§ 39-714 — County home; admission; treatment; ownership by two counties; tax levy, use of proceeds; issuance of bonds in certain counties

The poor farm or infirmary of any county shall be referred to as "the county home." The board of county commissioners shall supervise the county home. Persons shall be admitted to the county home by the board of county commissioners when it appears that the person will benefit more by living in the county home than at some other place and in some other manner; but nothing herein shall be construed as requiring the county or the board of county commissioners to admit or keep any person needing public assistance in the county home.
Persons cared for at the county home shall be provided with proper clothing, sufficient food, clean quarters, and means of recreation. Persons admitted to the county home may be assigned tasks in accordance with their ability, age, and physical health. A strict account shall be kept of the cost of operating the county home and the income produced by the activities of the home, including all farming, dairying, poultry, and other operations. The board of county commissioners shall appoint a properly qualified person for the management of the county home and such other employees as they deem necessary. Nothing herein shall be considered as affecting any existing contract between a county and the superintendent of the county poor farm. The superintendent shall be under the supervision of the board of county commissioners as regards the assistance of the persons admitted to the county home and the kind and amount of work, if any, which they may be required to do.
It shall be lawful for the board of county commissioners, whenever they deem it advisable, to purchase a tract of land in the name of the county, and thereupon to build, erect, establish, organize, and maintain a home for persons eligible to public assistance; and when two or more counties shall have jointly purchased any tract of land and erected an asylum for the poor, they shall have power to continue such joint ownership during their pleasure as a county home; and it shall be lawful for the county commissioners of two or more counties jointly to purchase lands, erect buildings, and make improvements, and do other things proper and necessary for the maintenance of a county home and to make such orders regarding joint supervisions as may be agreed upon. To raise the sum necessary for the purchase of land and the erection of buildings and the furnishing of the same, and the making of improvements and to pay a portion of the principal and interest on bonds issued under the authority of K.S.A. 12-1774, and amendments thereto, by cities located in the county, the board of county commissioners shall have the power to levy a tax on the taxable tangible valuation of such county; and after the levy of said tax and before the collection thereof it shall be lawful for the board of county commissioners to issue warrants in an amount not in excess of the sum that will be raised by said tax levy. Any county with a population of more than one hundred forty thousand (140,000) now having or which may hereafter have a county home, the board of county commissioners of such county may reconstruct, build additions and equip such additions thereto for the purpose of providing adequate facilities commensurate to decency and health for those persons being cared for at the county home.
For the purpose of paying for such reconstruction and building of additions thereto, the board of county commissioners may issue and sell general obligation bonds of such county, not exceeding the total sum of two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000), but before any such bonds may be issued the board of county commissioners shall, by resolution, declare its intent to issue such bonds, and such resolution shall be published in three successive issues of the official county paper whereupon such bonds may be issued unless a petition in opposition to such bond issue signed by not less than three hundred (300) of the qualified electors of such county, is filed with the county clerk of such county within thirty (30) days following the last publication of the resolution by the board of county commissioners. In the event such petition is filed it shall be the duty of the board of county commissioners to submit the question to the voters at an election called for such purpose or at the next general election. None of the debt limitations prescribed by law for any such county shall apply to any bonds issued under the authority conferred by this section. Nothing herein shall prevent the county from issuing poor bonds as provided by law.

Legislative History

L. 1937, ch. 327, § 12a; L. 1953, ch. 222, § 1; L. 1973, ch. 186, § 11; L. 1975, ch. 162, § 35; L. 1979, ch. 52, § 152; July 1.