Other Languages(1) When the governing body of a municipal corporation has directed the investment of less than all of its surplus funds which are in the custody of the county treasurer, and thereafter the treasurer, pursuant to § 1, chapter 173, Laws of 1967, invests all such surplus as part of the county's residual treasury cash balance ". . . to the maximum prudent extent . . . in United States government securities . . ." such investment does not affect the individual fund balances of the respective municipal corporations in his custody, and each municipal corporation retains the power to expend or invest its funds according to the respective fund balances shown in its accounts. (2) A proposed accounting regulation of the state auditor requiring county treasurers to account uniformly for their investments made under the provisions of chapter 173, Laws of 1967, as investments of residual cash in the county treasury would be consistent with the provisions and intent of the act. (3) It is the responsibility of the county finance committee, rather than that of the treasurer, to ascertain both the availability of surplus municipal funds for investment under the provisions of chapter 173, Laws of 1967, and the "maximum prudent extent" to which they may be invested, taking into account both the anticipated expenditure and investment requirements of each municipal corporation whose funds are in the custody of the county treasurer.
From and after the effective date of chapter 50, Laws of 1974, 1st Ex. Sess., the public deposit protection commission will no longer have any interest-fixing function to perform with respect to investment deposits made by the state treasurer of state funds in his custody.
1.When RCW 39.59.020(4) authorizes municipal treasurers to invest in " . . . any investments authorized by law for the treasurer of the state of Washington ..." and the state treasurer is authorized by law to invest in commercial paper by RCW 43.84.080(7) but only to the extent consistent with the policy of the State Investment Board, the legal limitations on the state and on municipal treasurers are confined to formally adopted policies of the State Investment Board, and neither the state nor municipal treasurers are bound by State Investment Board policies which are informal or unwritten.2.A municipal treasurer may not lawfully delegate authority to redeem warrants to a banking institution or other party outside the treasurer's office.3.A municipal treasurer may lawfully secure a line of credit for warrant redemption with a bank, to the extent permitted by RCW 39.58.170.4.A municipal treasurer may in certain circumstances secure a letter of credit from a bank for warrant redemption purposes, but only to guarantee payment of warrants the treasurer is statutorily authorized to pay.5.A letter or line of credit is a contingent liability and does not constitute a borrowing by a municipal corporation for purposes of applying constitutional or statutory debt or borrowing limitations; the borrowing occurs if the letter of line of credit is actually drawn down.
The provisions of RCW 36.29.180 only authorize a county treasurer to charge and collect a fee for his services in handling, collecting, disbursing and accounting for funds collected pursuant to the assessment rolls of a political subdivision as distinguished from the county's own assessment rolls for ad valorem property tax purposes.
If a public depositary is unwilling to provide the service of cashing or giving credit for state warrants, the state treasurer's office would be legally justified in excluding that depositary from further participation in the time deposit program provided, of course, the same restriction is imposed for any institution unwilling to agree to such a condition.
A county finance committee does not have the authority to direct which of several eligible banks shall be designated by the county treasurer as depositary of county funds or to determine the amount of funds to be placed in a particular depositary.
(1) The limitation in RCW 39.58.130 upon public deposits with a particular bank or trust company applies to all funds, in the aggregate, deposited by a county treasurer rather than separately to the funds of each municipality served by such treasurer. (2) The protections of chapter 39.58 RCW extend to all public funds on deposit with qualified depositaries irrespective of the limitations of RCW 39.58.130 and without regard to the reasons attributable to the violation of the statutory restriction.
On and after the effective date of chapter 50, Laws of 1974, 1st Ex. Sess., the state treasurer, acting pursuant to chapter 123, Laws of 1973, Ex. Sess., will continue to have the authority to allocate time deposits of state funds among participating depositaries "on a basis to be determined by the state treasurer. . . ."
A discussion of circumstances under which a school district warrant is to be registered so as to draw interest because of insufficient money in the fund upon which the warrant was drawn.
The board of directors of an intermediate school district does not have the authority to invest or to authorize its county treasurer to invest funds which it receives from the state for distribution to local school districts under RCW 28A.48.010.