Title 36 — Title 36 COUNTIES

Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the board of county commissioners may meet for the purpose of holding a budget hearing, provided for in RCW 36.40.070, on the first Monday in December. The board of county commissioners may also set other dates relating to the…

Upon the conclusion of the budget hearing the county legislative authority shall fix and determine each item of the budget separately and shall by resolution adopt the budget as so finally determined and enter the same in detail in the official minutes of the board, a copy of whi…

The board of county commissioners shall then fix the amount of the levies necessary to raise the amount of the estimated expenditures as finally determined, less the total of the estimated revenues from sources other than taxation, including such portion of any available surplus …

The estimates of expenditures itemized and classified as required in RCW 36.40.040 and as finally fixed and adopted in detail by the board of county commissioners shall constitute the appropriations for the county for the ensuing fiscal year; and every county official shall be li…

Moneys received from borrowing shall be used for no other purpose than that for which borrowed except that if any surplus shall remain after the accomplishment of the purpose for which borrowed, it shall be used to redeem the county debt. Where the budget contains an expenditure …

Expenditures made, liabilities incurred, or warrants issued in excess of any of the detailed budget appropriations or as revised by transfer as in RCW 36.40.100 or 36.40.120 provided shall not be a liability of the county, but the official making or incurring such expenditure or …

When a public emergency, other than such as are specifically described in RCW 36.40.180, and which could not reasonably have been foreseen at the time of making the budget, requires the expenditure of money not provided for in the budget, the board of county commissioners by majo…

No expenditure shall be made or liability incurred pursuant to the order until a period of five days, exclusive of the day of entry of the order, have elapsed, during which time any taxpayer or taxpayers of the county feeling aggrieved by the order may have the superior court of …

The service and filing of the petition shall operate to suspend the emergency order and the authority to make any expenditure or incur any liability thereunder until final determination of the matter by the court.[ 1963 c 4 s 36.40.160. Prior: 1925 ex.s. c 143 s 2, part; 1923 c 1…

Upon the filing of a petition the court shall immediately fix a time for hearing it which shall be at the earliest convenient date. At such hearing the court shall hear the matter de novo and may take such testimony as it deems necessary. Its proceedings shall be summary and info…

Upon the happening of any emergency caused by fire, flood, explosion, storm, earthquake, epidemic, riot, or insurrection, or for the immediate preservation of order or of public health or for the restoration to a condition of usefulness of any public property the usefulness of wh…

All emergency expenditures shall be paid for by the issuance of emergency warrants which shall be paid from any moneys on hand in the county treasury in the fund properly chargeable therewith and the county treasurer shall pay such warrants out of any moneys in the treasury in su…

In addition to the supplemental appropriations provided in RCW 36.40.100 and 36.40.140, the county legislative authority may provide by resolution a policy for supplemental appropriations as a result of unanticipated funds from local revenue sources.[ 1997 c 204 s 4.]

All appropriations shall lapse at the end of the fiscal year: PROVIDED, That the appropriation accounts may remain open for a period of thirty days, and may, at the auditor's discretion, remain open for a period not to exceed sixty days thereafter for the payment of claims incurr…

If prior to the election for any county legislative authority office, a salary adjustment for such position to become effective upon the commencement of the term next following such election is adopted by ordinance or resolution of the legislative authority of such county, and a …

On or before the twenty-fifth day of each month the auditor shall submit or make available to the board of county commissioners a report showing the expenditures and liabilities against each separate budget appropriation incurred during the preceding calendar month and like infor…

The state auditor may make such rules, classifications, and forms as may be necessary to carry out the provisions in respect to county budgets, define what expenditures shall be chargeable to each budget account, and establish such accounting and cost systems as may be necessary …

This chapter shall not be construed to create any new fund.[ 1963 c 4 s 36.40.230. Prior: 1923 c 164 s 9; RRS s 3997-9.]

Any person violating any of the provisions of this chapter shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not less than twenty-five dollars nor more than five hundred dollars.[ 1963 c 4 s 36.40.240. Prior: 1923 c 164 s 10; RRS s 3997-10.]

In lieu of adopting an annual budget, the county legislative authority of any county may adopt an ordinance or a resolution providing for biennial budgets with a mid-biennium review and modification for the second year of the biennium. The county legislative authority may repeal …

(1) The boards of county commissioners may adopt standard building codes and standard fire regulations to be applied within their respective jurisdictions.(2) The boards of county commissioners may eliminate the minimum gross floor area requirements for single-family detached dwe…

The building codes or fire regulations when adopted by the board of county commissioners shall be applicable to all the area of the county situated outside the corporate limits of any city or town, or to such portion thereof as may be prescribed in such building code or fire regu…

The boards of county commissioners may appoint fire inspectors or other inspectors to enforce any building code or fire regulation adopted by them. The boards must enforce any building code or fire regulation adopted by them.[ 1963 c 4 s 36.43.030. Prior: 1943 c 204 s 3; Rem. Sup…

Any person violating the provisions of any building code or any fire regulation lawfully adopted by any board of county commissioners shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.[ 1963 c 4 s 36.43.040. Prior: 1943 c 204 s 4; Rem. Supp. 1943 s 4077-13.]

