EXPLANATION-Matter enclosed in bold-faced brackets [thus] in this bill is not enacted
and is intended to be omitted in the law.
SECOND REGULAR SESSION
[PERFECTED]
SENATE SUBSTITUTE FOR
SENATE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
SENATE BILL NO. 724
101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY SENATOR HEGEMAN.
4303S.03P ADRIANE D. CROUSE, Secretary
AN ACT
To repeal sections 50.800, 50.810, 50.815, 50.820, and 105.145, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof
four new sections relating to financial statements of political subdivisions, with penalty
provisions.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Sections 50.800, 50.810, 50.815, 50.820, and 1
105.145, RSMo, are repealed and four new sections enacted in 2
lieu thereof, to be known as sections 50.815, 50.820, 105.145, 3
and 164.450, to read as follows:4
50.815. 1. On or before [the first Monday in March ] 1
June thirtieth of each year, the county commission of each 2
county of the first [class not having a charter form of 3
government], second, third, or fourth classification shall, 4
with the assistance of the county clerk or other officer 5
responsible for the preparation of the financial statement , 6
prepare and publish in some newspaper of general circulation 7
published in the county , as provided under section 493.050, 8
a financial statement of the county for the year ending the 9
preceding December thirty -first. 10
2. The financial statement shall show at least the 11
following: 12 SS SCS SB 724 2
(1) A summary of the receipts of each fund of the 13
county for the year; 14
(2) A summary of the disbursements and transfers of 15
each fund of the cou nty for the year; 16
(3) A statement of the cash balance at the beginning 17
and at the end of the year for each fund of the county; 18
(4) A summary of delinquent taxes and other due bills 19
for each fund of the county; 20
(5) A summary of warrants of each fund of the county 21
outstanding at the end of the year; 22
(6) A statement of bonded indebtedness, if any, at the 23
beginning and at the end of the year for each fund of the 24
county; [and] 25
(7) A statement of the tax levies of each fund of the 26
county for the year; and 27
(8) The name, office, and current gross annual salary 28
of each elected or appointed county official . 29
3. The financial statement need not show specific 30
disbursements, warrants issued, or the names of specific 31
payees except to comply with subdivision (8) of subsection 2 32
of this section, but every individual warrant, voucher, 33
receipt, court order and all other items, records, documents 34
and other information which are n ot specifically required to 35
be retained by the officer having initial charge thereof 36
[and which would be required to be included in or to 37
construct a financial statement in the form prescribed for 38
other counties by section 50.800 ] shall be filed on or 39
before the date of publication of the financial statement 40
prescribed by subsection 1 of this section in the office of 41
the county clerk[, and]. The county clerk or other officer 42
responsible for the preparation of the financial statement 43
shall preserve the same, shall provide an electronic copy of 44
45 SS SCS SB 724 3
the data used to create the financial statement without 1
charge to any newspaper requesting a copy of such data, and 2
shall cause the same to be available for inspection during 3
normal business hours on the request of any person, for a 4
period of five years following the date of filing in his or 5
her office, after which five -year period these records may 6
be disposed of according to law unless they are the subject 7
of a legal suit pending at the expiration of that period. 8
4. At the end of the financial statement, each 9
commissioner of the county commission and the county clerk 10
shall sign and append the following certificate: 11
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We, _________ , _________ , and _________ , duly
