No order authorizing the issuance of securities shall become operative until the applicant pays to the commission fees as follows: Upon applications totaling not more than twenty-five thousand dollars, the fee shall be twenty-five dollars; and upon applications totaling more than twenty-five thousand dollars, the fee shall be twenty-five dollars for the first twenty-five thousand dollars, one dollar per one thousand dollars for the next seventy-five thousand dollars, and twenty-five cents per one thousand dollars for all amounts in excess of one hundred thousand dollars, except that the total fee shall in no case exceed the sum of two thousand five hundred dollars. The fee shall be computed on the par value principal amount of the stock, or in the case of no par stock, on the declared or offering price, whichever is greater. The commission shall remit the fees received to the State Treasurer for credit to the General Fund. The actual and necessary expenses of the commission incurred in investigating the application to sell securities shall be paid by the applicant, who may be required by the commission to deposit in advance a sum sufficient therefor. Any balance thereof shall be returned to the applicant.