322 Mass. 177 | Mass. | 1947
This is a petition filed under G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 258, § 1, to recover from the Commonwealth the sum of $63,070.27 alleged to be the balance due on one third of the total amount expended by the city of Boston, in rendering aid in accordance with G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 118 to mothers with dependent children
The proportions in which the Commonwealth and the cities and towns should share the burden incurred by rendering mothers’ aid were fixed by § 6 of St. 1913, c. 763, which first authorized this form of relief. This section provided for the reimbursement of cities and towns for one third of the amount of aid given and for the total amount if the mother who received the aid had no settlement in the Commonwealth. If the recipient of the aid had a settlement in some city or town in the Commonwealth other than the one rendering the aid, the latter was entitled to recover two thirds of the amount expended from the city or town of settlement. This statutory provision became G. L. c. 118, § 6.| This § 6, as amended by St. 1926, c. 241, § 6, was in force when the instant aid was furnished by the city and, in so far as material, provided that “In respect to all mothers in receipt of aid under this chapter the town rendering the aid shall ... be reimbursed by the commonwealth for one third of the amount of the aid given, or, if the mother so aided has no settlement, for the total amount thereof. If the mother so aided has a legal settlement in another town two thirds of the amount of such aid given may be recovered in contract against the town liable therefor in accordance with chapter one hundred and seventeen.” This section as then amended became G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 118, § 6. The furnishing of this form of relief was, by the statute which authorized it, made the common burden of the Commonwealth and the cities and towns, and the proportion in which they should bear this burden was a matter appropriate for
The Commonwealth contends that it was entitled to have the Federal funds received by the city deducted from the total expense incurred by the city in computing the amount which the Commonwealth was compelled to contribute, as the statute as it then read provided that the city “shall ... be reimbursed by the commonwealth for one thud of the amount of the aid given.” It is urged that “reimbursement” means that all that is required of the Commonwealth is to pay one third of the net amount expended by the city. The word reimburse has been frequently construed as repaying or making good the amount paid out, Woerz v. Schumacher, 161 N. Y. 530; County of Henrico v. Richmond, 177 Va. 754, but the term is not so limited in the governing statute. Nowhere does the statute base the Commonwealth’s contribution on one third of the net expense incurred by the city, but on the contrary it fixes the extent of the contribution as “one third of the amount of the aid given.” These quoted words had the same meaning in 1936 as they had in 1913 when they first appeared in the statute fixing the proportionate shares in which the Commonwealth and the cities and towns should bear the expense incurred by mothers’ aid. The contention now made cannot be any more successfully urged as to relief rendered in 1936 than it could as to aid given in 1913. These words are not to be given a new meaning upon the allocation of Federal funds
The Commonwealth contends that, unless Federal- grants are deducted from the expenses incurred by the city- fin rendering aid, the latter may in some particular, cases re
Decision is to be entered for the petitioner in accordance with the stipulation. G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 258, § 3, as appearing in St. 1932, c. 180, § 41. Charles I. Hosmer, Inc. v. Commonwealth, 302 Mass. 495. Franklin A. Snow Co. v. Commonwealth, 303 Mass. 511. Coleman Bros. Corp. v. Commonwealth, 307 Mass. 205.
So ordered.
The title of c. 118 was changed from “Aid to Mothers with Dependent Children” to “Aid to Dependent Children” by St. 1936, c. 413, § 1, which inserted in General Laws (Ter. Ed.) a new c. 118 in place of the previous chapter.