Can a county library board claim the entire balance of the county public library fund (from voter-approved millage) and hold it in its own bank account, paying expenses directly without going through the county treasurer?
Subject
Whether a county library board can present a claim for the entire undistributed balance of the county public library fund under A.C.A. § 13-2-404(c)(3), and how it must hold and spend those funds.
Plain-English summary
Representative Les Warren asked the AG six questions about the relationship between a county library board and the county treasurer over voter-approved library millage funds. The library board at issue is an administrative board under A.C.A. § 14-14-705, and the library is funded by voter-approved millage.
Question 1: Can the board claim the undistributed balance? Yes. Under A.C.A. § 13-2-404(c)(3)(A)(i), the board first asks the quorum court to adopt an ordinance directing the county treasurer to release the undistributed balance. The ordinance must specify how often the board can claim (no more frequently than monthly). After the ordinance, the board certifies a claim to the treasurer for an amount equal to the undistributed balance, and the treasurer processes the claim "as all other claims against the county" under § 13-2-404(c)(3)(B).
The AG addressed the constitutional concern. Amendment 38, § 2 says public library tax proceeds must be "segregated by the county officials[,] used only for that purpose[, and] held in the custody of the County Treasurer" until a claim is approved. The AG read Amendment 38 and § 13-2-404 as working together: both require initial custody by the treasurer, both require approval of any claim by the quorum court and (if there is one) the library board, and § 13-2-404(c)(3)(B) ensures the board's claim is processed like any other claim. So the statutory mechanism is constitutional.
Question 2: How does the board hold the funds? The board must place the funds in a bank account in the library board's name (per § 14-25-102 and § 14-25-103). The board pays its expenses pursuant to its own appropriate resolution or budget under § 13-2-404(c)(3)(C). The AG could not find any authority allowing the county treasurer to control the board's bank account once the funds have been transferred. As limitations, the board must comply with § 14-21-101's comprehensive financial-management system requirements and Amendment 38's segregation requirement (proceeds must be used only for library purposes).
On time limits: the county public library fund is likely a "special fund provided by law" subject to § 14-21-106. A quorum court can enact an ordinance to transfer "unexpended and unappropriated" surplus funds from a previous year and use them as current-fiscal-year revenues. But because Amendment 38 segregates library taxes for library purposes, transferred funds remain restricted to library use even in the treasurer's hands.
Question 3: Other procedures? The AG knows of no other procedures beyond those discussed.
Question 4: What about year-end balances? Funds appropriated but not yet spent stay in board custody. Funds unappropriated and unspent at year-end have to be handled per § 14-21-106 (transferred back to the treasurer via check if the quorum court has enacted such an ordinance, but still restricted to library purposes by Amendment 38).
Question 5: If Question 1 were no, how would the board return funds? Same § 14-25-103(b) procedure: write a check to the county treasurer.
Question 6: Does AGOp. 2017-144 control here? No. Opinion 2017-144 was about civil offices under Article 5, § 10 and Article 7, § 53. While it referenced § 13-2-404(c), it did not interpret that section in a way that resolves Representative Warren's questions.
What this means for you
County library boards
You can take operational control of your library funds via the § 13-2-404(c)(3) procedure. The pre-conditions: (1) you have to be an actual library board (administrative under § 14-14-705 in this case), and (2) the quorum court has to enact an ordinance directing the release of the undistributed balance. Once those are in place, you certify a claim to the treasurer, deposit the funds in your own bank account in the board's name, and pay expenses by board resolution.
Important constraints. You must comply with A.C.A. § 14-21-101's financial-management framework (recordkeeping, audit, transparency). You must respect Amendment 38, § 2's segregation rule (proceeds of library tax can only be used for library purposes). Year-end unappropriated, unspent funds may have to go back to the treasurer if the quorum court has enacted a transfer ordinance under § 14-21-106. Even after they go back, the funds are still restricted to library use by Amendment 38.
The county treasurer cannot control your board's bank account after transfer. The AG made that explicit.
