54-7-113 - Receipt and disbursement of funds Public advertisement and competitive bidding Chart of accounts. - Tennessee Statutes

54-7-113. Receipt and disbursement of funds Public advertisement and competitive bidding Chart of accounts.

(a)  All funds received by any person for the county for road or highway purposes shall be promptly deposited with the county trustee and shall be expended only upon a disbursement warrant drawn on the trustee in accordance with law.

(b)  Expenditures of funds for the operation of the county road department shall be made within the limits of the approved budget and the appropriations made for the department, in accordance with law.

(c)  (1)  Except as provided in subdivision (c)(3), all purchases by or for a county road department or by a chief administrative officer shall be by public advertisement and competitive bid, except as follows:

          (A)  Purchases costing less than ten thousand dollars ($10,000); provided, that this exemption shall not apply to purchases of like items that individually cost less than ten thousand dollars ($10,000), but that are customarily purchased in lots of two (2) or more, if the total purchase price of the items would exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000) during any fiscal year;

          (B)  Repair of heavy road building machinery or other heavy machinery for which limited repair facilities are available;

          (C)  Purchases of any supplies, materials, or equipment for immediate delivery in actual emergencies arising from unforeseen causes, including delays by contractors, delays in transportation, and unanticipated volume of work; but emergencies shall not include conditions arising from neglect or indifference in anticipating normal needs. A report of emergency purchases shall be kept, specifying each purchase, the amount paid, the items purchased, from whom the items were purchased, and the nature of the emergency; and

          (D)  All purchases costing less than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) by or for a county road department or by a chief administrative officer may be made in the open market without newspaper notice, but shall, wherever possible, be based on at least three (3) competitive bids.

     (2)  Except as provided in subdivision (c)(3), all leases or lease-purchase arrangements requiring payments of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) or more, or that are made or are automatically extendable, for periods of more than ninety (90) days, shall be entered into only after public advertisement and competitive bidding.

     (3)  This subsection (c) does not have the effect of repealing existing statutes, including private acts, that establish purchasing provisions for a county road department; but no county road department shall be required to publicly advertise and competitively bid purchases of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) or less even if the bids are now required by public or private act. This subsection (c) shall apply to all counties of the state except counties of population of two hundred thousand (200,000) or more according to the 1970 federal census, whether or not excluded from this chapter.

(d)  A chart of accounts shall be kept by the chief administrative officer in conformity with a uniform chart of accounts developed and prescribed by the comptroller of the treasury in accordance with §§ 5-8-501 5-8-503.

[Acts 1974, ch. 738, § 12; T.C.A., § 54-1013; Acts 1980, ch. 473, § 2; 1980, ch. 726, § 1; 1983, ch. 295, § 1; 1995, ch. 179, §§ 6-8; 2005, ch. 114, § 1.]