If a treasurer executes a bond pursuant to section 30-10-701 (1), the condition of the bond shall be in substance as follows: Whereas, .............., was elected to the office of County Treasurer of the County of ............ on the ............ day of ............; Now, therefore, the condition of this obligation is such, that if the said .............. and the treasurer's deputy and all persons employed in the treasurer's office shall faithfully and promptly perform the duties of said office, and if the said .............. and the treasurer's deputies shall pay or invest according to law, all moneys that shall come to the hands of the treasurer, and shall render a just and true account thereof whenever required by said board of county commissioners, or by any provision of law, and shall deliver over to a successor in office, or to any other person authorized by law to receive the same, all moneys, securities, books, papers, and other things appertaining thereto or belonging to the treasurer's office, the above obligation to be void, otherwise to be in full force and effect; except that the surety shall in no event be liable for any loss caused by the failure or insolvency of the depository in which the county treasurer or the treasurer's deputies deposit any such public funds, or for any loss arising out of the investment of any such funds.
Source: G.L. § 527. G.S. § 631. R.S. 08: § 1317. C.L. § 8791. L. 33-34, Ex. Sess.: p. 51, § 1. CSA: C. 45, § 138. CRS 53: § 35-7-3. C.R.S. 1963: § 35-7-3. L. 2010: Entire section amended, (HB 10-1062), ch. 161, p. 563, § 24, effective August 11.
ANNOTATION
The bond of the county treasurer is the measure of his duties as treasurer, and is the contract covering his duties and all those in his employ performing the duties of the office. Goss v. Bd. of Comm'rs, 4 Colo. 468 (1878).
Under this section neither a deputy treasurer nor clerk gives a bond to the public for the faithful performance of the duties he undertakes, and the relation of debtor and creditor between the county and the treasurer is unaffected by the circumstance that the duties of the latter are discharged by deputy or clerical agency, and there is no such privity between the county or the public, and the deputy or clerk, as to create an implied contract between them in the face of an express contract between the treasurer and the public, embracing the duties of the office by whomsoever performed. Goss v. Bd. of Comm'rs, 4 Colo. 468 (1878).
The money received by the treasurer by virtue of his office belongs to the county. McClure v. Bd. of Comm'rs, 19 Colo. 122, 34 P. 763 (1893).
It constitutes a trust fund, which, if diverted or misappropriated, may be recovered in an action upon his bond, or the county may, if it elects, treat it as a trust fund and follow it wherever it can be traced. McClure v. Bd. of Comm'rs, 19 Colo. 122, 34 P. 763 (1893).
Interest due and sureties liable. Money in the hands of a county treasurer belonging to a county, and not turned over to his successor at the time the latter assumed the duties of the office, would draw interest at the legal rate from that date, and the sureties on his official bond are liable to the county for such money with interest. Gartley v. People ex rel. Pueblo County, 28 Colo. 227, 64 P. 208 (1901).