Bill Text: WV HB4483 | 2016 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: City Financial Transparency Act
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 11-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-02-10 - To House Political Subdivisions [HB4483 Detail]
Download: West_Virginia-2016-HB4483-Introduced.html
WEST virginia Legislature
2016 regular session
Introduced
House Bill 4483
By Delegates Ihle, Storch, Butler, Gearheart, McGeehan, Sobonya, Householder, Overington, McCuskey, Cadle and Summers
[Introduced February 10,
2016; Referred
to the Committee on Political Subdivisions then the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §8-13-23 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to enacting the City Financial Transparency Act; requiring municipal financial statements to include all municipal expenditures; and allowing the municipality’s financial statement to be posted on the municipality’s website in lieu publishing it as a Class I legal advertisement.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §8-13-23 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 13. TAXATION AND FINANCE.
§8-13-23. Preparation, publication and disposition of financial statements.
(a) This section may be known and cited as the “City Financial Transparency Act.”
(b) Every municipality, whether city, town or
village, within ninety days after the beginning of each fiscal year, shall
prepare on a form to be prescribed by the State Tax Commissioner and cause to
be published a sworn statement revealing: (1) The receipts and expenditures of
the city municipality during the previous fiscal year; (2) the
name of each person who received more than $50 money from any fund
during the previous fiscal year, together with the amount received; and (3) all
debts of the city municipality, the purpose for which each debt
was contracted, its due date and to what date the interest on the debt has been
paid. The statement shall be published as a Class I legal advertisement in
compliance with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this
code and the publication area for the publication shall be is the
city municipality: Provided, That all salaries,
receipts, payments to each individual vendor and expenditures to employees of
municipal offices, companies and departments may be published in the aggregate.
(b) (c) Every city municipality
shall transmit to any resident of the city municipality
who requests it a copy of any published statement for the fiscal year
designated, supplemented by a document listing the names of each person who
received less than $50 from any fund during the fiscal year and showing the
amount paid to each and the purpose for which paid and an itemization of the
salaries, receipts, payments to each individual vendor and expenditures to
employees of municipal offices, companies and departments otherwise published
in the aggregate.
(c) Every town or
village, within one hundred twenty days after the beginning of each fiscal
year, shall prepare on a form to be prescribed by the State Tax Commissioner a
sworn statement revealing: (1) The receipts and expenditures of the town or
village during the previous fiscal year arranged under descriptive headings;
(2) the name of each person who received money from any fund during the
previous fiscal year, together with the amount received and the purpose for
which paid; and (3) all debts of the town or village, the purpose for which
each debt was contracted, its due date and to what date the interest on the
debt has been paid: Provided, That all salaries, receipts, payments to
each individual vendor and expenditures to employees of municipal offices,
companies and departments may be published in the aggregate.
(d) Every town or
village shall transmit to any resident of the town or village who requests it,
a copy of any statement for the fiscal year designated. Any town or village
may, if its governing body thereof elects, also publish the statement as a
Class I legal advertisement in compliance with the provisions of article three,
chapter fifty-nine of this code and in that event, the publication area for the
publication shall be the town or village.
(e) (d) The statement required by subsection (a)
(b) of this section and the statement required by subsection (c) of
this section shall be sworn to by the recorder, the mayor and two members
of the governing body of the municipality. As soon as practicable following the
close of the fiscal year, a copy of any statement required by this section
shall be filed by the municipality with the State Tax Commissioner, the clerk
of the county commission of the county and the clerk of the circuit court of
the circuit in which the municipality or the major portion of the territory of
the municipality is located. If the governing body fails or refuses to perform
any of the duties set forth in this section, every member of the governing body
and the recorder of the governing body concurring in the failure or refusal
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined
not less than $10 $50 nor more than $100 $250. If
any of the provisions of this section are violated, it is the duty of the
prosecuting attorney of the county in which the municipality or the major portion
of the territory of the municipality is located to immediately present the
evidence of the violation to the grand jury if in session, and if not in
session he or she shall cause the violations to be investigated by the next
succeeding grand jury.
(f) (e) Where in subsections (a) (b) and
(c) of this section, salaries, receipts, payments to each individual vendor and
expenditures are published in the aggregate, the city, town or village municipality
shall, upon written request, provide to any resident of the city, town or
village municipality an itemized accounting of the salaries,
receipts, payments to each individual vendor and expenditures.
(f) In lieu of the statement required by subsection (b) of this section, the municipality may, within ninety days of the beginning of the fiscal year, publish a notice that the requisite financial statements are available to the public, free of charge, at the municipality’s primary office and on a website maintained by the municipality. Each notice shall contain the office address and the website address where financial statements are available. The statement shall be published as a Class I legal advertisement in compliance with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code and the publication area for the publication shall be the municipality.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to enact the City Financial Transparency Act. It requires municipal financial statements to include all municipal expenditures and allows the municipality’s financial statement to be posted on the municipality’s website in lieu publishing it as a Class I legal advertisement.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.