County treasurers
Once the quorum court has enacted the release ordinance and the library board has certified its claim, you process the claim like any other claim against the county. Under § 13-2-404(c)(3)(C), the funds get released to the board, which deposits them in its own account. You don't retain operational control of the funds after release, except in the year-end transfer scenario under § 14-21-106 if the quorum court has enacted that ordinance.
Quorum-court members
Whether to enact the § 13-2-404(c)(3)(A)(i) release ordinance is your discretionary call. The ordinance has to specify how often the library board can claim funds, and the claim cannot be more frequent than monthly. You can also consider whether to enact a § 14-21-106 ordinance for year-end transfers; if you do, unappropriated unspent funds from the library board come back to the treasurer at year-end, but stay segregated for library use.
Library directors
If your board has gone through the § 13-2-404(c)(3) process and is now holding library funds in a board-controlled account, your operational autonomy is greater than under traditional treasurer control. You can pay vendors, hire staff, and execute capital projects on the board's resolution timeline rather than going through claim-by-claim approval at the county. But you still owe full compliance with § 14-21-101 financial management and Amendment 38 segregation. Treat board funds the same way the county treasurer would have to: documented, audited, and segregated.
Anyone with concerns about library board fund stewardship
The library board is operating under multiple constraints. Amendment 38 makes the funds available only for library purposes. § 14-21-101 requires comprehensive financial management. The quorum court still controls the cycle by deciding whether to enact the release ordinance and whether to enact the year-end transfer ordinance. If you have concerns, a public records request to the board for the budget, resolutions, and bank records will give you visibility.
Common questions
Q: Does this work the same way for a regional library system?
The opinion is specifically about an administrative library board under § 14-14-705 supported by voter-approved millage. Regional library systems may have different governance and funding structures. The general framework should still apply, but check the specific authorizing statute for your system.
Q: What if the quorum court refuses to enact the release ordinance?
The library board can't claim the funds without the ordinance. § 13-2-404(c)(3)(A)(i) makes the claim contingent on the ordinance directing release. The funds stay with the treasurer. The library board can still receive periodic disbursements under whatever existing arrangement controls (typically a budget process where the treasurer disburses on quorum-court-approved appropriations).
Q: Can a quorum court rescind the release ordinance later?
The opinion doesn't address this directly. As a general matter, an ordinance is rescindable by the same body that enacted it. If the quorum court did rescind, the library board would lose its standing to claim the undistributed balance going forward, though existing balances in the board's account would remain there subject to Amendment 38.
Q: What if the library board is later abolished?
A.C.A. § 14-21-109 says the quorum court may transfer remaining county funds designated for the abolished purpose to the county general revenue fund. The AG cited this provision. The Amendment 38 segregation requirement still applies to library tax proceeds, however, so transferred funds may need to remain segregated for library purposes even in the general fund.
Q: Are gifts, bequests, donations, or fines treated the same?
No. The opinion was specifically about voter-approved millage funds. A.C.A. § 13-2-404(b)(1) ("[f]unds received by the county public library by gift, bequest, devise, or donation or from fees or fines") is a separate category. The AG explicitly limited his analysis to "funds generated by voter-approved and collected millage."
Q: We're a small county. Do we need to claim the entire undistributed balance, or can we claim a partial amount?
The statutory text says "the undistributed balance," not "any portion." Read literally, the board's claim is for the full undistributed balance. The board's exposure to the year-end transfer ordinance under § 14-21-106 means an excessive claim that becomes year-end unappropriated funds may have to go back to the treasurer anyway. So claiming what the board can actually spend or appropriate is more practical.
Background and statutory framework
The Arkansas Constitution, Amendment 38, § 2, requires that "[t]he proceeds of any tax voted for the maintenance of a county public library, county library service, or county library system shall be segregated by the county officials and used only for that purpose, and such proceeds shall be held in the custody of the County Treasurer until such time as a claim or claims against such funds shall have been approved by the County Quorum Court for an existing public library or service or by both the County Quorum Court and a county library board, in counties having such a board." Section 13-2-404 implements this constitutional framework.
