In the nearby city of Altoona, a home rule chartered community, its city council has proposed changes to fees for downtown events.

In Williamsport, City Council voted Jan. 8 to place a home-rule commission question on the May 2026 primary ballot and to set the commission membership at seven, beginning the formal process for a possible home-rule charter review.

In Altoona, these proposed fee adjustments include the addition of a charge of $50 an hour for each police officer, when security is needed, according to the Altoona Mirror.

In addition to charging for police protection, the city would add a $100 “public events fee” for all events except residential block parties.

City Manager Christopher McGuire told the Mirror the city wasn’t trying to dissuade anyone from holding an event, but said it was unacceptable to keep putting the burden on the city to absorb the unreimbursed costs.

It would also charge the actual cost of clean up and repairs made necessary due to the event, the Mirror said.

Additionally, it would authorize the Altoona Parking Authority to charge fees that it deems appropriate for particular events, while eliminating a prior slate of parking authority fees that assessed charges per space, with those charges varying lot-by-lot, the Mirror said.

Williamsport’s council took steps to explore the home-rule charter, as recommended by Public Financial Management (PFM), the financial consultant working on behalf of a grant from the state Department of Community and Economic Development.

PFM said that home rule gives communities added flexibility and options including increasing Earned Income Tax, rather than depending on continually raising real estate taxes. Real estate taxes could keep being increased depending on the city needs, but there would be more taxes coming in from wage earners.

Jonas Crass, a local government policy specialist with the department, and Andrew Sheaf, deputy executive director of the department, gave an overview of home rule at a town hall meeting on May 27, 2025.

Crass said some of the principals of home rule include the opportunity to shift governance from state municipal code to the local citizens. It allows for flexibility in defining government structure, powers and taxation and other functions of the municipality.

“It’s an opportunity to create a government that best meets the needs of the municipality, again rather than just operating from that cookie-cutter from the state,” he said.

Home rule would essentially mean the writing of a city constitution.

“It’s kind of a heavy lift upfront,” Crass said. “There is a reason for that – that constitution could be here 50, 60 or 100 years.”

The average cost for a consultant for a government study commission over the 18 months of activity is between $25,000 and $50,000, Crass said.

If it is recommended by the strategic management plan to hire one, the city responsibility would be 10 % of the consultant cost, he said.

The government study commission members must reside in the city, be a taxpaying voter above age 18, and can be an elected official.

From a historical perspective, Williamsport went through the decision to have home-rule eight years ago without a paid consultant and the voters rejected it.