PHMC Compliance Guide for Pennsylvania Counties

Pennsylvania's PHMC compliance framework is the set of rules and authorities that govern how the Commonwealth's 67 counties create, keep, dispose of, and disclose their records. It is administered through the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC), and for county governments it is codified in the County Records Manual, which carries the force of the County Records Act. For the people accountable for it — commissioners, county administrators, and solicitors — the framework is far easier to manage when it is read not as a long list of separate obligations but as three interlocking pillars resting on a common foundation.

Those pillars are an approved retention schedule, defensible destruction, and lawful access. The schedule defines what each record is and how long it must live. Defensible destruction governs how records leave the system when their time is up. Lawful access — primarily under the Right-to-Know Law — governs how the public reaches the records still in custody. Beneath all three sit the manuals that define the rules and the committees that approve them.

This guide is written for county leadership, not for the clerk reading a single line of a schedule. It explains what each pillar does, how the pieces depend on one another, and where a weakness in one quietly becomes a liability in the next. The retention periods, fee caps, and statutory clocks below are drawn from the PHMC manuals, the County Records Act, and Pennsylvania's Right-to-Know Law.

The framework in one picture: three pillars on a foundation of manuals

Most county compliance failures do not come from a clerk misreading a retention period. They come from leadership treating records compliance as a stack of unrelated chores — one rule for keeping, another for shredding, another for answering the public — and never seeing how those rules depend on one another. Read as a system, the framework is three load-bearing pillars on a single foundation, and that mental model is what makes oversight, budgeting, and accountability tractable.

The foundation under those pillars is two things: the manuals that write the rules down, and the committees that approve them. Get the foundation and the three pillars right, and almost every specific compliance question a county faces becomes an instance of one of them. The sections that follow take each layer in turn, then show how they hold one another up.

The foundation: which manual governs which records

Pennsylvania county records may be retained and disposed of only in accordance with retention schedules promulgated by the County Records Committee under the County Records Act, as set out in the PHMC County Records Manual. That single sentence is the legal floor of the whole framework: a county does not get to invent its own retention periods or destruction practices. The manual's schedules apply to county offices of counties of the second through eighth class, and Pennsylvania has 67 counties, classified by population, each operating under PHMC-approved schedules.

Municipalities are governed separately. The Pennsylvania Municipal Records Manual — approved December 16, 2008 and amended July 23, 2009 and March 28, 2019 — covers third-class cities, boroughs, incorporated towns, and first- and second-class townships, under schedules approved by the Local Government Records Committee. County leaders should know the distinction because counties interact constantly with the municipalities inside their borders, and the two bodies answer to different manuals and different committees.

Courts add a third authority inside the same courthouse. Records of the Courts of Common Pleas and magisterial district courts fall under the retention schedule at 204 Pa. Code § 213.51, administered through the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, where Common Pleas records should be retained for a minimum of six years following the expiration of the appeal period. A county building can therefore hold three streams of records governed by three different schedules — which is precisely why a coherent framework, rather than office-by-office improvisation, matters.

Pillar one: an approved retention schedule (the load-bearing wall)

A retention schedule is an inventory of every record series an office produces, each with a fixed retention period and an instruction for what happens at the end of it. It is the load-bearing wall of the framework because the other two pillars are defined in terms of it: destruction is lawful only when the schedule authorizes it, and access is fast only when records are organized by series. Without an approved schedule, a county has no defensible basis to keep a record or to get rid of one.

Some series are permanent. County Deed Books and indices must be retained permanently for administrative, legal, and historical purposes, as must County Will Books and the Official Minutes of the Board of County Commissioners or County Council (series AL-16.1). These records anchor land title, estate administration, and the official acts of county government; they never leave the system, in any medium.

Most operational records, by contrast, carry finite periods that vary by series — court records, for example, run a minimum of six years past the appeal period. There is no single blanket retention number that applies across county records; the period is always assigned series by series in the manual. Leadership's job is not to memorize the periods but to ensure every office's schedule is current, approved, and actually followed.

Pillar two: defensible destruction

Defensible destruction means disposing of records only as the schedule allows, on time, and with documentation that can withstand later scrutiny. The word that matters is defensible: when an auditor, a litigant, or a journalist asks why a record no longer exists, the county must be able to point to the series, the retention period, the disposition authority, and a dated log showing the disposal was routine and authorized — not convenient.

Leadership faces risk on both sides of this pillar. Destroying too early can eliminate records the county still owes to the public, the courts, or an active litigation hold, converting a clerical act into legal exposure. Hoarding everything indefinitely is the quieter failure: it inflates storage cost, slows every public-records search, and leaves more material discoverable in litigation than the law ever required the county to keep.

The practical discipline is a documented disposition process — a standing log of what was destroyed, under which series, on whose authorization, and when. Permanent series such as deed books, will books, and commissioner minutes are never eligible for destruction and should be flagged accordingly, so that a well-meaning cleanup never reaches them.

