Pennsylvania’s top election-year fight over security spending sharpened on Thursday when the state treasurer refused to sign off on payments tied to Gov. Josh Shapiro’s private home, saying Pennsylvania law bars taxpayer reimbursement for upgrades on non-state property.
The dispute involves more than $1 million in security systems and other improvements that were made after an intruder set fire to the governor’s state-owned residence last year, according to a news conference where Treasurer Stacy Garrity described her decision as legal and not political.
Garrity said there is “no legal authorization” for taxpayers to reimburse contractors for security upgrades on private property, even if the owner is the governor. She said the Pennsylvania State Police submitted requests for reimbursement to her department, but that they “appear to have simply ignored the statutory limits and restrictions on spending and procurement.”
Garrity said the state police have other pathways to seek public funding for security work that had already been completed, including asking lawmakers for explicit authorization or entering the state’s settlement process for disputes between contractors and state agencies. Shapiro, who is running for reelection and has emerged as a possible White House contender in 2028, has positioned himself as a prominent voice in condemning political violence since the attack.
Shapiro’s office responded that Garrity’s decision was “a shameful political action without legal basis” and said the state police were exploring options to ensure the agency protects its authority and that contractors receive payment. In a separate statement, the governor’s team argued Garrity should “put partisanship aside, follow the law, and show some humanity” for a family that experienced what it characterized as real trauma.
Garrity said she does not see the issue as partisan and framed it as a matter of process and public safety. She said the security and well-being of public officials and their families is of the “utmost importance” and that “an attack on the governor is an attack on all of us,” while maintaining that her office still lacks legal authority to issue the payments.
The security upgrades at Shapiro’s private residence in Abington, a Philadelphia suburb, were described by the treasurer as something of a secret until Shapiro’s administration informed lawmakers last fall. In a letter to lawmakers, a Cabinet official in charge of state property wrote that “the threat to a high-profile elected official like Governor Shapiro does not end when he leaves the Governor’s Residence,” according to the AP account.
State officials have not detailed what upgrades were made to the Abington home, citing safety reasons, and Shapiro, his wife and two of his four children continue to live there. Separately, a fence plan at the private property produced dueling lawsuits between Shapiro and a neighbor over ownership of a narrow strip of land bordering the two parcels.
The AP report said the Treasury Department has already paid more than $26 million in security upgrades and remediations at the governor’s state-owned residence in Harrisburg, where the Shapiros often stay. Those renovations included an “anti-climb” iron fence higher than the one scaled by the intruder, Cody Balmer.
Balmer pleaded guilty last year to attempted murder of Shapiro and, under a plea agreement, was sentenced to 25 to 50 years in prison, the AP report said. The intruder climbed over a 7-foot iron fence, evaded two state troopers stationed at the residence, and used beer bottles filled with gasoline to set fire to the home, the AP account said—hours after Shapiro hosted a Passover Seder to celebrate the first night of the Jewish holiday.
The fire forced Shapiro, his wife, children, and extended family to flee as firefighters battled the blaze. The residence, built in the 1960s along the Susquehanna River about 2 miles north of the state Capitol, was badly damaged but has since been renovated.