South Heidelberg's $1M Police Grant: What the Records Show

South Heidelberg Township won a $1 million state grant in July to rebuild the front of its police station and reshape the parking lots at its municipal complex on Mountain Home Road. Three months on, the township's own records show the police project resting on two pots of money, one of them not yet real: the state grant, and $585,000 in federal money that is still a request in Congress. A third grant, for a township park, carries a different dollar figure in the township's minutes than on the state's list.

The $1 million comes from the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, or RACP, which the Pennsylvania Office of the Budget describes as a state grant program for the design, acquisition and construction of regional economic, cultural, civic, recreational and historical improvement projects. The Governor's Office calls it a reimbursement program: the township pays for the work first and bills the state back.

What the money buys

The township's July 22 announcement lists the work: a new secure entrance for the police department, a redesigned parking area for patrol vehicles, a second entry and exit for the public lot "to support emergency egress," new police offices, a new public entrance for the police department, and renovations to the administrative side of the building with its own new public entrance.

A FAQ the township attached adds detail. The township bought the complex in 2012, before its police department grew into a regional force; the announcement says the department now covers Robesonia, Wernersville, Heidelberg Township and the Conrad Weiser School District under contract. A 2019 police study recommended the secure parking area and second exit. The FAQ also lists an expanded evidence-processing area, an armory, more locker rooms, roof repairs and HVAC replacement.

The FAQ's answer on tax dollars reads two ways. It says the township "will need to expend general fund monies on the design work," then says the roughly $100,000 in engineering and design costs "will not utilize general fund taxpayer dollars" and will come instead from money collected from developers. It gives no total project cost, no local match and no construction timeline. Design work starts "once the various grant administration agreements are finalized," the township says.

The federal money is a request, not an award

The FAQ puts total funding at $1.585 million: the $1 million RACP grant plus a $585,000 "Community Funding Grant" the township says it "has also received" through Sen. Dave McCormick.

The senator's office lists that money differently. "South Heidelberg Township Police Department Renovations," recipient South Heidelberg Township, $585,000, "to renovate the township police department," appears on Sen. McCormick's page of fiscal year 2027 Congressionally Directed Spending requests. Congressionally directed spending is the formal name for an earmark: a senator asks the Appropriations Committee to write a specific project into a spending bill. A request on that list is money the senator has asked for, not money Congress has passed. The project is not on the senator's list of fiscal 2026 projects that became law, and it did not appear on his fiscal 2026 request list either; it is a fiscal 2027 ask.

The township's minutes track the same gap. On July 21, Township Manager Sean McKee reported under the heading "RACP/Community Funding Grant" that the township "has been awarded the grant in the full amount requested of $1 million" and would send "thank you responses" to state Sen. Chris Gebhard and state Rep. Eric Weaknecht. On Aug. 18, McKee's grant update covered "the RACP grant and an upcoming meeting with Senator McCormick's office." Neither set of minutes records the $585,000 as money in hand.

Another Berks request sits on the same federal list: $1.35 million for the Western Berks Fire Department headquarters in Wernersville.

The state's record

Gov. Josh Shapiro's July 16 release lists "South Heidelberg Municipal Complex: $1 million" among 68 projects sharing $109.3 million across southcentral Pennsylvania and the Lehigh Valley, part of a statewide round of nearly $445 million for 356 projects. The Office of the Budget's Round 2025 award list shows the township asked for $1,000,000 and got the full amount. The township posted its own announcement six days after the governor's.

The governor's release lists six Berks County awards: Wyomissing Borough Facilities, $2 million; Exeter Township Volunteer Fire Department, $1.5 million; South Heidelberg Municipal Complex, $1 million; Alvernia University, $750,000; Next Generation Distribution Hub, $750,000; and Rose Corporation Expansion, $500,000. The state list places the distribution hub, a warehouse for F.M. Brown's Sons Inc., in South Heidelberg Township as well. Thirteen other Berks requests, including the $5 million sought for Spring Township's Broadcast District, had no award listed as of the July 31 version of the list, which was still the current version on Oct. 18.

A park grant with two numbers

The township also won a grant from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources for Heidelberg Run West Park. DCNR's Oct. 7 grant list puts it at $350,000 and describes pickleball, basketball, bocce and multi-use courts, an internal loop trail, stormwater controls, lighting and ADA access, with the Keystone fund's community line as the source. The Reading Eagle reported the Berks awards on Oct. 13 with the same figure.

The township's July 28 minutes say something else. McKee told the board the township "will receive a DCNR C2P2 Grant Award in the amount of $250k," and that it had sought $500,000 "however $250k was awarded based on a competitive grant cycle." The state's published list is the official record, and it is $100,000 higher than what the manager reported in July. The township has not posted anything since that explains the difference.

What the board has done

No RACP or DCNR item has appeared on a board agenda as an action. The grant shows up only in the manager's updates: "RACP Grant/Grant Updates" on July 21, "Grant Updates: RACP, DCNR, LSA, Highlands" on Aug. 18 and "RACP Building Renovation Update" on Sept. 15. The program itself does not require a board vote to accept the award: the Office of the Budget says grant recipients accept an RACP award by e-signature on the award letter, and must then file a project management proposal within six months. That proposal is where the federal question comes back. The Office of the Budget says that when the proposal is filed, the applicant "must be able to demonstrate that at least 50% of the required non-state funds necessary to complete the project are secured," and warns that "if a funding recipient is unable to demonstrate a forward moving project, the RACP grant award will be terminated." The township's FAQ gives no total project cost and no local share, so it does not say what the township must have in hand or whether the $585,000 request is meant to be that money. The newest posted minutes are from Aug. 25; the September meetings have none yet.

The board next meets Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 9 a.m. for what the township calls a workshop and general business meeting, with a general business meeting Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. No agenda for Oct. 20 had posted as of Sunday.

The grant lands as the township takes on other big projects: the $2.37 million Krick Lane extension, the Ethos warehouses off that road, and a data-center zoning amendment tracked on our county data-center page.