Section 50.815

There are multiple enactments of 50.815

Title VI COUNTY, TOWNSHIP AND POLITICAL SUBDIVISION GOVERNMENT

Chapter 50

Effective - 28 Aug 2022, 2 histories   

  *50.815.  Financial statement of county, when published, contents — falsely certifying, penalty. — 1.  On or before June thirtieth of each year, the county commission of each county of the first, second, third, or fourth classification shall, with the assistance of the county clerk or other officer responsible for the preparation of the financial statement, prepare and publish in some newspaper of general circulation published in the county, as provided under section 493.050, a financial statement of the county for the year ending the preceding December thirty-first.

  2.  The financial statement shall show at least the following:

  (1)  A summary of the receipts of each fund of the county for the year;

  (2)  A summary of the disbursements and transfers of each fund of the county for the year;

  (3)  A statement of the cash balance at the beginning and at the end of the year for each fund of the county;

  (4)  A summary of delinquent taxes and other due bills for each fund of the county;

  (5)  A summary of warrants of each fund of the county outstanding at the end of the year;

  (6)  A statement of bonded indebtedness, if any, at the beginning and at the end of the year for each fund of the county;

  (7)  A statement of the tax levies of each fund of the county for the year; and

  (8)  The name, office, and current gross annual salary of each elected or appointed county official.

  3.  The financial statement need not show specific disbursements, warrants issued, or the names of specific payees except to comply with subdivision (8) of subsection 2 of this section, but every individual warrant, voucher, receipt, court order and all other items, records, documents and other information which are not specifically required to be retained by the officer having initial charge thereof shall be filed on or before the date of publication of the financial statement prescribed by subsection 1 of this section in the office of the county clerk.  The county clerk or other officer responsible for the preparation of the financial statement shall preserve the same, shall provide an electronic copy of the data used to create the financial statement without charge to any newspaper requesting a copy of such data, and shall cause the same to be available for inspection during normal business hours on the request of any person, for a period of five years following the date of filing in his or her office, after which five-year period these records may be disposed of according to law unless they are the subject of a legal suit pending at the expiration of that period.

  4.  At the end of the financial statement, each commissioner of the county commission and the county clerk shall sign and append the following certificate:

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, 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 _________ .
Date _________
		__________________
		__________________
		__________________
Commissioners, County Commission
			__________________
County Clerk

  5.  Any person falsely certifying to any fact covered by the certificate is liable on his or her bond and is guilty of a misdemeanor and, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not less than two hundred dollars or more than one thousand dollars, or by confinement in the county jail for a period of not less than thirty days nor more than six months, or by both such fine and confinement.  Any person charged with preparing the financial report who willfully or knowingly makes a false report of any record is, in addition to the penalties otherwise provided for in this section, guilty of a felony, and upon conviction thereof shall be sentenced to imprisonment by the department of corrections for a term of not less than two years nor more than five years.

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(L. 1973 H.B. 669, A.L. 2022 H.B. 1606)

*Revisor's Note:  This section was declared unconstitutional in Byrd, et al. v. State of Missouri, et al. (see 2023 annotation below).

(2023) The inclusion of Section 67.2300 in H.B. 1606 from 2022 declared unconstitutional as violating the single subject rule of Article III, § 23 of the Missouri Constitution.  The remaining provisions of H.B. 1606 could not be severed and the bill is declared invalid in its entirety.  Byrd, et al. v. State of Missouri, et al., Case No. SC100045 (Mo.banc, Dec. 19, 2023).