Powers and Duties — County Property and Accounts

  1. Law
  2. Tennessee Code
  3. Counties
  4. County Mayors
  5. Substantive Provisions
  6. Powers and Duties — County Property and Accounts

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The county mayor shall be the accounting officer and general agent of the county; and, as such, the county mayor shall have power, and it shall be the county mayor's duty to:

  1. Have the care and custody of all the county property, except such as is by law placed in the custody of other officers;
  2. Appoint an agent or attorney to take care of such property, and fix such agent's or attorney's compensation;
  3. Control all books, papers and instruments pertaining to the county mayor's office;
  4. Audit all claims for money against the county;
  5. Draw, without seal, all warrants upon the county treasury;
  6. Audit and settle the accounts of the county trustee, and those of any other collector or receiver of county revenue, taxes, or incomes, payable into the county treasury, and those of any persons entrusted to receive or expend any money of the county;
  7. Require such officers or persons to render and settle their accounts as directed by law, or by the authority under which they act;
  8. Enter in a book, to be known as the warrant book, in the order of issuance, the number, date, amount and name of the drawee of each warrant drawn upon the treasury;
  9. Keep in a suitable book an account of the receipts and expenditures of the county, so as to show clearly the assets of the county, and the debts payable to and by it, balancing the account semiannually, and generally to superintend the financial concerns of the county; and
  10. Report, in writing, semiannually, to the county legislative body all moneys received and paid out, and a complete statement of the financial condition of the county, and the county mayor shall settle the county mayor's accounts once every year.

Code 1858, § 421 (deriv. Acts 1855-1856, ch. 253, § 8; 1857-1858, ch. 38, § 8); impl. am. Acts 1859-1860, ch. 120, § 8; Acts 1879, ch. 76, § 3; Shan., § 517; Code 1932, § 769; Acts 1978, ch. 934, § 21; impl. am. Acts 1978, ch. 934, §§ 7, 36; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 5-608; Acts 2003, ch. 90, § 2.

Compiler's Notes. Acts 2003, ch. 90, § 2, directed the code commission to change all references from “county executive” to “county mayor” and to include all such changes in supplements and replacement volumes for the Tennessee Code Annotated.

Cross-References. Motion against collector for failure to settle accounts, §67-1-1602.

Option to redesignate county mayor as county executive by private act, §5-6-101.

Textbooks. Tennessee Jurisprudence, 8 Tenn. Juris., Counties, § 12; 16 Tenn. Juris., Judges, § 9; 19 Tenn. Juris., Municipal, State and County Securities, § 4.

Law Reviews.

The Tennessee Court System — Probate Courts, 8 Mem. St. U.L. Rev. 461 (1978).

Attorney General Opinions. Authority of county executive (now county mayor) over county finance office, OAG 99-032, 1999 Tenn. AG LEXIS 19 (2/18/99).

County executive's (now county mayor's) authority over sheriff's department purchasing, OAG 99-051, 1999 Tenn. AG LEXIS 48 (3/4/99).


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