{"id":116465,"date":"2026-02-17T22:12:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T22:12:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/116465\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T22:12:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T22:12:06","slug":"treasury-officials-question-legality-of-taxpayers-paying-for-security-upgrades-at-shapiros-family-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/116465\/","title":{"rendered":"Treasury officials question legality of taxpayers paying for security upgrades at Shapiro\u2019s family home"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. Sign up for our free newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

HARRISBURG \u2014 Late last year, Pennsylvania\u2019s top law enforcement agency revealed taxpayers would pick up the tab for more than $1 million in security upgrades to Gov. Josh Shapiro\u2019s privately owned family home in Montgomery County.<\/p>\n

Now those bills are coming due \u2014 but the plan to use public dollars for the entirety of the work there has hit a roadblock.<\/p>\n

Records obtained by Spotlight PA show Pennsylvania\u2019s Treasury Department is questioning whether state procurement rules permit public money to be used for construction work on a non-state-owned property like Shapiro\u2019s house.<\/p>\n

The records show that as of late January, employees were asking Pennsylvania State Police, the agency underwriting the upgrades, to provide a \u201cdetailed\u201d legal justification.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow does the location in question constitute being public real property?\u201d they wrote, adding: \u201cPlease provide any policies or guidelines related to defining public property to include privately owned residences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Treasury spokesperson Steve Chizmar did not elaborate on the agency\u2019s concerns, saying: \u201cWe are currently auditing those (bills) and that audit is expected to take several weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Treasury Department is headed by Republican Stacy Garrity, who is seeking the party\u2019s nomination to challenge Shapiro for the governor\u2019s job in November. State revenue is deposited into the Treasury, which uses the money to pay bills for things like contracts and workers.<\/p>\n

The upgrades to Shapiro\u2019s house in Abington were recommended by State Police officials after a middle-of-the-night attack last April on the state-owned governor\u2019s mansion in Harrisburg, where Shapiro and his family stay when in Harrisburg. 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.<\/p>\n

Though no one was harmed, the man who carried out the attack \u2014 Cody Balmer of Harrisburg \u2014 told law enforcement that had he encountered the governor during the break-in, he would have beaten him with a hammer. He pleaded guilty to attempted murder and other charges.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s report was never made public, but soon after, the state launched extensive security upgrades and repairs at the state-owned governor\u2019s mansion.<\/p>\n

State Police also quietly authorized upgrades to Shapiro\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

In an email Tuesday, State Police spokesperson Logan Brouse said that while the state-owned residence was being restored, the Shapiros had to live at their personal residence on a full-time basis \u2014 a move that required \u201cserious security enhancements\u201d to the governor\u2019s private home.<\/p>\n

Those expenditures, Brouse wrote, were required to carry out the duties of State Police, which include protecting the governor.<\/p>\n

State Police determined that making those security enhancements at Shapiro\u2019s private home was the best option, rather than alternative plans such as leasing an alternative property to temporarily house the First Family.<\/p>\n

Brouse also said the Treasury Department has paid two invoices related to work at the governor\u2019s private home.<\/p>\n

Asked for specifics on those bills, the Shapiro administration provided copies of two invoices for licensing and administrative fees incurred by one of the contractors related to making security upgrades. The invoices don\u2019t specify if the work was for Shapiro\u2019s private home, and they are dated September of last year, a month before State Police disclosed that publicly funded security upgrades were being made there as well.<\/p>\n

The security upgrades at the governor\u2019s family home were carried out under the emergency construction provisions in the state\u2019s procurement code, which lays out the process and (often complicated) steps state agencies must follow to purchase goods and services and execute construction projects.<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s procurement handbook defines emergency construction as \u201cthe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is silent on whether private property qualifies for publicly funded emergency construction.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Department of General Services, which oversees procurement matters, did not immediately respond when asked what section of the emergency procurement code would permit taxpayer dollars to be used for emergency construction at a privately owned structure.<\/p>\n

Brouse also did not cite a specific section of the emergency procurement code for the work at Shapiro\u2019s family-owned home. Instead, he said emergency procurements are permitted when there is a threat to public safety.<\/p>\n

Publicly funded upgrades to an elected official\u2019s private home or other assets are rare. That\u2019s because the state\u2019s strict ethics rules broadly prohibit public officials from personally benefiting from their positions.<\/p>\n

A Shapiro spokesperson told Spotlight PA last year that the governor had consulted with the State Ethics Commission to ensure that there was no improper financial gain.<\/p>\n

But records obtained by the news organization show the governor did not request that guidance until at least two months after construction work for those upgrades began at his Abington house. His spokespeople have not commented on the timing of the opinion.<\/p>\n

The administration did not consult with Treasury officials who are now flagging the expenditures.<\/p>\n

According to records obtained by Spotlight PA through a public records request, upgrades include $311,230.50 for a security system, $81,043.84 for tree trimming, and $288,736 for landscaping and maintenance involving the exterior grounds.<\/p>\n

The landscaping may end up costing the state even more. The Shapiros and one of their neighbors are locked in a heated court dispute over their property boundaries. The neighbors have sued Shapiro and State Police in federal court, alleging the landscaping work encroaches on their land. The Shapiros have countersued in Montgomery County\u2019s Court of Common Pleas.<\/p>\n

Asked who is paying Shapiro\u2019s legal bills, spokesperson Will Simons said the governor is paying out of pocket for his lawsuit. Meanwhile, the governor\u2019s Office of General Counsel is representing him and State Police in federal court (in that lawsuit, Shapiro is being sued both personally and in his official capacity).<\/p>\n

The work on Shapiro\u2019s private house has also attracted the attention of legislators.<\/p>\n

A legislative committee headed by Republican state Sen. Jarrett Coleman of Lehigh County late last year subpoenaed the Shapiro administration for a bevy of records related to the upgrades to the governor\u2019s personal home. Legislative subpoenas are rare, and have become mired in litigation when issued in the past.<\/p>\n

Coleman\u2019s office said it has received records from the administration and intends to hold a hearing on the matter when the state Senate returns to session in mid-March.<\/p>\n

Asked whether he believes the state\u2019s procurement code extends to work on private property, Coleman said: \u201cThe state emergency procurement policy is black and white. It limits construction to public property, as it should. The governor\u2019s private residence is not public property.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cIt appears that these bills can\u2019t be paid and maybe never had a legal basis for the procurement in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n

BEFORE YOU GO \u2026 If you learned something from this article, pay it forward and contribute to Spotlight PA at spotlightpa.org\/donate. Spotlight PA is funded by foundations and readers like you who are committed to accountability journalism that gets results.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116466,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":{"0":"post-116465","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pennsylvania","8":"tag-pennsylvania","9":"tag-pennsylvania-headlines","10":"tag-pennsylvania-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}