Kentucky 2025 Regular Session

Kentucky House Bill HB744 Latest Draft

Bill / Introduced Version

                            UNOFFICIAL COPY  	25 RS BR 1386 
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AN ACT relating to county payments. 1 
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky: 2 
Section 1.   KRS 68.020 is amended to read as follows: 3 
(1) The county treasurer shall receive and receipt for all money due the county from its 4 
collecting officers or from any other person whose duty it is to pay money into the 5 
county treasury, and shall disburse such money in such manner and for such 6 
purpose as may be authorized by appropriate authority of the fiscal court. The 7 
treasurer[He] shall not disburse any money received[ by him] for any purpose other 8 
than that for which it was collected and paid over[ to him], and when[ he pays out] 9 
money is paid out, the treasurer[ he] shall take a receipt therefor.  All warrants for 10 
the payment of funds from the county treasury shall be co-signed by the county 11 
treasurer and the county judge/executive, unless subject to a standing order as set 12 
out in subsection (3) of Section 2 of this Act.  13 
(2) The county treasurer[He] may, and when directed by the fiscal court shall, invest 14 
the funds of the county pursuant to KRS 66.480.  15 
(3) The county treasurer[He] may, and when directed by the fiscal court shall, institute 16 
actions in the name of the county against all delinquent sheriffs or collectors of the 17 
county, and against anyone having money belonging to the county who fails or 18 
refuses to pay it over on demand when due. The treasurer[He] shall keep a record 19 
of all actions he or she is directed to institute on behalf of the county, showing their 20 
condition and the money collected thereunder.  21 
(4) The county treasurer[He] shall keep an accurate detailed account of all money 22 
received and disbursed by him or her for the county, and shall keep books of 23 
accounts of the financial transactions of the county in the manner required by the 24 
uniform system of accounting prescribed by the state local finance officer.  25 
(5) The county treasurer shall, when required by the fiscal court, settle his or her 26 
accounts as county treasurer, and within thirty (30) days after the close of each 27  UNOFFICIAL COPY  	25 RS BR 1386 
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fiscal year, he or she shall, unless his immediate predecessor has done so, make a 1 
full and complete settlement for the preceding fiscal year with the fiscal court or 2 
with a person or persons whom the fiscal court, by order of record, appoints to 3 
make settlement with the treasurer[him]. In case of a vacancy, the county 4 
judge/executive shall call a special meeting which shall proceed in the manner it 5 
deems proper to settle the accounts of the county treasurer. 6 
(6) Payment of approved expenses may be made by means of electronic funds 7 
transfers from an authorized account of the county. The signature requirement in 8 
subsection (1) of this section may be met via electronic signature. 9 
Section 2.   KRS 68.275 is amended to read as follows: 10 
(1) Claims against the county that are within the amount of line items of the county 11 
budget and arise pursuant to contracts duly authorized by the fiscal court shall be 12 
paid by the county judge/executive by a warrant drawn on the county and co-signed 13 
by the county treasurer. 14 
(2) The county judge/executive shall present all claims to the fiscal court for review 15 
prior to payment and the court, for good cause shown, may order that a claim not be 16 
paid. 17 
(3) The fiscal court may adopt an order, called a standing order, to preapprove the 18 
payment of recurrent monthly payroll and utility expenses and payments to vendors 19 
that regularly provide services to the county. No other expenses shall be 20 
preapproved pursuant to this subsection without the written consent of the state 21 
local finance officer. Notwithstanding KRS 68.020(1), payment of preapproved 22 
expenses may be made by means of electronic funds transfers from an authorized 23 
account of the county without the cosignatures of the county judge/executive and 24 
the county treasurer if approved by the fiscal court in a standing order, and if the 25 
fiscal court has received the payee's prior written consent for the payment of funds 26 
by electronic funds transfer due the payee. All standing orders adopted by the fiscal 27  UNOFFICIAL COPY  	25 RS BR 1386 
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court shall be renewed annually and submitted to the state local finance officer by 1 
July 1 of each fiscal year with the submission of the county budget if the fiscal 2 
court wishes to continue the standing order. Otherwise, after July 1, the standing 3 
order shall expire, and no more payments designated in the standing order shall be 4 
preapproved unless a new order is adopted by the fiscal court according to the 5 
provisions of this subsection. 6