Section 13-2-404 has multiple subsections. (a)(1) covers tax and other county-appropriated funds. (b)(1) covers gifts, bequests, devises, donations, fees, and fines. (c) covers library board claims, with (c)(3) the release-of-balance procedure that this opinion construes.
The release procedure under § 13-2-404(c)(3) requires a quorum-court ordinance that specifies frequency (no more than monthly), a board claim certification for the amount equal to the undistributed balance, and treasurer processing "as all other claims against the county." Once funds are released, the board deposits them under § 14-25-102 (county officials must maintain public funds in approved depositories in the name of the county office) and § 14-25-103(a) (public funds received by virtue of an official's position must be deposited intact).
A.C.A. § 14-21-101 is the comprehensive county financial-management system. Library boards holding funds under § 13-2-404(c)(3) are bound by it.
A.C.A. § 14-21-106 governs surplus funds: a quorum court can enact an ordinance to transfer unexpended and unappropriated surplus from previous year to current year as revenue. The library tax proceeds are subject to this provision but, due to Amendment 38, the segregation persists.
A.C.A. § 14-21-109 covers what happens if a fund's underlying purpose is abolished: the quorum court "may transfer any remaining balance" to the county general revenue fund. Amendment 38's segregation may continue to apply if the proceeds are library tax.
A.C.A. § 14-25-103(b) covers transfers between county officials: deposit, then write a check on that account to transfer.
The earlier AGOp. 2017-144 dealt with civil offices under Ark. Const. art. 5, § 10 and art. 7, § 53. While it touched on § 13-2-404(c), it didn't interpret that section in a way that resolves the questions Representative Warren asked.
Citations
- Ark. Const. amend. 38, § 2 (segregation of library tax proceeds)
- Ark. Const. art. 5, § 10 (civil office)
- Ark. Const. art. 7, § 53 (civil office)
- A.C.A. § 13-2-404 (county public library fund)
- A.C.A. § 13-2-404(a)(1) (tax and county-appropriated funds)
- A.C.A. § 13-2-404(b)(1) (gifts, fees, fines)
- A.C.A. § 13-2-404(c)(3)(A)(i) (release ordinance and claim)
- A.C.A. § 13-2-404(c)(3)(B) (treasurer processing)
- A.C.A. § 13-2-404(c)(3)(C) (board resolution or budget for expenditures)
- A.C.A. § 14-14-705 (administrative library boards)
- A.C.A. § 14-21-101 (comprehensive financial-management system)
- A.C.A. § 14-21-106 (surplus funds transfer)
- A.C.A. § 14-21-109 (abolished fund disposition)
- A.C.A. §§ 14-23-101(a), -104 (quorum-court ordinance procedures)
- A.C.A. § 14-25-102 (county-official depository requirements)
- A.C.A. § 14-25-103 (deposit and inter-official transfer procedures)
- A.C.A. § 14-25-114(a)(1) (claims against the county)
- AGOp. 2017-144 (civil offices, county library boards)
- AGOp. 2023-122 (constitutional avoidance canon)
- AGOp. 2001-250 (carryover of unexpended unappropriated surplus)
Source
Original opinion text
Opinion No. 2024-090
June 5, 2025
The Honorable Les A. Warren
State Representative
Post Office Box 22900
Hot Springs, Arkansas 71903
Dear Representative Warren:
You have requested my opinion regarding the process for submitting a library board's claim under A.C.A. § 13-2-404(c)(3) for the "undistributed balance" of the county public library fund. You report that the library board at issue was created as an administrative board under A.C.A. § 14-14-705. You also state that the library at issue "is supported by a voter-approved millage."
You have asked these questions (paraphrased for clarity):
- Does A.C.A. § 13-2-404(c)(3) allow a library board to present a claim to the county treasurer for the entire undistributed balance in the county public library fund?
