Monroeville officials are curious about how the state's plan to consolidate earned income tax collection will affect the municipality.

Marshall Bond, municipal manager, hopes the change will lower collection costs and increase collections.

Allegheny County will have four tax collectors instead of individual collectors for communities, said Kevin Ortiz, state Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) spokesman, who said two locations selected for the new collectors are Pittsburgh and Mt. Oliver.

Bond said he hopes communities will have an opportunity to submit bids to serve as one of the two other sites in the county.

Monroeville collects earned income tax for Gateway School District and Pitcairn, in addition to its own earned income tax.

School district officials are waiting for more information from the state before they determine how the consolidation of earned income tax collectors will affect Gateway, said Cara Zanella, district spokeswoman.

Minimal upfront costs will be incurred locally as a result of the change, which goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2012. The process to make the change has begun, Ortiz said.

The existing localized system for collecting earned income tax is fractured and inefficient, leaving about $237 million uncollected each year, according to Pennsylvania Economy League.

Gov. Ed Rendell last week signed Senate Bill 1063, which reduces the number of earned income tax collectors in Pennsylvania from 560 to 69, into law.

In a statement, he said, "The severe fragmentation and complexity also contributed to the perception that Pennsylvania is a difficult state in which to do business and it hindered our ability to attract and keep jobs. The lack of standardization, coordination, reporting and accountability among and between jurisdictions and collectors was a cumbersome burden for companies doing business -- or that wanted to do business -- in multiple Pennsylvania jurisdictions. A streamlined tax collection system will reduce administrative costs and headaches."

The law makes the following changes to earned income tax collection:

• Establishing uniform withholding, remittance and distribution requirements.

• Requiring that employers withhold local income taxes from the compensation of their employees and remit those taxes to one collector, even if an employer operates in multiple counties.

• Instituting a continually updated, comprehensive tax register, maximum twice-yearly rate changes, a uniform definition of taxable income and a system of appeals.

• Strengthening reporting requirements so that collected taxes are tracked from the time they are withheld until they are received by taxing jurisdictions.

• Requiring one set of rules and regulations that apply to collectors, taxpayers and employers statewide.

• Requiring DCED to develop uniform forms, notices, reports, returns, schedules and codes for school districts, municipalities and tax collection districts.

• Requiring that tax collectors keep records of all public monies received and distributed and submit monthly reports to each taxing jurisdiction and the tax collection district that must be reconciled with other records in an annual audit.

• Providing for more accountability, transparency, oversight and enforcement.

The legislation to consolidate collection of earned income tax is a result of a 2004 DCED report.