elected commissioners of the county commission of
_________ County, Missouri, and I, _________ _________
, county clerk of that county, certify that the above
and foregoing is a complete and correct statement of
every item of information required in section 50.815
for the year ending December 31, [19] 20_________ , and
we have checked every receipt from every source and
every disbursement of every kind and to whom and for
what each disbursement was made, and each receipt and
disbursement is accurately included in the above and
foregoing totals. (If for any reason complete and
accurate information is not given the following shall
be added to the certificate.) Exceptions: the above
report is incomplete because proper information was not
available in the following records _________ which are
in the keeping of the following officer or officers
_________ .
74 Date _________
75 __________________
76 __________________
77 __________________
78 Commissioners, County Commission
79 __________________
80 County Clerk SS SCS SB 724 4
5. Any person falsely certifying to any fact covered 81
by the certificate is liable on his or her bond and is 82
guilty of a misdemeanor and, on conviction thereof, shall be 83
punished by a fine of not less than two hundred dollars or 84
more than one thousand dollars, or by confinement in the 85
county jail for a pe riod of not less than thirty days nor 86
more than six months, or by both such fine and confinement. 87
Any person charged with preparing the financial report who 88
willfully or knowingly makes a false report of any record 89
is, in addition to the penalties oth erwise provided for in 90
this section, guilty of a felony, and upon conviction 91
thereof shall be sentenced to imprisonment by the division 92
of corrections for a term of not less than two years nor 93
more than five years. 94
[6. The provisions of sections 50.800 and 50.810 do 95
not apply to counties of the first class not having a 96
charter form of government, except as provided in subsection 97
3 of this section.] 98
50.820. 1. The statement required by section 50 .815 1
shall be set in the standard column width measure which will 2
take the least space and the publisher shall file two proofs 3
of publication with the county commission and the commission 4
shall forward one proof to the state auditor and shall file 5
the other in the office of the commission. As required 6
under section 493.025, a newspaper publishing the statement 7
shall charge and receive no more than its regular local 8
classified advertising rate, which shall be the rate on the 9
newspaper's rate schedu le that was offered to the public 10
thirty days before the publication of the statement. The 11
county commission shall [not] pay the publisher [until] upon 12
the filing of proof of publication [is filed] with the 13
commission [and]. After verification, the state auditor 14 SS SCS SB 724 5
[notifies] shall notify the commission that proof of 15
publication has been received and that it complies with the 16
requirements of this section. 17
2. The statement shall be spread on the record of the 18
commission and for this purpos e the publisher shall be 19
required to furnish the commission with at least two copies 20
of the statement which may be [pasted on] placed in the 21
record. 22
3. The state auditor shall notify the county treasurer 23
immediately of the receipt of the proof of publication of 24
the statement. After the first day of [April] July of each 25
year the county treasurer shall not pay or enter for protest 26
any warrant for the pay of any of the county commission 27
until notice is received from the state auditor that the 28
required proof of publication has been filed. [Any county 29
treasurer paying or entering for protest any warrant for any 30
commissioner of the county commission prior to the receipt 31
of such notice from the state auditor shall be liable 32
therefor on his offi cial bond.] 33
4. The state auditor shall prepare sample forms for 34
financial statements required by section 50.815 and shall 35
[mail] provide the same to the county clerk of each county 36
of the first [class not having a charter form of 37
government], second, third, or fourth classification in this 38
state, but failure of the auditor to supply such forms shall 39
not in any way excuse any person from the performance of any 40
duty imposed by this section or by section 50.815. If any 41
county officer fails, n eglects, or refuses to comply with 42
the provisions of this section or section 50.815 [he], the 43
county officer shall, in addition to other penalties 44
provided by law, be liable on his or her official bond for 45
dereliction of duty. 46 SS SCS SB 724 6
105.145. 1. The following definitions shall be 1
applied to the terms used in this section: 2
(1) "Governing body", the board, body, or persons in 3
which the powers of a political subdivision as a body 4
corporate, or otherwise, are vested; 5
(2) "Political subdivision", any agency or unit of 6
this state, except counties and school districts, which now 7
is, or hereafter shall be, authorized to levy taxes or 8
empowered to cause taxes to be levied. 9
2. The governing body of each political subdivision in 10
the state shall cause to be prepared an annual report of the 11
financial transactions of the political subdivision in such 12
