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Current Status, Inc. v. Hykel

Dismissal of appeal filed under the Right-to-Know Act (the Act) affirmed; plaintiff's request for immediate access to records of Township's Tax Collector was properly denied because the Tax Collector is not an agency and, therefore, not subject to the provisions of the Act.

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Argued: March 5, 2001

Current Status, Inc., a New Jersey corporation registered to do business in Pennsylvania, appeals from the order of the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County (trial court) that dismissed its appeal filed under the act commonly referred to as the “Right-to-Know Act” (Act). *fn1 Current Status alleged that Rose Hykel, the Tax Collector of Upper Merion Township (Tax Collector), refused to allow the examination of certain tax records under the terms and conditions desired by Current Status. We affirm.

The trial court did not make any findings of fact. Instead, it determined that the Tax Collector, as a matter of law, is not a body subject to the provisions of the Act. The essential “facts” are generally agreed upon, however. Current Status is a for-profit business that sells information to title companies, including payment history information on real estate tax assessments. The Tax Collector is the elected tax collector for Upper Merion Township. Her duties are to collect and process payments on approximately 20,000 tax bills, and then make the appropriate disbursement. Records of the payments are maintained by the Tax Collector on a personal computer purchased and owned by the Tax Collector. Over the past year, employees from Current Status have approached the Tax Collector requesting tax payment information on parcels of real estate within the Township. According to Current Status, these visits occurred “from time to time”; according to the Tax Collector, these visits occurred “several times each week.”

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