Kay County Treasurer Official Web Site

COUNTY TREASURER'S DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The County Treasurer is an elected constitutional officer with a four-year term. The primary function of the County Treasurer is to collect taxes certified by the County Assessor, who has placed assessment valuations on real estate, personal property and public utilities in the county and calculated from the local mill levies.

Chief Financial Officer of the County: The County Treasurer handles all incoming and outgoing money and maintains an accurate accounting of all receipts and disbursements as provided by law assuming the role of "Banker" for the county.

Funds that the County Treasurer is custodian of come from a variety of sources such as:

• Large tax collections
• Tax collected for cities and watershed districts
• The State and Federal governments
• Fees and licenses
• Indian tribes, motor vehicle stamps and other in lieu of tax sources
• Road projects
• Health department, PBA and Emergency Management Agency
• Other county offices daily
• Mortgage tax

Tax Statements and Collections: The County Treasurer receives the certified tax roll from the County Assessor and then prepares and mails ad valorem tax statements to the property owners or to the mortgage holders when appropriate. The County Treasurer then collects the ad valorem tax and if not paid, issues delinquent personal and real property tax notices as well as second half statements. Special assessments such as sewer, water, weed, cleaning, paving and nuisance abatement taxes that are originally assessed by cities and towns in the county are certified to the County Treasurer for collection after they have become delinquent. They are placed as a lien on real estate property account of the taxpayer.

Apportionment of Funds: After collections the County Treasurer prepares a monthly apportionment report that shows the source of collection and disbursement of all funds including tax collections by mill levy for county, cities, towns, schools and health department. Other collections for cities and towns and watershed districts are disbursed by collection certifications from those entities. All collections are balanced daily, monthly and yearly to assure all entities have received the exact and correct amount.

Tax Sales: The County Treasurer is responsible for three kinds of tax sales. The responsibilities include preparing, advertising and conducting each one of these sales. These are the October lien sale, June resale and County Commissioners sale. The County Treasurer's Office also manages county-owned property acquired at annual sales of real estate for delinquent taxes. The County Treasurer also may sell these parcels of property upon approval of the Board of County Commissioners.

Investing County Money: The County Treasurer handles all the investments for the county and invests only in approved securities and in time frames of the money available. The County Treasurer also monitors bank collateral pledged by banks for county money.

Financial Statements: The County Treasurer prepares and sends monthly and yearly reports to the State Auditors Office. Prepares and presents all office budgets to the appropriate county boards for approval.

County Warrants: The County Treasurer registers and balances all warrants and vouchers for all county departments and also redeems the warrants from the bank daily when presented for payment.

Mortgage Tax: The County Treasurer collects and certifies mortgage tax. The real estate mortgage tax must be paid before the County Clerk can record the mortgage or before any court judgment or final order can be made regarding the mortgage.

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