Brief response: Yes. That provision outlines a procedure by which a library board can present a claim to the county treasurer for "the undistributed balance of the [county public library] fund."
- If the library board receives payment of the entire undistributed balance in the county public library fund, is the board authorized to (a) control and hold the entire balance with no time limit or other limitations, (b) keep the balance in a bank account separate from and outside of the control of the county treasurer, and (c) pay the board's expenditures directly pursuant to a resolution or budget adopted by the board?
Brief response: When a library board receives the undistributed balance of the county public library fund, the board must place that money into a bank account in the name of the library board. Then the board must pay the board's "expenditure[s] pursuant to an appropriate resolution or budget adopted by the governing library board." I have not been able to locate any authority under which the county treasurer could control the board's bank account. As to limitations, the board must comply with the comprehensive financial management system requirements in A.C.A. § 14-21-101 and Amendment 38, § 2 of the Arkansas Constitution, which requires that "[t]he proceeds of any tax voted for the maintenance of a county public library … shall be segregated … and used only for that purpose."
- If the library board receives payment of the entire undistributed balance in the county public library fund, are there any additional applicable procedures required other than those set forth in A.C.A. § 13-2-404(c) and the subsections thereof?
Brief response: Please see my response to Question 2. Other than those procedures discussed in this opinion, I am not aware of any other procedures related to transferring these funds between the county treasurer and the library board.
- If the answer to Question 1 is yes, and the library board takes custody of its funds, but does not spend all the funds, what must be done with the remainder at the end of the financial year? Must they be returned to the treasurer at that time, or may those funds be retained by the library board?
Brief response: At the end of the financial year, funds that have been appropriated but not yet spent should remain in the custody of the library board. If there are unappropriated and unspent funds at the end of the financial year, then the funds disposition depends on whether the quorum court has enacted a certain ordinance.
- If the answer to Question 1 is no, must any funds currently held by a library board under a scenario as described in Question 1 be returned to the treasurer? If so, what is the appropriate procedure to return such funds to the treasurer?
Brief response: Please see my response to Question 1.
- Should the language in Opinion No. 2017-144 regarding county library boards be considered as the Attorney General's interpretation of A.C.A. § 13-2-404(c) or merely discussion of the civil-office issue?
Brief response: Opinion No. 2017-144 concerns "civil offices" under Article 5, § 10 and Article 7, § 53 of the Arkansas Constitution. While that opinion does reference A.C.A. § 13-2-404(c), it does not include an interpretation of that provision as it pertains to your questions.
DISCUSSION
You have asked me to limit this opinion to "funds generated by voter-approved and collected millage," so these responses do not concern "other county-appropriated funds" or "[f]unds received by the county public library by gift, bequest, devise, or donation or from fees or fines."
Question 1: Does A.C.A. § 13-2-404(c)(3) allow a library board to present a claim to the county treasurer for the entire undistributed balance in the county public library fund?
Yes. That provision outlines a procedure by which a library board can present a claim to the county treasurer for "the undistributed balance of the [county public library] fund." First, the board requests that the quorum court adopt an ordinance directing the county treasurer to release the undistributed balance of the fund to the board. That ordinance must "specify the frequency that the [board's] claim may be made." But the claim cannot be made more frequently than monthly. After the ordinance is enacted, the board "certif[ies] to the county treasurer a claim against the fund for an amount equal to the undistributed balance of the fund." Finally, the county treasurer processes the board's claim "as all other claims against the county."
