§ 27-72-320 — Advance transfers to county highway funds - Definition

(a) (1) Advance transfers may be made to each of the several county highway funds from time to time during the fiscal year in amounts as may be requested by the several county courts and approved by the Chief Fiscal Officer of the State. (2) The purpose of advance transfers as herein provided includes, but is not limited to, establishing a more consistent monthly revenue accruing to each of the several county highway funds when combining county highway aid with all other sources of county highway fund revenues and providing advance transfers for the purchase of capital equipment and materials utilized in county road construction and maintenance. (3) However, the aggregate total amount of all transfers to each of the several respective county highway funds during any calendar quarter shall not exceed twenty-five percent (25%) of the estimated total amount of county highway aid funds to be credited to the respective fund for the current fiscal year, based on the then-current official estimate of county highway fund distribution. (4) In the event no advance transfer to the respective county highway funds is required by a respective county court, the county court shall be permitted to designate the dollar amounts and sequence of payments made to the respective county from the funds apportioned through the provisions of the State Apportionment Fund. (b) (1) The full amount of all advance transfers made during any fiscal year under subsection (a) of this section shall be repaid during the same fiscal year by transferring moneys in equal payments to the County Road Construction and Maintenance Revolving Fund from moneys designated as county highway aid funds for each respective county receiving advance transfers. Should any condition of circumstance arise wherein the unencumbered cash balance in each respective county highway aid fund account maintained by the Treasurer of State at the end of the fiscal year is insufficient to repay the full amount of the balance owing the County Road Construction and Maintenance Revolving Fund, then the entire unencumbered cash balance in each respective county highway fund account shall be transferred to the County Road Construction and Maintenance Revolving Fund. The balance of any amounts then owing the County Road Construction and Maintenance Revolving Fund by a respective county shall be repaid from the first moneys thereafter credited to that county as county highway aid funds from the State Apportionment Fund. There shall be no exception to this mandate. (2) For purposes of subsection (a) of this section, the term "unencumbered cash balance" means the respective fund account balance of each of the several counties as reflected by the Treasurer of State's records, less the amount of all warrants legally chargeable to such accounts which are, at the time, outstanding and unpaid. (c) The interfund transfers authorized to be made under subsection (a) of this section shall be made by the Treasurer of State upon certification of the Chief Fiscal Officer of the State at the request of each of the several county courts. (d) (1) Advance transfers pursuant to subsection (a) of this section may be made to each of the several counties as may be requested by the several county courts and approved by the Chief Fiscal Officer of the State. (2) Advance transfer requests shall be duly recorded as county court orders in each of the respective counties requesting advance transfers and shall be filed in a manner and form prescribed by the Chief Fiscal Officer of the State. (3) Advance transfer requests may be filed only during the thirty-day period next succeeding the date of delivery of the tax books to the county collector, the beginning of a state fiscal year, and the third Monday in November of each year. (4) The court order shall include a certification by the county court that the official revenue estimate as provided for in § 27-72-318 has been duly filed and recorded. (5) For each calendar year, it shall be the duty of the county court of each of the several counties requesting advance transfers under the provisions of subsection (a) of this section to prepare and file annual statements setting forth therein an estimate of the total amount of county highway revenues and general fund revenues anticipated to accrue to each respective fund during the then-current calendar year or any part thereof. (6) These statements shall be designated and known as the official estimates of county general and county highway fund accrual, and a copy shall be recorded with the county clerk. (7) In addition to the estimates of the total revenue amounts anticipated to accrue to each respective fund, the county court shall incorporate in each official estimate a listing of all revenue sources and the dollar amounts anticipated to accrue from each source by month of the calendar year. (8) The listing of revenue sources shall include, but not be limited to, ad valorem tax revenues, collector's commissions, treasurer's commissions, assessor's fund, fees, court fines and costs, state aid, and federal revenue-sharing. (9) Monthly estimates shall be based on an analysis of the three (3) annual calendar year periods next preceding the current calendar year period.

Legislative History

Acts 1975, No. 607, § 2; 1975 (Extended Sess., 1976), No. 1037, § 1; A.S.A. 1947, § 76-461.2; reen. Acts 1987, No. 863, § 1; 2011, No. 780, § 11.