HARRISBURG -- Tax rates would quadruple in Westmoreland County's Unity under proposed legislation that would require some municipalities to pay for their state police protection, a township supervisor said.

House Bill 2563, introduced by Rep. John E. Pallone, D-New Kensington, would require all communities with more than 10,000 people that don't have a municipal law enforcement agency to either establish a local police force or pay an annual fee of $100 per resident for state police protection. There are 21 such towns in the state.

The Pallone bill would be "an unfunded mandate," objected Unity Supervisor Jacob M. Blank.

To pay for state police coverage under the plan, Unity's 21,000 residents would watch their municipal tax rates balloon by perhaps more than four times, Mr. Blank said.

"This is a basic issue of safety," Mr. Pallone said at a news conference yesterday. "State police are stretched way too thin."

There are 1,700 communities in Pennsylvania without local police forces that depend on state law enforcement, Mr. Pallone said. .

"We've never had a police department because we don't have the level of crime that has needed it," said Rob Ritson, township manager of Hempfield, the largest municipality in Pennsylvania without its own police force. Hempfield has more than 40,000 residents.

"This punishes rural communities," Mr. Ritson said.

More than $32 million collected under the bill would go back to state police funding, which could help hire more than 3,000 new state troopers, said Rep. James E. Casorio, D-Irwin, who is co-sponsoring the legislation.

Two other communities in Westmoreland County would be required to pay or police themselves under the bill: Derry, which has 14,500 residents, and Mount Pleasant Township, with more than 11,000.

Other Western Pennsylvania counties that have towns of 10,000 or more and don't have local police forces include Fayette and Erie.

The proposal is accompanied by House Bill 2683, which would require that all revenue from state police citations written in those municipalities return to the state. That could generate roughly $25 million for the state, Mr. Pallone said.

Currently, half of the funds go back to the community.

"It's a windfall for them," Mr. Pallone said.