Judges: JOHN ASHCROFT, Attorney General
Filed Date: 6/3/1977
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/5/2016
[EDITORS' NOTE: THIS OPINION HAS BEEN WITHDRAWN.] FILED 110
Honorable Thomas M. Keyes State Auditor State Capitol Building Jefferson City, Missouri 65101
Dear Mr. Keyes:
This opinion is in answer to your following question:
"Are the Collectors or Ex Officio Collectors of third and fourth class counties permitted to invest their collections of taxes, licenses, and all other dues in savings accounts, time deposits, or any other kind of an account or certificate on which income is earned. If so, to whom should the income be paid?"
Statutes which are applicable to your question are as follows:
Section
"In all third and fourth class counties the county court may require the county collector to deposit daily all collections of money in the depositaries selected by the county court in accordance with the provisions of sections
110.130 to110.150 , RSMo, to the credit of a fund to be known as `County Collector's Fund'. The depositaries are bound to account for the moneys in the county collector's fund in the same manner as the public funds of every kind and description going into the hands of the county treasurer and shall provide security for the deposits in the manner required by section110.010 , RSMo. If daily deposits are required to be made, the county courts may also require that the bond of the county collector shall be in the sum equal to one-fourth of the largest amount collected during any one month of the year immediately preceding his election or appointment, plus ten percent of the amount. No county collector shall be required to make daily deposits for days when his collections do not total at least one hundred dollars." (Emphasis added)
Section
"1. Subject to the provisions of section
110.030 the county court of each county in this state, at the May term, in each odd-numbered year, shall receive proposals from banking corporations or associations at the county seat of the county which desire to be selected as the depositaries of the funds of the county. For the purpose of letting the funds the county court shall, by order of record, divide the funds into not less than two nor more than twelve equal parts, except that in counties of the the [sic] first class not having a charter form of government, funds shall be divided in not less than two nor more than twenty equal parts, and the bids provided for in sections110.140 and110.150 may be for one or more of the parts."
Section
"The county court, at noon on the first day of the May term in each odd-numbered year, shall publicly open the bids, and cause each bid to be entered upon the records of the court, and shall select as the depositaries of all the public funds of every kind and description going into the hands of the county treasurer, and also all the public funds of every kind and description going into the hands of the ex officio collector in counties under township organization, the deposit of which is not otherwise provided for by law, the banking corporations or associations whose bids respectively made for one or more of the parts of the funds shall in the aggregate constitute the largest offer for the payment of interest per annum for the funds; but the court may reject any and all bids." (Emphasis added)
Section
"The interest upon each fund shall be computed upon the daily balances with the depositary, and shall be payable to the county treasurer monthly, who shall place the interest on the school funds to the credit of those funds respectively, the interest on all county hospital funds and hospital district funds to the credit of those funds, the interest on county health center funds to the credit of those funds and the interest on all other funds to the credit of the county general fund."
Section
"As soon as the required security is given and approved, the court shall make an order designating the successful bidders as depositaries of the funds until sixty-five days after the time fixed by sections
110.130 to110.260 for another selection, and thereupon the county treasurer, and the ex officio collector if the county be under township organization, shall immediately upon the making of the order, transfer to the depositaries the part or parts of all funds respectively let the depositaries under the selection, and immediately upon the receipt of any money thereafter deposit it with the depositaries to the credit of the county. The said treasurer shall, as nearly as may be, maintain with each of the depositaries selected its due and proportionate share of the total of the funds let." (Emphasis added)
Section
"The county collector, in all counties of the first class not having a charter form of government and in all counties of the second class, shall deposit each day in the depositaries selected by the county for the deposit of county funds, all money received by him as county collector during the day previous, and make a daily report thereof to the county auditor, as provided in section
55.190 , RSMo. The interest on all money deposited by the county collector shall be computed upon the daily balances of the deposits, and all of the interest shall be paid and turned over to the county treasurer at the time and in the manner that the monthly settlement and payment are made by the collector, and the interest shall go to the general revenue fund of the county." (Emphasis added)
We believe that a careful reading of the above-cited statutes is necessary to answer your opinion request.
In Section
More importantly, however, in Section
It should be noted that Section
If, under Section
A similar question was asked and answered in Opinion No. 113, 1970. This opinion, which is attached, refers to a county collector of a third class county exercising his discretion in depositing tax money paid under protest and impounded pursuant to Section
It is further significant to note that county collectors in third and fourth class counties are legal custodians of the funds which they handle. They are authorized and warranted in depositing such collections in a bank for safekeeping provided such deposits are not in violation or contravention of any statute or ordinance. City of Fulton v. Home Trust Co.,
We have also seen under Opinion No. 164, 1975, copy attached, that counties, cities, and other political subdivisions may invest funds in time deposits including certificates of deposit under Chapter 110, RSMo. In the absence of the applicability of Chapter 110 to county collectors in third and fourth class counties, it would appear that these collectors in their discretion have the authority to deposit their collections in interest-bearing time deposits provided they are able to meet their statutory obligations in making settlements and turning over their collections timely to the county treasurers pursuant to Sections
CONCLUSION
It is the opinion of this office that ex officio collectors in third and fourth class counties under township organization are required by Section
It is the further opinion of this office that county collectors in third and fourth class counties may deposit their collections in interest-bearing time deposit accounts unless the county court has required that the collectors in said counties make daily deposits under Section
The foregoing opinion, which I hereby approve, was prepared by my assistant, Terry C. Allen.
Yours very truly,
JOHN ASHCROFT Attorney General
Enclosures: Op. No. 113 Millan, 6-15-70
Op. No. 32 Hyler, 1-16-63Op. No. 164 Lehr, 7-23-75