worth a few hundred dollars, and they want to know if they qualify and what they have to do to get it. Your office does not administer the state income tax, does not determine who is eligible, and cannot file a return for anyone. … [Read more...] about The new Working Pennsylvanians Tax Credit and 2026 changes residents will ask about

A township manager in Montgomery County opens the budget file and finds the same line every small office finds: nothing set aside for cybersecurity. No IT staff, no consultant on retainer, one person who happens to be good with computers. For years the answer was simple. Join the MS-ISAC, turn on the free monitoring, and lean on it. That answer changed in 2025. If your township … [Read more...] about Cybersecurity on a small budget: the free CISA resources to start with (and what changed at MS-ISAC)