CHAPTER 13 - CLAIMS AGAINST COUNTIES - South Carolina Statutes

Title 4 - Counties

CHAPTER 13.

CLAIMS AGAINST COUNTIES

SECTION 4-13-10. Claims shall be itemized and verified.

No account shall be audited and ordered to be paid by the governing body of any county for any labor performed, fees, services, disbursements or any other matter unless it shall be made out in items and accompanied by an affidavit attached thereto and made by the person or officer presenting or claiming the same that the items are correct and that the labor, fees, disbursements, services or other matters charged therein have been in fact done, made, rendered or are due and that no part of the same has been paid or satisfied.

SECTION 4-13-20. Claims filed by court clerk, sheriff or magistrate require additional oath.

When any such account is filed by a clerk of the court, sheriff or magistrate, the officer filing the claim shall declare further on oath that the costs in the case out of which the claim arises have not been recovered out of the defendants and that the defendants are unable to pay costs; and also that the fines and penalties theretofore collected by them have been faithfully and fully paid over to the county treasurer. In every case the magistrate shall exhibit the original papers in which costs have accrued.

SECTION 4-13-30. Claims of certain county officers and physicians for post mortems.

The accounts of the coroners, sheriffs and supervisors and physicians' or surgeons' fees for post mortems shall be approved by the governing body of the county, and the supervisor, on their approval, shall draw an order upon the county treasurer for the payment of such accounts, countersigned by the secretary of the governing body.

SECTION 4-13-40. "File Book" of claims.

The governing body of each county shall keep in its office a "File Book" in which all claims presented for its consideration shall be entered by its clerk, the entry designating the date of filing, by whom presented, to whom such claim belongs and the character and amount thereof. The clerk shall number such claims in the order in which they are filed, audited and allowed from number one upwards.

SECTION 4-13-50. Memorandum of time of presentment and name of claimant must appear in minutes.

A memorandum of the time of presenting such claims and the names of the persons in whose favor they are made out and by whom presented shall be entered in the minutes of the governing body.

SECTION 4-13-60. Custody of claim; withdrawal from custody.

No account when presented, audited and ordered to be paid shall be withdrawn from the custody of the governing body or its clerk for any purpose whatever, except to be used in evidence upon a judicial trial or proceeding, in which case it shall, after being so used, be forthwith returned to such custody.

SECTION 4-13-70. Time when claims shall be barred.

No claim against any county of this State shall be valid and payable unless the same be presented to and filed with the governing body of such county during the fiscal year in which it is contracted or the next thereafter, and all claims not so presented and filed shall be barred. No claim audited and allowed by the governing body or clerk of court for fees of witnesses and jurors shall be paid by the county treasurer unless it is presented to him for payment within five years from the date it is audited and allowed. This provision shall not affect the law as to the bonded debt of any county.

SECTION 4-13-80. Governing body shall disallow certain claims; only legal and verified claims shall be allowed.

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prevent the governing body of any county from disallowing any account, in whole or in part, when so rendered and verified, if it appears that the charges are incorrect or that the services or disbursements have not, in fact, been made or rendered, nor from requiring any other or further evidence of the truth or propriety thereof. No allowance or payment beyond legal claims shall ever be allowed. And the governing body of the county may refuse to audit or allow any claim or demand whatsoever unless made out and verified in the manner herein specified.

SECTION 4-13-90. Fees shall not be paid by county in connection with proof of claims.

No fees shall be paid by the governing body of any county for the proof of any claim presented to them. All public officers are required to probate without compensation all claims against their respective counties.

SECTION 4-13-100. Drawing of orders on county treasurer.

The county supervisor shall draw orders on the county treasurer, under the seal of the supervisor, countersigned by the secretary or clerk of the governing body of the county for all accounts against the county which the governing body has allowed, but he shall draw no orders until after the monthly report of the treasurer has been received by the governing body, nor unless he has reported that there are funds in the treasury to pay the same. The county supervisor shall inform the county treasurer of the orders drawn, in whose favor, the amount and the order in which they are drawn.

SECTION 4-13-110. Repealed by 1993 Act No. 100, Section 1, eff June 14, 1993.

SECTION 4-13-120. Copies of claims approved by county authorities shall be delivered to legislative delegation.

The county supervisor or the governing body of each county in this State shall have a duplicate of each claim approved by the county supervisor or by the governing body of the county for each fiscal year. Such duplicate copy shall show the township from which it originates and be for the use of the Senators and members of the House of Representatives of the respective counties. They shall be made as the different transactions occur in the different offices of the county supervisor or governing body of the county and shall be delivered on demand to the Senator or any of the members of the House of Representatives for any such county upon their receipt for the same; provided, that at the beginning of each fiscal year the Senator or some member of the House of Representatives shall give notice that such duplicate copy is required of them for his use or for the use of the legislative delegation from such county.

SECTION 4-13-130. Publication of list of claims audited.

The county supervisors shall publish in some newspaper published in their respective counties, at least in one issue thereof and within fifteen days after each meeting of the governing body of the county at which claims are audited, a full statement of the claims audited by such governing body at its meeting immediately preceding such publication. The statement shall show, as published, the file number of the claim, the amount claimed, the amount allowed, the nature of the claim or service rendered and the name of the claimant. Such publication shall be paid for at the rate now allowed by law for public printing, provided the same does not exceed sixty dollars per annum.

SECTION 4-13-140. Failure to publish list of claims audited.

The failure of any supervisor or of the governing body of any county to publish the quarterly reports required by Section 4-13-130 shall be a misdemeanor, punishable by fine or imprisonment or both, within the discretion of the court.

SECTION 4-13-150. Designation of accounts allowed; copies; endorsements.

The county supervisor shall designate every account upon which any sum shall be audited and allowed by the board, the amount so audited and allowed and the charges for which the same was allowed. He shall also deliver to any person who may desire it a certified copy of any account on file in his office on receiving from such person ten cents for every folio of one hundred words contained in such copy. And the supervisor shall endorse on every account allowed and ordered to be paid words indicating that it has been audited above the signature of the county supervisor.