Section 211 - Ascertainment, Certification and Effect of Change of Class(a) The classification of counties shall be ascertained and fixed according to their population by reference from time to time to the decennial United States census as provided in this section, less the number of persons residing on any lands that have been ceded to the United States.(b) Whenever it shall appear by any decennial census that a county has attained a population entitling it to an advance in classification, or whenever it shall appear by the last two preceding censuses that a county has decreased in population so as to recede in classification, as provided in this section, it shall be the duty of the Governor, under the great seal of this Commonwealth, to certify that fact accordingly, to the commissioners on or before the first day of October of the year succeeding the year in which the census was taken, which certificate shall be forwarded by the commissioners to the recorder of deeds and be recorded in the recorder's office. It is the intent of this section that the classification of any county shall not be changed because its population has decreased at the time of one United States decennial census, because it is recognized that a change in the form of local government is attended by certain expense and hardship, and the change should not be occasioned by a temporary fluctuation in population, but rather only after it is demonstrated by two censuses that the population of a county has remained below the minimum figure of its class for at least a decade.
(c) Changes of class ascertained and certified shall become effective on the first day of January next following the year in which the change was certified by the Governor to the county commissioners but the salaries of county officers shall not be increased or decreased during the term for which they shall have been elected. In the municipal election following the certification of change of class and preceding the effective date of the change, the proper number of persons shall be elected to fill any elective office which will exist in the county by the change of classification certified. No election shall be held for any office which will be abolished as a result of a change of classification.(d) Unless the board of commissioners of a county meeting the requisite county population levels in section 210 enacts an ordinance or adopts a resolution approving a change of classification prior to February 22, 2022, as a result of the delays in the 2020 Federal decennial census and the COVID-19 pandemic, the classification of all counties as of the effective date of this subsection shall remain unchanged until the 2030 census, at which time the procedures established in subsections (a), (b) and (c) shall apply. For the purposes of determining whether a county has decreased in population so as to recede in classification under subsection (b) following the 2030 decennial census, both the 2020 and 2030 decennial censuses shall be considered.Amended by P.L.TBD2021 No. 74, § 1,eff.10/1/2021Amended by P.L. TBD 2018 No. 154, § 8, eff. 12/24/2018.1955, Aug. 9, P.L. 323, § 211. Amended 1961, Aug. 22, P.L. 1048, § 1.