The Florida Senate

17.041  County and district accounts and claims.--

(1)  It shall be the duty of the Department of Banking and Finance of this state to adjust and settle, or cause to be adjusted and settled, all accounts and claims heretofore or hereafter reported to it by the Auditor General, the appropriate county or district official, or any person against all county and district officers and employees, and against all other persons entrusted with, or who may have received, any property, funds, or moneys of a county or district or who may be in anywise indebted to or accountable to a county or district for any property, funds, moneys, or other thing of value, and to require such officer, employee, or person to render full accounts thereof and to yield up such property, funds, moneys, or other thing of value according to law to the officer or authority entitled by law to receive the same.

(2)  On the failure of such officer, employee, or person to adjust and settle such account, or to yield up such property, funds, moneys, or other thing of value, the department shall direct the attorney for the board of county commissioners, the district school board, or the district, as the case may be, entitled to such account, property, funds, moneys, or other thing of value to represent such county or district in enforcing settlement, payment or delivery of such account, property, funds, moneys, or other thing of value. The department may enforce such settlement, payment, or delivery pursuant to s. 17.20.

(3)  Should the attorney for the county or district aforesaid be disqualified or unable to act, and no other attorney be furnished by the county or district, or should the department otherwise deem it advisable, such account or claim may be certified to the Department of Legal Affairs by the department, to be prosecuted by the Department of Legal Affairs at county or district expense, as the case may be, including necessary per diem and travel expense in accordance with s. 112.061, as now or hereafter amended. Such expenses, when approved by the department, shall be paid forthwith by such county or district.

(4)  Should it appear to the department that any criminal statute of this state has or may have been violated by such defaulting officer, employee, or person, such information, evidence, documents, and other things tending to show such a violation, whether in the hands of the Comptroller, the Auditor General, the county, or the district, shall be forthwith turned over to the proper state attorney for inspection, study, and such action as may be deemed proper, or the same may be brought to the attention of the proper grand jury.

(5)  No such account or claim, after it has been certified to the department, may be settled for less than the amount due according to law without the written consent of the department, and any attempt to make settlement in violation of this subsection shall be deemed null and void. A county or district board desiring to make such a settlement shall incorporate the proposed settlement into a resolution, stating that the proposed settlement is contingent upon the Comptroller's approval, and shall submit two copies of the resolution to the department. The department shall return one copy with the Comptroller's action endorsed thereon.

(6)  No settlement of account of any such officer, employee, or person, with the county or district, or any of their officers or agents, made in an amount or manner other than as authorized by law or for other than a lawful county or district purpose, shall be binding upon such county or district unless and until approved by the department, or unless more than 4 years shall have elapsed from the date of such settlement.

(7)  Nothing in this section shall supersede the continuing duty of the proper county and district officers to require any officer, employee, or person to render full accounts of and to yield up according to law to the officer or authority entitled by law to receive the same, any property, funds, moneys, or other thing of value as to which such officer, employee, or person is in anywise indebted to or accountable to such county or district. The provisions of this section provide for collections and recoveries which the proper county or district officers have failed to make, and for correction of settlements made in an amount or manner other than as authorized by law.

History.--s. 1, ch. 59-145; s. 8, ch. 69-82; s. 1, ch. 69-300; ss. 11, 12, 35, 69-106; s. 1, ch. 73-334; s. 7, ch. 77-104; s. 2, ch. 83-132; s. 55, ch. 95-147.