HARRISBURG — The head of Pennsylvania’s Treasury Department said her agency does not have the legal authority to pay the more than $1 million in recent security upgrades at Gov. Josh Shapiro’s privately-owned family home in Montgomery County, saying state rules bar her from using taxpayer dollars to pay those bills.
Treasurer Stacy Garrity told reporters Thursday that state procurement rules do not permit public money to be used for construction work on a non-state-owned property like Shapiro’s house. That work — carried out last year following an attack at the state-owned governor’s mansion in Harrisburg — included a new security system, and landscaping and other maintenance work on the home’s exterior grounds.
“Over the course of nearly four months, we conducted an exhaustive review to be absolutely certain that every aspect was considered and no detail was overlooked,” said Garrity, a Republican who separately is seeking to unseat Shapiro in November’s election.
“It is clear,” she said, “that there is no legal authorization that allows for the use of taxpayer money for upgrades or improvement to the governor’s personal home.”
Garrity said that while the attack on Shapiro was “shocking and deeply troubling” — and that "everyone deserves to feel protected” — the administration’s “unprecedented” ask for public dollars to cover the upgrades does not adhere to the state’s “fiscal and purchasing requirements that are in place to protect taxpayers.”
In a statement Shapiro spokesperson Rosie Lapowsky called Garrity’s decision “a completely unprecedented and shameful political action without legal basis.”
“The Treasurer should put partisanship aside, follow the law, and show some humanity for a family that has experienced real trauma, the state troopers who protect them every day, and the vendors and workers who the treasurer has now refused to pay,” Lapowsky wrote.
Earlier, when asked whether she was concerned her office’s decision would be viewed as politically motivated, given her gubernatorial ambitions, Garrity responded: “I don’t play these kind of political games. We call balls and strikes here at Treasury. I always have done this.”
“This has absolutely nothing to do about the person in the house,” she added. “It’s about the title on the deed — the law just does not provide a mechanism for the state to pay for construction [at] the governor’s private property using taxpayer dollars.”
The administration does have options to resolve the matter. It can seek an out-of-court settlement for payment of the outstanding bills through the state Attorney General’s office. Additionally, state lawmakers could authorize the spending as part of their annual budget approval process.
Both options would provide the state Treasury the legal authorization it needs to cut a check for the work, Treasury officials said.
Spotlight PA reported on the billing dispute in February, based on records the news organization had obtained. At the time, a State Police spokesperson defended the spending and told Spotlight PA while the state-owned residence was being restored, the Shapiros had to live at their personal residence on a full-time basis — a move that required “serious security enhancements” to the governor’s private home.
The upgrades to Shapiro’s house in Abington were recommended by State Police officials after the middle-of-the-night arson attack and attempted murder last year at the state-owned governor’s mansion in Harrisburg, where Shapiro and his family stay when in the capital. The Democratic governor and his family and friends were asleep inside, having just finished celebrating Passover the evening before, when a man broke in and set several rooms on fire.
Though no one was injured, the man who carried out the attack — Cody Balmer of Harrisburg — told law enforcement that had he encountered the governor during the break-in, he would have beaten him with a hammer. Balmer pleaded guilty to attempted murder and other charges.
The attack set off a top-to-bottom reassessment of security protocols in place for the First Family. State Police hired an outside contractor who recommended changes to protections for the governor, who is guarded by a special State Police unit. The contractor’s report was never made public, but soon after, the state launched extensive security upgrades and repairs at the state-owned governor’s mansion.
State Police also quietly authorized upgrades to Shapiro’s personal home. Those upgrades, which began over the summer, were only publicly disclosed by State Police for the first time in a letter to top lawmakers late last year.
A State Police spokesperson has said the upgrades were necessary to keep the governor and his family safe. In the months following the attack, the Shapiros had to vacate the state-owned property and live in their Montgomery County home, which required major updates to provide adequate security, according to the spokesperson.
Spotlight PA has reported that the security upgrades at the governor’s family home were carried out under the emergency construction provisions in the state’s procurement code, which lays out the process and (often complicated) steps state agencies must follow to purchase goods and services and execute construction projects.
The state’s procurement handbook defines emergency construction as “the process of building, altering, improving, or demolishing any public structure or building or other public improvements of any kind to any public real property to remove or correct the basis for the emergency.”
It is silent on whether private property qualifies for publicly funded emergency construction.
This is a developing story. It will be updated.