ENGROSSED
Senate Bill No. 433
(By Senators Wooton, Anderson, Yoder, Wagner and Scott)
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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported February 17, 1995.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact sections two and eight, article
nine, chapter six of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
the supervision of public offices by the tax commissioner
as ex officio the chief inspector and supervisor of
public offices; making certain technical revisions;
clarifying the authority of the chief inspector to
administer and to enforce the law; authorizing the chief
inspector to promulgate and to enforce rules; and
increasing the costs the chief inspector may recover for
the conduct of audits of certain municipally owned
utilities and park systems.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections two and eight, article nine, chapter six of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-
one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 9. SUPERVISION OF PUBLIC OFFICES.
§6-9-2. Uniform system of accounting and reporting for local
governmental offices and agencies; form and uniform
system for receipts; additional power and authority.
The chief inspector shall formulate, prescribe and
install a system of accounting and reporting in conformity
with the provisions of this article, which shall be uniform
for all local governmental offices and agencies and for all
public accounts of the same class and which shall exhibit true
accounts and detailed statements for all public funds
collected, received and expended for any purpose by all local
governmental officers, employees or other persons. Such
accounts shall show the receipt, use and disposition of all
public property under the control of such local governmental
officers, employees or other persons, and any income derived
therefrom and of all sources of such public income, the
amounts due and received from each source, all receipts,
vouchers and other documents kept or required to be kept and
necessary to identify and prove the validity of every
transaction, all statements and reports made or required to be made for the internal administration of the office to which
they pertain and all reports published or required to be
published for the information of the people regarding any and
all details of the financial administration of such public
affairs. The chief inspector shall prescribe receipt forms for
all such local governmental offices and agencies and shall
formulate, prescribe and install a uniform system with respect
to the utilization, processing and disposition of receipts
given as evidence of moneys or property collected or received
by such local governmental offices and agencies. The chief
inspector shall also formulate, prescribe and install a system
of accounting for the civil accounts of the offices of the
magistrates, which shall exhibit true accounts and detailed
statements of the services rendered, the name and address of
the persons for whom rendered, the charges made and collected
therefor and such other information as may be necessary to
identify the transaction.
The chief inspector is vested and charged with the duties
of administering and enforcing the provisions of this article
and is authorized to promulgate and to enforce such rules as
may be necessary to implement such administration and
enforcement. The power and authority herein granted shall be in addition to all other power and authority vested by law in
the state tax commissioner as chief inspector or otherwise.
§6-9-8. Payment of cost of services of chief inspector;
revolving fund.
The cost of any service or act performed by the chief
inspector under the provisions of this article as to any
county or district office, officer or institution shall be
paid by the county commission of the county; the cost thereof
as to any board of education shall be paid by such board; the
cost thereof as to any municipal corporation shall be paid by
the authorities thereof: Provided, That in municipalities in
which the total revenue from all taxes does not exceed the sum
of two thousand dollars annually, such cost including the per
diem and all actual costs and expenses of such services shall
not exceed the sum of sixty dollars. The cost of this service
shall be the actual cost and expense of the service performed,
including transportation, hotel, meals, materials, per diem
compensation of deputies, assistants, clerical help and such
other costs as may be necessary to enable them to perform the
services required, but such costs shall not exceed the sum of
two thousand dollars for services rendered to a Class III or
a Class IV municipality: Provided, however, That the chief inspector may charge up to an additional one thousand dollars
for costs incurred for each service or act performed for a
utility or park system owned by a Class III or Class IV
municipality. The chief inspector shall render to the agency
liable for such cost a statement thereof as soon after the
same was incurred as practicable and it shall be the duty of
such agency to allow the same and cause it to be paid promptly
in the manner that other claims and accounts are allowed and
paid and such total amount shall constitute a debt against the
local agency due the state. Whenever there is in the state
treasury a sum of money due any such county commission, board
of education or municipality from any source, upon the
application of the chief inspector, the same shall be at once
applied on the debt aforesaid against the county commission,
board of education or municipality and the fact of such
application of such fund shall be reported by the auditor to
the said county commission, board of education or
municipality, which report shall be a receipt for the amount
therein named. All money received by the chief inspector from
this source shall be paid into the state treasury, shall be
deposited to the credit of an account to be known as chief
inspector's fund and shall be expended only for the purpose of covering the cost of such services, unless otherwise directed
by the Legislature. The cost of any such examination, service
or act by the chief inspector made necessary, or such part
thereof as was made necessary, by the willful fault of any
officer or employee, may be recovered by the chief inspector
from such person, on motion, on ten days' notice in any court
having jurisdiction.
For the purpose of permitting payments to be made at
definite periods to deputy inspectors and assistants for per
diem compensation and expenses, there is hereby created a
revolving fund for the chief inspector's office. The fund
shall be accumulated and administered as follows:
(1) There shall be appropriated from the state fund
general revenue the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars to be
transferred to this fund to create a revolving fund which,
together with other payments into this fund as provided in
this article, shall constitute a fund to defray the cost of
this service.
(2) Payments received for the cost of services of the
chief inspector's office shall be deposited into this
revolving fund, which shall be known as the chief inspector's
fund.
(3) Any appropriations made to this fund shall not be
deemed to have expired at the end of any fiscal period.