summary form as the state auditor shall prescribe by rule, 13
except that the annu al report of political subdivisions 14
whose cash receipts for the reporting period are ten 15
thousand dollars or less shall only be required to contain 16
the cash balance at the beginning of the reporting period, a 17
summary of cash receipts, a summary of cash disbursements 18
and the cash balance at the end of the reporting period. 19
3. Within such time following the end of the fiscal 20
year as the state auditor shall prescribe by rule, the 21
governing body of each political subdivision shall cause a 22
copy of the annual financial report to be remitted to the 23
state auditor. 24
4. The state auditor shall immediately on receipt of 25
each financial report acknowledge the receipt of the report. 26
5. In any fiscal year no member of the governing body 27
of any political subdivision of the state shall receive any 28
compensation or payment of expenses after the end of the 29
time within which the financial statement of the political 30
subdivision is required to be filed with the state auditor 31
and until such time as the notice from the state auditor of 32 SS SCS SB 724 7
the filing of the annual financial report for the fiscal 33
year has been received. 34
6. The state auditor shall prepare sample forms for 35
financial reports and shall mail the same to the political 36
subdivisions of the state. Failure of the auditor to supply 37
such forms shall not in any way excuse any person from the 38
performance of any duty imposed by this section. 39
7. All reports or financial statements hereinabove 40
mentioned shall be considered to be pu blic records. 41
8. The provisions of this section apply to the board 42
of directors of every transportation development district 43
organized under sections 238.200 to 238.275. 44
9. Any political subdivision that fails to timely 45
submit a copy of the annual financial statement to the state 46
auditor shall be subject to a fine of five hundred dollars 47
per day. 48
10. The state auditor shall report any violation of 49
subsection 9 of this section to the department of revenue. 50
Upon notification from the state auditor's office that a 51
political subdivision failed to timely submit a copy of the 52
annual financial statement, the department of revenue shall 53
notify such political subdivision by certified mail that the 54
statement has not been received. Such notice shall clearly 55
set forth the following: 56
(1) The name of the political subdivision; 57
(2) That the political subdivision shall be subject to 58
a fine of five hundred dollars per day if the political 59
subdivision does not submit a copy of the annual financial 60
statement to the state auditor's office within thirty days 61
from the postmarked date stamped on the certified mail 62
envelope; 63 SS SCS SB 724 8
(3) That the fine will be enforced and collected as 64
provided under subsection 11 of this section; and 65
(4) That the fine will begin accruing on the thirty - 66
first day from the postmarked date stamped on the certified 67
mail envelope and will continue to accrue until the state 68
auditor's office receives a copy of the financial statement. 69
In the event a copy of the annual financial statement is 70
received within such thirty -day period, no fine shall accrue 71
or be imposed. The state auditor shall report receipt of 72
the financial statement to the department of revenue within 73
ten business days. Failure of the political subdivision to 74
submit the required annual financial statement within such 75
thirty-day period shall cause the fine to be collected as 76
provided under subsection 11 of this section. 77
11. The department of revenue may collect the fine 78
authorized under the provisions of subsection 9 of this 79
section by offsetting any sales or use tax distributions due 80
to the political subdivision. The director of revenue shall 81
retain two percent for the cost of such collection. The 82
remaining revenues c ollected from such violations shall be 83
distributed annually to the schools of the county in the 84
same manner that proceeds for all penalties, forfeitures, 85
and fines collected for any breach of the penal laws of the 86
state are distributed. 87
12. Any [transportation development district organized 88
under sections 238.200 to 238.275 having ] political 89
subdivision that has gross revenues of less than five 90
thousand dollars or that has not levied or collected sales 91
or use taxes in the fiscal year for which the annual 92
financial statement was not timely filed shall not be 93
subject to the fine authorized in this section. 94 SS SCS SB 724 9
13. If a failure to timely submit the annual financial 95
statement is the result of fraud or other illegal conduct by 96
an employee or officer of the political subdivision, the 97
political subdivision shall not be subject to a fine 98
authorized under this section if the statement is filed 99
within thirty days of the discovery of the fraud or illegal 100
conduct. If a fine is assessed and paid p rior to the filing 101
of the statement, the department of revenue shall refund the 102
fine upon notification from the political subdivision. 103
14. If a political subdivision has an outstanding 104
balance for fines or penalties at the time it files its 105