Pillar three: lawful, timely access (the Right-to-Know clock)

Pennsylvania is an open-records state. The Right-to-Know Law (Act 3 of 2008) operates on a presumption that government records are public, and it puts the access obligation on a clock. Under § 901, an agency's open-records officer must respond to a written records request within five business days of receipt — not necessarily by producing the records, but by responding within that window.

The clock has consequences when it is missed. If a response is expected to exceed 30 days beyond the initial five business days, the request is deemed denied unless the requester agrees in writing to an extension. A requester may then appeal a denied or deemed-denied request to the Office of Open Records within 15 business days, and the OOR appeals officer must issue a final determination within 30 days of receiving the appeal. A county that cannot meet the first deadline is on a path that ends with an external adjudicator.

Fees are capped, and counties cannot bill their way out of a slow process. The OOR Official RTKL Fee Schedule caps black-and-white photocopies at $0.25 per page for the first 1,000 pages, and no fee may be charged for staff time, for searching for or retrieving records, or for the agency's review or response letter. An agency may require prepayment of an estimate only when the fees to fulfill a request are expected to exceed $100. Because labor is unbillable, the cost of access is borne internally — which means efficiency in the other two pillars is what actually controls it.

How the three pillars interlock — and how they fail together

Pillars one and two are joined first. Defensible destruction is defined entirely in terms of the schedule: a county destroys records per schedule, with documentation tied to a series. Where the schedule is incomplete or out of date, there is no defensible destruction — only guessing, which is how counties end up either shredding records they owed or keeping decades of material they never needed.

Pillars one and three are joined next. The five-business-day response clock under § 901 is only meetable if records are organized by series and findable on demand. Workers already spend an estimated 20 to 30 percent of the workday — roughly 1.6 to 2.5 hours — searching for and gathering information; in a disorganized environment, that search time is exactly what blows the statutory deadline. Access does not fail at the counter; it fails upstream, in retention and organization.

Put the dependencies together and the failure cascade is predictable. A weak or stale schedule produces indefensible destruction and hoarding; the hoard makes records hard to find; hard-to-find records miss the five-day response window; the request is deemed denied after the 30-day ceiling; the requester appeals to the Office of Open Records within 15 business days; and a final determination lands within 30 days — now with the county's recordkeeping on the public record. One under-maintained schedule, two pillars downstream, becomes a documented compliance loss.

The leadership conclusion follows: you cannot fix access by adding staff at the request counter, because the problem is rarely the counter. You fix it by strengthening retention and disposition upstream. That is why PHMC compliance is a governance responsibility, not a clerical one — the lever that controls the public-facing pillar sits two pillars back.

The framework in an electronic world

Going digital does not suspend any of this. The same schedule applies, the same destruction rules apply, and the same access clock runs — the medium changes, the obligations do not. What digitization changes is the cost and speed of meeting each pillar, which is why it tends to strengthen the framework rather than replace it.

The manuals already accommodate electronic recordkeeping. Counties may maintain permanent records electronically using the PDF/A format, but must notify the PHMC of their intent to use PDF/A for each records series — the notification is not optional. Municipalities have gone further: since the 2019 Municipal Records Manual update, a municipality may keep permanent records exclusively in electronic PDF/A form, with no paper or microfilm copy, provided the records sit on a live server with at least one separately backed-up copy.

The federal government sets a benchmark worth watching, even though it does not bind Pennsylvania counties. Under OMB Memorandum M-23-07, by June 30, 2024 all federal agencies must manage all permanent records in an electronic format; after that date NARA no longer accepts transfers of records in analog formats; and starting July 1, 2024, agencies must digitize permanent analog records before transferring them, following the standards in 36 CFR Part 1236 Subpart E. The direction of recordkeeping is electronic-first, and counties that align early reduce the conversion burden they will otherwise inherit.

Funding the framework: the County Records Improvement Fund

The framework comes with a dedicated funding stream, so modernization does not have to compete with the general fund every budget cycle. Under 42 P.S. § 21052.1, Pennsylvania law charges a $5 fee for each document recorded, in addition to the Recorder of Deeds' standard fee. Because recording volume is steady, this produces recurring, restricted revenue tied directly to records work.

Of that $5, $2 is deposited into the County Records Improvement Fund and $3 is retained by the Recorder of Deeds for office records management, to support a comprehensive records management plan. A County Records Improvement Fund exists in counties of the second-A, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth classes, and in home rule charter counties of those classes.

For leadership, this is earmarked money with a purpose written into the statute. Pointing fund spending at the three-pillar model — a current schedule, defensible disposition, and faster access — gives commissioners a clear rationale for every dollar the fund deploys.

A worked example: the three-pillar test on the Recorder of Deeds

Apply the model to one office most counties have, the Recorder of Deeds, and the pillars stop being abstract. Walk the same record stream through all three, then add the funding loop.

