Colorado § 30-10-711 - Payment of warrants - call published.

§ 30-10-711. Payment of warrants - call published.

(1) County orders and warrants, properly made and issued, shall be entitled to a preference as to payment, according to the order of time in which they may be presented to the county treasurer; but where two or more orders are presented at the same time, precedence shall be given to the order or warrant of the oldest date, and when two or more orders are presented at the same time, and there are no funds to the credit of the proper fund in the treasury to pay the same, the same shall be registered in the order of their date, precedence being given to the warrant of the oldest date. When there is in the treasury, to the credit of any fund, five hundred dollars or more, against which fund there are any outstanding and unpaid lawful warrants or orders, the county treasurer shall immediately give public notice of the fact by a written notice posted for thirty days at the outer door of the office of the treasurer. The treasurer, at the same time, shall call in for payment all outstanding and unpaid lawful warrants and orders drawn on said fund which the moneys in the treasury will pay and which are entitled to payment from said funds.

(2) Such notice shall also contain the number, date, and amount of such warrants and orders as are entitled to payment and call upon the holders thereof to present the same for payment to the treasurer within thirty days from the day of the posting of said notice, and that interest on the sums due by said warrants and orders will cease to accrue thereon after the last day of said posting of said notice, and interest shall cease to accrue on said sums accordingly. Such notice shall be dated at the county seat, be signed by the treasurer, and a record of the same be kept in the office of the treasurer in a book provided for that purpose; and such books shall be open to inspection and examination at all reasonable hours. Such funds shall be held by the county treasurer for the payment of the warrants and orders called by him, until the expiration of six years from the date of registry of such warrants and orders, when the same shall be paid out upon such other warrants or orders as are entitled to payment on the day of the expiration of the six years.

(3) The treasurer shall pay by electronic transfer any written authorization issued by the board of county commissioners directing the treasurer to make payment of claims against the county electronically.

(4) Payment of county warrants and orders by electronic transfer shall be made only after the treasurer approves the release of funds for such electronic transfer.

(5) Repealed.

Source: G.L. § 533. G.S. § 637. L. 1887: p. 243, § 4. R.S. 08: § 1325. C.L. § 8800. CSA: C. 45, § 147. CRS 53: § 35-7-11. C.R.S. 1963: § 35-7-11. L. 96: Entire section amended, p. 563, § 25, effective April 24. L. 98: (3) to (5) added, p. 149, § 2, effective April 2. L. 2025: (5) repealed, (SB 25-275), ch. 377, p. 2109, § 336, effective August 6.

Editor's note: Subsection (5) was relocated to § 30-10-700.3 in 2025.

Cross references: For the publication of legal notices, see part 1 of article 70 of title 24.

ANNOTATION

County warrants are payable in the order of their presentation to the county treasurer, and not otherwise, and the law enters into and becomes part of the contract between the county and the holders of its warrants, and each registered warrant matures as soon as sufficient money has accumulated in the treasury to the credit of the proper fund for its payment, after paying all other warrants of the same class whose registry was prior in time. Bd. of Comm'rs v. People ex rel. New Hampshire Sav. Bank, 16 Colo. App. 215, 64 P. 675 (1901).

Contractual obligation. It is settled by authority that where the law, at the time of the issuance of a warrant, provides for its payment in the order of its presentation this becomes a part of the contract and cannot be altered or changed, at least without an equally safe, certain, and speedy provision for payment. E. H. Rollins & Sons v. Bd. of Comm'rs, 199 F. 71 (8th Cir. 1912).

No legislative impairment allowed. The county is bound by contract to give orders precedence in payment over all orders subsequently issued, and the county commissioners can take no step, either with or without legislative sanction, that shall impair the obligation of these contracts. People v. Austin, 11 Colo. 134, 17 P. 485 (1887).

The holder of a warrant has the right to its payment at its maturity, and without his consent he cannot be deprived of that right by the holders of other warrants, or by the county. Bd. of Comm'rs v. People ex rel. New Hampshire Sav. Bank, 16 Colo. App. 215, 64 P. 675 (1901).

Right to sue. It was held that a county warrant payable out of any money in the treasury appropriated for county expenditures was a written acknowledgment of indebtedness by the county and if not paid, when presented, could be sued on by the legal holder, although there was no money in the treasury to pay. Schloss v. Bd. of County Comm'rs, 1 Colo. App. 145, 28 P. 18 (1891).

The statute of limitations does not commence to run against warrants until there is sufficient money in the treasury to pay them and prior orders. E. H. Rollins & Sons v. Bd. of Comm'rs, 199 F. 71 (8th Cir. 1912).