first annual financial statement after January 1, 2022, the 106
director of revenue shall make a one -time downward 107
adjustment to such outstanding balance in an amount that 108
reduces the outstanding balance by no less than ninety 109
percent. 110
15. The director of revenue shall have the authority 111
to make a one-time downward adjustment to any outstanding 112
penalty imposed under this section on a political 113
subdivision if the director determines the fine is 114
uncollectable. The director of revenue may prescribe rules 115
and regulations necessary to carry out the provisions of 116
this subsection. Any rule or portion of a rule, as that 117
term is defined in section 536.010, that is created under 118
the authority delegated in this section shall become 119
effective only if it comp lies with and is subject to all of 120
the provisions of chapter 536 and, if applicable, section 121
536.028. This section and chapter 536 are nonseverable, and 122
if any of the powers vested with the general assembly 123
pursuant to chapter 536 to review, to delay the effective 124
date, or to disapprove and annul a rule are subsequently 125
held unconstitutional, then the grant of rulemaking 126 SS SCS SB 724 10
authority and any rule proposed or adopted after August 28, 127
2021, shall be invalid and void. 128
164.450. 1. Any school district located in whole or 1
in part in any county with more than four hundred thousand 2
but fewer than five hundred thousand inhabitants that 3
receives voter approval for the issuance of bonds under this 4
chapter shall maintain a detailed account ing of each and 5
every expenditure by the school district for the moneys 6
generated by such issuance. Any such school district shall 7
be required to maintain a budget for each project approved 8
by the school district using moneys from the issuance of 9
bonds. Such budget shall detail the exact cost of the 10
project and the source of all moneys used to fund the 11
project. All information required under this subsection 12
regarding expenditures and budgets shall be maintained and 13
updated on the website of the school district and shall be 14
publicly available. 15
2. Continuation of any project undertaken by a school 16
district as described under subsection 1 of this section 17
shall be halted immediately upon exceeding the budgeted 18
amount of moneys to complete s uch project by more than ten 19
percent. The continuation of any such project described 20
under this subsection shall not occur until such time as the 21
school district receives voter approval under this chapter 22
for the issuance of further bonded indebtednes s specifically 23
for such project. 24
3. Any taxpayer residing within a school district that 25
violates the provisions of this section may seek, and a 26
court shall order, injunctive relief against such school 27
district in any court of competent jurisdicti on to enforce 28
the provisions of this section. 29
[50.800. 1. On or before the first Monday 1
in March of each year, the county commission of 2 SS SCS SB 724 11
each county of the second, third, or fourth 3
class shall prepare and publish in some 4
newspaper as provided for in section 493.050, if 5
there is one, and if not by notices posted in at 6
least ten places in the county, a detailed 7
financial statement of the county for the year 8
ending December thirty -first, preceding. 9
2. The statement shall show the bonded 10
debt of the county, if any, kind of bonds, date 11
of maturity, interest rate, rate of taxation 12
levied for interest and sinking fund and 13
authority for the levy, the total amount of 14
interest and sinking fund that has been 15
collected and intere st and sinking fund on hand 16
in cash. 17
3. The statement shall also show 18
separately the total amount of the county and 19
township school funds on hand and loaned out, 20
the amount of penalties, fines, levies, 21
utilities, forfeitures, and any other taxes 22
collected and disbursed or expended during the 23
year and turned into the permanent school fund, 24
the name of each person who has a loan from the 25
permanent school fund, whether county or 26
township, the amount of the loan, date loan was 27
made and date of maturity, description of the 28
security for the loan, amount, if any, of 29
delinquent interest on each loan. 30
4. The statement shall show the total 31
valuation of the county for purposes of 32
taxation, the highest rate of taxation the 33
constitution permits the county commission to 34
levy for purposes of county revenue, the rate 35
levied by the county commission for the year 36
covered by the statement, division of the rate 37
levied among the several funds and total amount 38
of delinquent taxes for all years as o f December 39
thirty-first. 40
5. The statement shall show receipts or 41
revenues into each and every fund separately. 42
Each fund shall show the beginning balance of 43
each fund; each source of revenue; the total 44
amount received from each source of revenu e; the 45
total amount available in each fund; the total 46
amount of disbursements or expenditures from 47
each fund and the ending balance of each fund as 48
of December thirty-first. The total receipts or 49
revenues for the year into all funds shall be 50
shown in the recapitulation. In counties with 51
