Section 1. Be it enacted, &c., That whenever a child shall be or heretofore shall have been committed to any House of Refuge which is not exclusively under State control, and shall become or shall have become an inmate thereof, one-half of the expense of maintaining and instructing such child hereafter shall be borne by the county from which such child shall have been received, and the remaining one-half shall be paid out of the appropriations made to such House of Refuge, from time to time, by the State. After the first day of June, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-five, the method of collecting the amount due by the several counties from which children have been sent, shall be by orders drawn by the treasurer of any such House of Refuge on the treasurers of said counties, who shall accept and pay the same: Provided, That the said orders shall be presented quarterly, on the first days of April, July, October, and January, in each and every year, or as soon thereafter as may be convenient: And provided also, That the treasurer of such House of Refuge, on or before the second Monday of the preceding month, shall transmit, by the public mail, to the commissioners of such of the counties as may have become indebted for the maintenance and instruction of inmates in such House of Refuge, an account of the expense of maintaining and instructing them during the three previous calendar months, which account shall be signed by the treasurer, and sworn or affirmed to by him, and attested by the superintendent of the department of such House of Refuge in which each of such inmates may be living. It shall be the duty of the said commissioners, immediately upon the receipt of said accounts, to give notice to the treasurers of their respective counties of the amount of said accounts, with instructions to collect and retain money for the payment of said orders when presented. For the purpose of fixing the amount to be charged for the maintenance and instruction of each inmate, the per capita cost of maintaining and conducting such House of Refuge for the three months' period covered by the order shall be taken as the rate to be charged, and one-half of such per capita cost, so calculated, shall be charged to the respective counties for each child from such counties.
(1 amended Apr. 7, 1925, P.L.156, No.115)