All buildings acquired or erected by any county, city, ward, borough, township, institution district or other political subdivision for the care, maintenance and treatment of mental patients, the personal property within such buildings or incidental thereto, and any and all other grounds and lands connected therewith or annexed thereto, are hereby transferred to and vested in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, regardless of whether or not such property was used solely for mental patients or in common with indigent persons: Provided, That where any such buildings for mental patients are operated in conjunction with buildings dedicated to the care and maintenance of indigent persons who are not mental patients, the buildings used for the care of such persons, the personal property within such buildings, or incidental thereto, the land actually occupied by such buildings, and the lands or yards presently set apart for the use of the indigent persons cared for in such buildings, and the lands necessary for ingress and egress thereto and therefrom, are also hereby transferred to and vested in the Commonwealth upon compliance with the provisions set forth in subsection (b) of section 2 of this act.¹

Where any lands and property so transferred are presently used by any county, city, ward, borough, township, institution district or other political subdivision as a farm and woodlands in connection with buildings dedicated to the care and maintenance of indigent persons who are not mental patients, said lands and property are also hereby transferred to and vested in the Commonwealth.

Where auxiliary structures and facilities furnishing light, heat, power, water, laundry, kitchen, sewage treatment services and coal supply are so transferred to the Commonwealth which were theretofore used in common for the buildings devoted to mental patients and also the buildings devoted to indigent persons, such auxiliary structures, facilities, services and supplies shall remain vested in the Commonwealth: Provided, however, That from and after the transfer to the Commonwealth of all grounds, lands, buildings, and personal property used for the care and maintenance of indigent persons, the Commonwealth shall be relieved from all obligation to furnish any institution district with such services.

Any property so transferred to and vested in the Commonwealth shall, if found suitable in accordance with this act, be thereafter used as a State mental hospital, but if such property shall be found unsuitable for such purpose, or shall be thereafter abandoned by the Commonwealth as such hospital before substantial improvements thereto have been made, then, in either event, such building, lands and personal property so transferred to the Commonwealth shall absolutely revert to and vest in the county, city, ward, borough, township, institution district or other political subdivision from which transferred, and the Commonwealth shall have no further claim or title thereto.

In the event that any personal property originally transferred to the Commonwealth cannot be returned to the political subdivisions from which transferred, other personal property of value equivalent to that which was originally transferred to the Commonwealth may be returned by the Commonwealth to such political subdivision, or the value of the personal property originally transferred to the Commonwealth at the date of return may be paid by the Commonwealth to such political subdivisions from funds appropriated to the Department of Welfare for such purpose.