the township form of government, each township 52
shall be considered a fund pursuant to this 53
subsection. 54
6. Total disbursements or expenditures 55
shall be shown for warrants issued in each 56
category contained i n the forms developed or 57
approved by the state auditor pursuant to 58
section 50.745. Total amount of warrants, 59
person or vendor to whom issued and purpose for 60 SS SCS SB 724 12
which issued shall be shown except as herein 61
provided. Under a separate heading in each fund 62
the statements shall show what warrants are 63
outstanding and unpaid for the lack of funds on 64
that date with appropriate balance or overdraft 65
in each fund as the case may be. 66
7. Warrants issued to pay for the service 67
of election judges and clerks of elections shall 68
be in the following form: 69
Names of judges and clerks of elections at 70
$______ per day (listing the names run in and 71
not listing each name by lines, and at the end 72
of the list of names giving the total of the 73
amount of all the warrants issued for such 74
election services). 75
8. Warrants issued to pay for the service 76
of jurors shall be in the following form: 77
Names of jurors at $______ per day (listing 78
the names run in and not listing each name by 79
lines, and at the end o f the list of names 80
giving the total of the amount of all the 81
warrants issued for such election service). 82
9. Warrants to Internal Revenue Service 83
for Social Security and withholding taxes shall 84
be brought into one call. 85
10. Warrants to the director of revenue of 86
Missouri for withholding taxes shall be brought 87
into one call. 88
11. Warrants to the division of employment 89
security shall be brought into one call. 90
12. Warrants to Missouri local government 91
employees' retirement system or other retirement 92
funds for each office shall be brought into one 93
call. 94
13. Warrants for utilities such as gas, 95
water, lights and power shall be brought into 96
one call except that the total shall be shown 97
for each vendor. 98
14. Warrants issued to each telephone 99
company shall be brought into one call for each 100
office in the following form: 101
(Name of Telephone Company for ______ 102
office and total amount of warrants issued). 103
15. Warrants issued to the postmaster for 104
postage shall be brought into one call for each 105
office in the following form: 106
(Postmaster for ______ office and total 107
amount of warrants issued). 108
16. Disbursements or expenditures by road 109
districts shall show the warrants, if warrants 110
have been issued in t he same manner as provided 111
for in subsection 5 of this section. If money 112
has been disbursed or expended by overseers the 113
financial statement shall show the total paid by 114
the overseer to each person for the year, and 115
the purpose of each payment. Receipts or 116
revenues into the county distributive school 117
fund shall be listed in detail, disbursements or 118 SS SCS SB 724 13
expenditures shall be listed and the amount of 119
each disbursement or expenditure. If any taxes 120
have been levied by virtue of Section 12(a) of 121
Article X of the Constitution of Missouri the 122
financial statement shall contain the following: 123
By virtue and authority of the 124
discretionary power conferred upon the county 125
commissions of the several counties of this 126
state to levy a tax of not to exceed 35 cents on 127
the $100 assessed valuation the county 128
commission of ______ County did for the year 129
covered by this report levy a tax rate of ______ 130
cents on the $100 assessed valuation which said 131
tax amounted to $______ and was disbursed or 132
expended as follows: 133
The statement shall show how the money was 134
disbursed or expended and if any part of the sum 135
has not been accounted for in detail under some 136
previous appropriate heading the portion not 137
previously accounted for shall be shown in 138
detail. 139
17. At the end of the statement the person 140
designated by the county commission to prepare 141
the financial statement herein required shall 142
append the following certificate: 143
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I, ______, the duly authorized agent
appointed by the county commission of
______ County, state of Missouri, to
prepare for publication the financial
statement as required by section 50.800,
RSMo, hereby certify that I have diligently
checked the records of the county and that
the above and foregoing is a complete and
correct statement of every item of
information required in section 50.800,
RSMo, for the year ending December 31,
______, and especially have I checked every
receipt from every source whatsoever and
every disbursement or expenditure of every
kind and to whom and for what each such
disbursement or expenditure was made and
that each receipt or revenue and
disbursement or expenditure is ac curately
shown. (If for any reason complete and
accurate information is not given the
following shall be added to the
certificate.) Exceptions: The above report
is incomplete because proper information
was not available in the following records
______ which are in the keeping of the
following officer or officers. The person
designated to prepare the financial
statement shall give in detail any
incomplete data called for by this section.
