53 Pa. Stat. § 16291
The qualified voters of the said city shall, on the first Tuesday in May, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, and until such election the present city treasurer shall continue to be the city treasurer, and on the first Tuesday in May in every second year thereafter, elect a city treasurer to serve for two years from the first Monday of July next succeeding such election. He shall give bond to the city conditioned for the faithful performance of his duty, in such amount as the city councils shall direct, and shall, before he enters upon his office, take and subscribe an oath or affirmation, honestly to keep an account for all public monies and property entrusted to his care, and if such treasurer shall knowingly violate said oath, he shall be deemed guilty of perjury, and on conviction thereof in the proper court, be sentenced to undergo solitary imprisonment at hard labor in the Eastern penitentiary, for the term of not less than one or more than ten years. Any vacancy in said office shall be filled by the city councils, by viva voce vote in joint meeting. No money shall be drawn from the treasury of the city, except the same shall have been previously appropriated by councils to the purpose for which it is drawn; the accounts to be kept by the said city treasurer shall exhibit all the receipts and all the expenditures of the city in an intelligible manner, in the form of accounts current, in which the particulars of each item of charge and discharge shall fully and precisely appear. Any citizen may, on the payment of a fee of twelve-and-a-half cents, to be paid to the said city treasurer for the use of the city, inspect the said accounts, and for a further fee of fifty cents and one cent per line of ten words, to be paid for the use of the city, the treasurer shall, on request of any citizen, furnish a transcript of any part thereof. It shall be the duty of the councils of the said city to provide, and said treasurer to pay, on or before the twenty-fifth day of July, eighteen hundred and fifty-six, and in each year thereafter into the treasury of the State, the amount of the state tax assessed within the limits of the said city, deducting all allowances made by law, and said treasurer elected as aforesaid shall, before he enters upon the office, give bond with sureties, to be approved by the judges of the court of common pleas of Philadelphia county, in such sum as they shall direct, conditioned for the safe keeping of and accounting for all monies received by him for the use of the State; the said treasurer shall keep the public monies in such place and manner as the city councils shall direct, and shall verify his cash account at least once every week, to the satisfaction of a standing committee of councils, and upon the affidavit of a majority of such committee of any default therein, the said treasurer shall be suspended from office until the further action of councils, and the court of common pleas of Philadelphia county shall upon said affidavit and cause shown, forthwith issue a writ of sequestration to the sheriff of the county against such defaulter for the amount of such default, to be levied of all his property, estate and effects in favor of said city, which writ shall be a lien thereon from the issuing thereof, with a clause of attachment contained therein, directing the sheriff to arrest the body of such defaulter to answer the said charge on the day certain, on which day the said court shall inquire of the premises and enter judgment thereon as may be just, or in their discretion award an issue to try the disputed facts, and if the said court upon such hearing, shall be satisfied that there is probable cause to believe that such treasurer has committed the crime of perjury, as mentioned in this section, it shall be their duty to commit him for trial at the next court of quarter sessions of said county.
53 P.S. § 16291