1. Pillar one — schedule: the office's Deed Books and indices are permanent and never leave the system; supporting administrative records carry their own finite periods under their series in the County Records Manual.
2. Pillar two — destruction: nothing in the permanent deed series is ever eligible for disposal; only the timed administrative records may be destroyed, on schedule, recorded in a dated disposition log.
3. Pillar three — access: recorded deeds are public, and a Right-to-Know request for the office's records still runs the five-business-day clock under § 901, with copies capped at $0.25 per page for the first 1,000 pages.
4. Funding loop: every deed recorded generates the $5 statutory fee, $2 of which flows to the County Records Improvement Fund — the same fund that can pay to digitize those permanent deed books to PDF/A, after the county notifies the PHMC for that series.

Inside a single office, the three pillars and the funding stream form a closed loop: the act that creates the permanent record also funds its preservation, the schedule sets what must survive, disposition protects against both loss and bloat, and access is only as fast as the schedule is organized. Strengthen the schedule, and the rest of the loop tightens with it.

What county leadership owns

Accountability for this framework sits with leadership, not with the records clerk. The clerk executes; commissioners, administrators, and the solicitor own whether the system is sound. Four questions surface most of the risk: Is every office's retention schedule current and approved? Is disposition documented well enough to defend in an audit? Can each office meet the five-business-day Right-to-Know response in practice, not just on paper? And is the County Records Improvement Fund deployed against a written records management plan rather than ad hoc requests?

Reynolds Business Systems, based in Emmaus and serving the Lehigh Valley and Pennsylvania more broadly, works with county and municipal offices on records programs built around exactly these pillars — current schedules, defensible disposition, and access that meets the statutory clock. Counties that treat compliance as one integrated system, rather than three separate fire drills, find that audits, public requests, and budget cycles all become easier to defend.

Frequently asked questions

Who approves county records retention schedules in Pennsylvania?

The County Records Committee approves them under the County Records Act, and they are set out in the PHMC County Records Manual. Counties may not invent their own periods. Municipal records are governed separately, under schedules approved by the Local Government Records Committee in the Pennsylvania Municipal Records Manual.

What is the PA County Records Manual?

It is the PHMC manual that codifies how Pennsylvania counties may retain and dispose of their records, carrying the force of the County Records Act. Its retention schedules apply to county offices of counties of the second through eighth class and classify each record series with a set retention period and disposition.

How long must Pennsylvania counties keep records?

It depends on the record series — there is no single blanket period. Core land and governance records such as deed books, will books, and the official minutes of the commissioners are permanent. Court of Common Pleas records run a minimum of six years past the appeal period. Each series is assigned individually in the manual.

Can Pennsylvania municipalities keep permanent records electronically?

Yes. Since the 2019 Municipal Records Manual update, a municipality may keep permanent records exclusively in electronic PDF/A form, with no paper or microfilm copy, provided the records sit on a live server with at least one separately backed-up copy. Counties may also use PDF/A but must notify the PHMC per records series.

Is Pennsylvania an open records state?

Yes. The Right-to-Know Law (Act 3 of 2008) operates on a presumption that government records are public. An agency's open-records officer must respond to a written request within five business days of receipt, and a denied or deemed-denied request can be appealed to the Office of Open Records.

Can I view PA public records for free?

Inspection of records is generally free, and no fee may be charged for staff time, searching, retrieval, or the agency's response letter. Copies are capped at $0.25 per page for the first 1,000 black-and-white pages. An agency may require prepayment only when the fees to fulfill a request are expected to exceed $100.

What is the 7 year retention policy?

There is no universal seven-year rule for Pennsylvania county records. The seven-year figure people recall usually comes from federal tax or business conventions, not the County Records Manual. Pennsylvania assigns retention series by series — ranging from short-term to permanent — so the correct period depends on the specific record.

What records are kept for 30 years?

Pennsylvania does not assign a blanket 30-year period across county records. The County Records Manual sets each series individually, so retention ranges from a few years to permanent. The 30-day and 30-business-day figures in the framework belong to the Right-to-Know Law's response and appeal-determination windows, not to a retention category.

What happens if a county misses a Right-to-Know deadline?

If a response is expected to exceed 30 days beyond the initial five business days, the request is deemed denied unless the requester agrees in writing to an extension. The requester may then appeal to the Office of Open Records within 15 business days, and the OOR appeals officer must issue a final determination within 30 days.

How is county records modernization funded in Pennsylvania?

Through the County Records Improvement Fund. Under 42 P.S. § 21052.1, a $5 fee is charged for each document recorded, on top of the Recorder of Deeds' standard fee; $2 of that goes to the fund and $3 is retained by the Recorder for records management. The fund exists in second-A through eighth-class counties and home rule charter counties of those classes.