All claims for damages against any county shall be filed in the manner set forth in chapter 4.96 RCW.[ 1993 c 449 s 10; 1967 c 164 s 14; 1963 c 4 s 36.45.010. Prior: 1957 c 224 s 7; prior: 1919 c 149 s 1, part; RRS s 4077, part.]Notes:Purpose—Severability—1993 c 449: See notes fo…

Whenever any county, by its board of county commissioners, has entered into a contract for the construction of any public improvement for the benefit of the county, whereby the contractor agreed to furnish all labor, material, and supplies necessary for the improvement, and the c…

(1) Before a lawsuit may be commenced in disputes between elected officials, as the term "elected official" is defined in subsection (7) of this section, in their official capacity, the party bringing the claim must first notify in writing the other parties to the claim. The noti…

The necessity and the desirability of coordinating the administrative programs of all of the counties in this state is recognized by this chapter.[ 1963 c 4 s 36.47.010. Prior: 1959 c 130 s 1.]

It shall be the duty of the assessor, auditor, clerk, coroner, sheriff, superintendent of schools, treasurer, and prosecuting attorney of each county in the state, including appointive officials in charter counties heading like departments, to take such action as they jointly dee…

The county officials enumerated in RCW 36.47.020 are empowered to designate the Washington state association of county officials as a coordinating agency through which the duties imposed by RCW 36.47.020 may be performed, harmonized, or correlated.[ 1969 ex.s. c 5 s 2; 1963 c 4 s…

Each county which designates the Washington state association of county officials as the agency through which the duties imposed by RCW 36.47.020 may be executed is authorized to reimburse the association from the county current expense fund for the cost of any such services rend…

The county officials enumerated in RCW 36.47.020 are authorized to take such further action as they deem necessary to comply with the intent of this chapter, including attendance at state and district meetings which may be required to formulate the reports provided for in *RCW 36…

The financial records of the Washington state association of county officials shall be subject to audit by the state auditor.[ 1995 c 301 s 66; 1969 ex.s. c 5 s 5; 1963 c 4 s 36.47.060. Prior: 1959 c 130 s 6.]

It is the desire of the legislature that the Washington State Association of County Officials, as set forth in chapter 36.47 RCW and the Washington State Association of Counties, as set forth in RCW 36.32.350, shall merge into one association of elected county officers. Only one …

Each county treasurer shall annually at the end of each fiscal year or at such other times as may be deemed necessary, designate one or more financial institutions in the state which are qualified public depositaries as set forth by the public deposit protection commission as dep…

The county treasurer shall deposit with any depositary, which has fully complied with all requirements of RCW 36.48.010 through 36.48.060, any county money in his or her hands or under his or her official control, and for the purpose of making the quarterly settlement and countin…

The provisions of RCW 36.48.010 through 36.48.060 shall in no way relieve or release the county treasurer from any liability upon his or her official bond as such treasurer, or any surety upon such bond, and shall in no way affect the duty of the several county treasurers to give…

"Financial institution," whenever it occurs in RCW 36.48.010 through 36.48.050, means a branch of a bank engaged in banking in this state in accordance with *RCW 30.04.300, and any state bank or trust company, national banking association, stock savings bank, mutual savings bank,…

The county treasurer, the county auditor, and the chair of the county legislative authority, ex officio, shall constitute the county finance committee. The county treasurer shall act as chair of the committee and the county auditor as secretary thereof. The committee shall keep a…

The county clerks of all the counties of the state shall deposit all funds in their custody, as clerk of the superior court of their respective counties, in one or more qualified depositaries, as provided in chapter 39.58 RCW, as now or hereafter amended.[ 1973 c 126 s 7; 1963 c …

Whenever the clerk of the superior court has funds held in trust for any litigant or for any purpose, they shall be deposited in a separate fund designated "clerk's trust fund," and shall not be commingled with any public funds. However, in the case of child support payments, the…

The county assessor shall turn over the list of dog owners to the county treasurer for collection of the taxes. Upon the payment of the license tax upon any dog or kennel the county treasurer shall deliver to the owner or keeper of such dog or kennel a license, and a metallic tag…

Any person becoming the owner of a dog or kennel after the assessment has been returned by the assessor and any owner of a dog or kennel which for any reason the assessor has failed to assess, may at any time apply to the county treasurer, and upon the payment of the required fee…

If any person whose name appears upon the list prepared by the county assessor fails to pay the license tax to the county treasurer on or before the first day of August of the year in which the list is made, the county treasurer shall proceed to collect the delinquent license tax…

All license taxes collected in accordance with the provisions of this chapter shall be placed in a separate fund in the office of the county treasurer to be known as the "county dog license tax fund."[ 1963 c 4 s 36.49.050. Prior: 1929 c 198 s 4; RRS s 8304-4; prior: 1919 c 6 s 2…

On the first day of March of each year all moneys in the county dog license tax fund in excess of five hundred dollars shall be transferred and credited by the county treasurer to the current expense fund of the county.[ 1963 c 4 s 36.49.060. Prior: 1929 c 198 s 8; RRS s 8304-5.]

Any person or officer who refuses to comply with or enforce any of the provisions of this chapter shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.[ 1963 c 4 s 36.49.070. Prior: 1929 c 198 s 9; RRS s 8304-6.]

The board of county commissioners of any county and the governing body of any municipality are authorized to establish and conduct extension work in agriculture and home economics in cooperation with Washington State University, upon such terms and conditions as may be agreed upo…

The board of county commissioners may grant a license to keep a ferry across any lake or stream within its county, upon being satisfied that a ferry is necessary at the point applied for, which license shall continue in force for a term to be fixed by the commissioners not exceed…

The county legislative authority may charge such sum as may be fixed under the authority of RCW 36.32.120(3) for such license, and the person to whom the license is granted shall pay to the appropriate county official the tax for one year in advance.[ 1985 c 91 s 2; 1963 c 4 s 36…