Pennsylvania Statutes Title 32 P.S. Forests, Waters and State Parks § 659. General powers of board; payment of taxes by Commonwealth

(a) In order to carry into effect the official plans for any flood control district, the board shall have power to clean out, widen, alter, deepen or change the course, current or channel of any river or stream; to install a flood forecasting and warning system; to fill up any abandoned canal or water course; to construct and maintain levees, dikes, walls, revetments, dams, lakes, reservoirs, and other works and improvements deemed necessary to prevent floods and to control, preserve, and regulate the flow of rivers and streams; to construct or enlarge bridges and viaducts; to construct, relocate, and elevate public highways; to construct any of said works and improvements across, through or over any public highway, canal, railroad, right of way, or track; to remove or change the location of any fence, building, railroad, canal, or other improvement; to acquire by donation, lease, purchase or condemnation, and own or hold, in the name of the Commonwealth, real and personal property and easements and the public works erected and constructed under the authority of this act.

(b) Whenever in the exercise of its general powers the board shall construct dams, lakes and reservoirs, which can be otherwise utilized, the board may, on approval by the Governor, permit the Department of Forests and Waters  1 to occupy and use said dams, lakes and reservoirs and any adjoining land acquired for flood control purposes as recreational areas. Any such use shall be subordinate to the primary purpose of flood control for which said lands were acquired and the water impounded thereon.

(c) Whenever any lands or other property is acquired by the board to be used for reservoir purposes, the board for the assessment and revision of taxes or the county commissioners of the county wherein the same is located, shall, immediately after such acquisition, certify to the Auditor General the assessed valuation of such lands and other property at the time of such acquisition. After such acquisition, the taxing authority of each political subdivision within which such lands or other property is located, shall, from year to year, at the time of their annual levy of taxes, certify to the Auditor General the rate of their respective levies for the next year. Thereupon the Auditor General shall ascertain the amount of taxes which would have been collected upon the assessed valuation certified as hereinbefore provided, at the respective rates of the levies so certified. Upon the ascertainment of such amounts, the same shall be paid by the Commonwealth to the several political subdivisions, from time to time, from the General Fund.