173 Date ______
174
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176
Officer designated by county commission to
prepare financial statement required by
section 50.800, RSMo.
SS SCS SB 724 14
Or if no one has been designated said statement 177
having been prepared by the county clerk, 178
signature shall be in the following form: 179
Clerk of the county commission and ex 180
officio officer designated to prepare financial 181
statement required by section 50.800, RSMo. 182
18. Any person falsely certifying to any 183
fact covered by the certificate is liable on his 184
bond and upon conviction o f falsely certifying 185
to any fact covered by the certificate is guilty 186
of a misdemeanor and punishable by a fine of not 187
less than two hundred dollars or more than one 188
thousand dollars or by imprisonment in the 189
county jail for not less than thirty days nor 190
more than six months or by both fine and 191
imprisonment. Any person charged with the 192
responsibility of preparing the financial report 193
who willfully or knowingly makes a false report 194
of any record, is, in addition to the penalty 195
otherwise provided for in this law, deemed 196
guilty of a felony and upon conviction shall be 197
sentenced to the penitentiary for not less than 198
two years nor more than five years. ] 199
[50.810. 1. The statement shall be 1
printed in not less than 8 -point type, but not 2
more than the smallest point type over 8 -point 3
type available and in the standard column width 4
measure that will take the least space. The 5
publisher shall file two proofs of publication 6
with the county commission and the commissio n 7
shall forward one proof to the state auditor and 8
shall file the other in the office of the 9
commission. The county commission shall not pay 10
the publisher until proof of publication is 11
filed with the commission and shall not pay the 12
person designated to prepare the statement for 13
the preparation of the copy for the statement 14
until the state auditor notifies the commission 15
that proof of publication has been received and 16
that it complies with the requirements of this 17
section. 18
2. The statement shall be spread on the 19
record of the commission and for this purpose 20
the publisher shall be required to furnish the 21
commission with at least two copies of the 22
statement that may be pasted on the record. The 23
publisher shall itemize the cost of publis hing 24
said statement by column inch as properly 25
chargeable to the several funds and shall submit 26
such costs for payment to the county 27
commission. The county commission shall pay out 28
of each fund in the proportion that each item 29
bears to the total cos t of publishing said 30
statement and shall issue warrants therefor; 31
provided any part not properly chargeable to any 32
specific fund shall be paid from the county 33
general revenue fund. 34 SS SCS SB 724 15
3. The state auditor shall notify the 35
county treasurer immediate ly of the receipt of 36
the proof of publication of the statement. 37
After the first of April of each year the county 38
treasurer shall not pay or enter for protest any 39
warrant for the pay of any commissioner of any 40
county commission until notice is receive d from 41
the state auditor that the required proof of 42
publication has been filed. Any county 43
treasurer paying or entering for protest any 44
warrant for any commissioner of the county 45
commission prior to the receipt of such notice 46
from the state auditor shall be liable on his 47
official bond therefor. 48
4. The state auditor shall prepare sample 49
forms for financial statements and shall mail 50
the same to the county clerks of the several 51
counties in this state. If the county 52
commission employs any per son other than a 53
bonded county officer to prepare the financial 54
statement the county commission shall require 55
such person to give bond with good and 56
sufficient sureties in the penal sum of one 57
thousand dollars for the faithful performance of 58
his duty. If any county officer or other person 59
employed to prepare the financial statement 60
herein provided for shall fail, neglect, or 61
refuse to, in any manner, comply with the 62
provisions of this law he shall, in addition to 63
other penalties herein provided, be liable on 64
his official bond for dereliction of duty. ] 65