Your question may be prompted by Amendment 38, § 2 of the Arkansas Constitution, which requires that "proceeds of any tax voted for the maintenance of a county public library … shall be segregated by the county officials[,] used only for that purpose[, and] held in the custody of the County Treasurer" until a claim against the proceeds is approved by the quorum court and the county library board, if one exists. But I believe that a reviewing court would find that these two provisions work together. Both Amendment 38, § 2 and A.C.A. § 13-2-404(a)(1) require that the county treasurer initially have custody of taxes that the county receives for the benefit of the county library. If no library board has been created, then the county treasurer retains all library funds and disperses those on behalf of the county library. Further, both provisions state that any claim against these proceeds must be approved by the quorum court and the county library board, if one has been established. Finally, A.C.A. § 13-2-404(c)(3)(B) explains that when a library board submits a "claim" for the undistributed balance of the fund, the board's claim "shall be acted upon as all other claims against the county." As these provisions establish, A.C.A. § 13-2-404(c)(3) creates "a claim against the [county public library] fund for an amount equal to the undistributed balance of the fund," which is not contrary to the constitution.
Question 2: If the library board receives payment of the entire undistributed balance in the county public library fund, is the board authorized to (a) control and hold the entire balance with no time limit or other limitations, (b) keep the balance in a bank account separate from and outside of the control of the county treasurer, and (c) pay the board's expenditures directly pursuant to a resolution or budget adopted by the board?
When a library board receives the undistributed balance of the county public library fund, the board must place that money into a bank account in the name of the library board. And then the board must pay the board's "expenditure[s] pursuant to an appropriate resolution or budget adopted by the governing library board." I have not been able to locate any authority under which the county treasurer could control the board's bank account. (But if the board is abolished in the future, the county quorum court "may transfer any remaining balance of county funds designated for that purpose to the county general revenue fund….")
As to limitations, the board must comply with the comprehensive financial management system requirements in A.C.A. § 14-21-101. And the board must also comply with Amendment 38, § 2 of the Arkansas Constitution, which requires that "[t]he proceeds of any tax voted for the maintenance of a county public library … shall be segregated … and used only for that purpose."
As to time limits, the county public library fund is likely a "special fund provided by law" and subject to A.C.A. § 14-21-106. Under that provision, a quorum court can enact an ordinance "to transfer and add" any "unexpended and unappropriated" surplus funds "from any previous year … and use it as revenues for the current fiscal year." But Amendment 38, § 2 requires that taxes for the benefit of the county library be segregated and used only for that purpose. So if a quorum court enacted an ordinance requiring the transfer of the board's "unexpended and unappropriated" surplus funds, the board would transfer those funds via check to the county treasurer. And the funds would still be restricted to maintaining the county library, even after the county treasurer receives them.
Question 3: If the library board receives payment of the entire undistributed balance in the county public library fund, are there any additional applicable procedures required other than those set forth in (c)(1),(2), and (3) and the subsections thereof?
Please see my response to Question 2. Other than those procedures discussed in this opinion, I am not aware of any other procedures related to transferring these funds between the county treasurer and the library board.
Question 4: If the answer to Question 1 is yes, and the library board takes custody of its funds, but does not spend all the funds, what must be done with the remainder at the end of the financial year? Must they be returned to the treasurer at that time, or may those funds be retained by the library board?
At the end of the financial year, funds that have been appropriated but not yet spent should remain in the custody of the library board. If there are unappropriated and unspent funds at the end of the financial year, then A.C.A. § 14-21-106 may apply, with the condition discussed above.
Question 5: If the answer to Question 1 is no, must any funds currently held by a library board under a scenario as described in Question 1 be returned to the treasurer? If so, what is the appropriate procedure to return such funds to the treasurer?
Please see my response to Question 1. As to the appropriate procedure to return funds to the county treasurer, the library board would transfer those funds via check to the county treasurer.
Question 6: Should the language in Opinion No. 2017-144 regarding county library boards be considered as the Attorney General's interpretation of A.C.A. § 13-2-404(c) or merely discussion of the civil-office issue?
Opinion No. 2017-144 concerns "civil offices" under Article 5, § 10 and Article 7, § 53 of the Arkansas Constitution. While that opinion does reference A.C.A. § 13-2-404(c), it does not include an interpretation of that provision as it pertains to your questions.
Assistant Attorney General Jodie Keener prepared this opinion, which I hereby approve.
Sincerely,
TIM GRIFFIN
Attorney General