Citations Affected: IC 20-42-2.
Synopsis: Common school fund. Allows for the transfer of
congressional township school funds held by various counties to the
treasurer of state.
Effective: July 1, 2007.
January 26, 2007, read first time and referred to Committee on Ways and Means.
A BILL FOR AN ACT to amend the Indiana Code concerning
education.
state over a period not to exceed twenty (20) years. A county
council may elect whether the county shall surrender all or any
part of the fund. If the county retains custody of any money in the
fund, the county shall loan the money as otherwise provided by
law.
(b) Within ten (10) days after the passage of the resolution by a
county council of a county electing to surrender the custody of the
fund or part of the fund, the county auditor shall prepare and file
with the board of commissioners of the county a report showing the
following:
(1) The total amount of the fund that has been entrusted to
and is held in trust by the county.
(2) The total amount of the fund that is loaned as provided by
law.
(3) The total amount of the fund, if any, loaned to the county
and which loans are unpaid.
(4) The total amount of the fund held in cash in the possession
and custody of the county and that is not loaned.
(5) A separate schedule of past due loans. The schedule must
show the unpaid balance of principal and the amount of
delinquent interest due and unpaid on each delinquent loan.
(c) The board of county commissioners shall examine the
reports, and, if found correct, the board of county commissioners
shall order:
(1) that the report be entered on its records; and
(2) the county auditor to draw the county auditor's warrant,
payable to the treasurer of state, for the amount of the fund
that is not loaned and is held in cash in the custody and
possession of the county as shown by the report.
The county auditor shall forward the warrants to the auditor of
state together with a certified copy of the report. The county
auditor shall also forward with the payment a certified copy of the
resolution of the county council electing to surrender the custody
of the fund or any part of the fund.
(d) After passage by the county council of a resolution electing
to surrender the custody of the fund or any part of the fund, no
part of the fund up to the amount designated in the resolution that
is not surrendered to the treasurer of state and is in the custody of
the county may be loaned by the county or by any official of the
county. Except as provided in this subsection, all outstanding loans
of the fund not part of the amount retained by the county at the
time of the passage of the resolution shall be collected when due.
Any loan that comes due and payable after the passage of the
resolution may be renewed for one (1) additional five (5) year
period, on the application of the person owing the loan as provided
by law. However, a loan that is more than one (1) year delinquent
in payment of principal or interest at the time of the passage of the
resolution of the county council may not be renewed.
(e) The maximum time to surrender money that the county
designates in the resolution is for a period not to exceed twenty (20)
years. On:
(1) May 1 or November 1 immediately after the passage of the
resolution electing to surrender the fund or any part of the
fund; and
(2) each May 1 and November 1 thereafter;
all the money collected and on hand up to the amount designated
in the resolution that belongs to the fund that is to be surrendered
shall be paid to the treasurer of state. If at the time for a
semiannual payment the amount collected and paid to the
treasurer of state when added to the amounts previously paid to
the treasurer of state is less than the result determined by
multiplying two and one-half percent (2.5%) of the amount in the
resolution by the number of semiannual payments that have
occurred after the passage of the resolution, the county auditor
shall draw the county auditor's warrant on the general fund of the
county for an amount sufficient to pay to the treasurer of state the
difference between the amount paid and the amount equal to the
result of multiplying two and one-half percent (2.5%) of the
amount designated in the resolution by the number of semiannual
payments that have occurred after the passage of the resolution.
(f) The board of county commissioners shall, in its annual
budget estimate, include an estimate of the amount necessary to
make the payments from the county general fund as required by
this section, and the county council shall appropriate the amount
of the estimate.
(g) A county is subrogated to all the rights and remedies of the
state with respect to loans made from a fund held in trust by the
county to the extent of any and all payments made from the county
general fund under this chapter.
(h) If a county elects to transfer custody of the fund or any part
of the fund to the treasurer of state, the treasurer of state shall
ensure that the principal of the fund belonging to any congressional
township or a part of a congressional township shall never be
diminished in amount.