Colorado § 25.5-1-121 - County expenditures - advancements - procedures.

§ 25.5-1-121. County expenditures - advancements - procedures.

(1) For purposes of this article, under rules of the state department, administrative costs shall include: Salaries of the county director and employees of the county department staff engaged in the performance of medical assistance activities; the county's payments on behalf of such employees for old age and survivors' insurance or pursuant to a county officers' and employees' retirement plan and for any health insurance plan, if approved by the state department; the necessary travel expenses of the county board and the administrative staff of the county department in the performance of their duties; necessary telephone and other electronic means of communication; necessary equipment and supplies; necessary payments for postage and printing, including the printing and preparation of county warrants required for the administration of the county department; and such other administrative costs as may be approved by the state department; but advancements for office space, utilities, and fixtures may be made from state funds only if federal matching funds are available.

(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of this article 1, the county department may spend in excess of twenty percent of actual costs for the purpose of matching federal funds for the administration of the child support enforcement program or for the administrative costs of activities involving food stamps or public assistance.

(3) (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, the county department may receive and spend federal funds to which it is entitled based on the county's certification of public expenditures for administrative costs made by other entities within the county, which expenditures:

(I) Are from sources other than the county social services fund;

(II) Are in excess of the county department's portion, as required pursuant to section 25.5-1-114 (2)(a), of the administrative costs; and

(III) Are for an administrative activity that has been approved by the state department as an activity that is eligible for reimbursement under a federal program.

(b) Acceptance and expenditure of federal funds pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subsection (3) shall not affect the state's share of and contribution to the administrative costs. The county shall be solely responsible for certifying the nonfederal share that is in excess of the county's required portion of the administrative costs. The state department may retain up to five percent of any federal funds received by a county department pursuant to this subsection (3). In addition, the state, in accordance with the provisions of section 26-1-109 (4)(d), C.R.S., shall recover any federal funds received by the county through the certification of public expenditures that are subsequently determined to be ineligible for federal reimbursement.

(4) Administrative costs do not include expenditures that are duplicative of costs covered by the centralized member integrity service, established in section 25.5-1-210, or shared services, as defined in section 26-1-802.

Source: L. 2006: Entire part amended, p. 1794, § 1, effective July 1. L. 2011: (3) added, (HB 11-1196), ch. 160, p. 555, § 6, effective August 10. L. 2026: (2) amended and (4) added, (HB 26-1429), ch. 374, p. 2311, § 10, effective June 4.

Editor's note: This section was contained in a 2006 act that amended this part, resulting in the addition of this section.

Cross references: For the legislative declaration in HB 26-1429, see section 1 of chapter 374, Session Laws of Colorado 2026.