P.R. Laws tit. 3, § 188
The health officer shall enforce all laws, ordinances and sanitary rules, and shall exercise general supervision over public health within his respective municipality or municipalities and towns. The health officer shall not receive any expense allowance for any duty within the limits of his respective territory, except upon special authority of the Secretary of Health, nor shall he travel on official business outside of his respective municipality or municipalities and towns without the approval of the Secretary.
That, beginning July 1, 1914, the municipalities of the Commonwealth shall, at their own expense, provide for and carry out the cleaning and watering of streets, the removal of garbage and other refuse, the draining of streets, ditches and other municipal lands, the cleaning of latrines, and other deposits of refuse in municipal properties, the cleaning and flushing of sewers, the collection of dead and stray animals; Provided, That in case any municipality shall fail to attend properly to the duties fixed hereby, the Secretary of Health is authorized to remove and abate, at the expense of said municipality, the damage or nuisance which may result from such failure, and the Secretary of Treasury of Puerto Rico is hereby authorized, empowered and directed to retain the sum expended for such purposes from any revenues which he may collect pertaining to the said municipality, after having received due notice from the Secretary of Health of such expense. Provided, That should the expense so incurred by the Secretary of Health prove to be materially in excess of the average, normal expense of the said municipality for municipal sanitation, then the excess of such expense above the normal amount, or any portion of such excess may, with the approval of the Executive Council, be paid from the Emergency Fund provided by the act approved March 13, 1913, entitled “An Act for the purpose of making additional appropriations for the support of the government of Porto Rico and supplying certain deficiencies in previous appropriations, and for other purposes.” Provided, further, That the appropriation made by each municipality for carrying on the work above prescribed shall in no case be less than the amount which the said municipality is required, in accordance with §§ 171—190 of this title and §§ 351—353 of Title 24, to contribute to the Commonwealth Treasury for the expenses of the Department of Health.
History —Mar. 14, 1912, No. 81, p. 122, § 26; Mar. 28, 1914, No. 25, p. 171, § 1; July 31, 1919, No. 85, p. 684, § 75.