Virginia Code 15.2-1245: Procedure for allowance of claims.
A. No account shall be allowed by the governing body of the county unless made out in separate items with the nature of each item specifically stated. When no specific fees are allowed by law, the time actually and necessarily devoted to the performance of any service charged in such account shall be verified by affidavit, which shall be filed with the account. The attorney for the Commonwealth, or the county attorney if there is one, shall represent the county before the board and advise the board of any claim which in his opinion is illegal or not before the board in proper form or upon proper proof, or which for any other reason ought not to be allowed. No such claim shall be denied unless the attorney representing the county has, by certified mail, served written notice on the claimant or his agent of the date that the governing body will consider the claim.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 15.2-1245
- Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
- Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
- County: means any existing county or such unit hereafter created. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Governing body: means the board of supervisors of a county, council of a city, or council of a town, as the context may require. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
- State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
B. If any claim has been allowed by the governing body against the county which in the opinion of such attorney is improper as to form or proof or illegal, the attorney shall seek the advice of the Attorney General as to legality or the State Auditor of Public Accounts as to matters of accounting. If any claim has been allowed by the governing body against the county which, in the opinion of any six owners of land within the county is improper as to form or proof or illegal, such landowners may appeal the decision of the governing body to the circuit court for the county. If either the Attorney General or the State Auditor of Public Accounts is of the opinion the claim is illegal or in improper form, the attorney for the Commonwealth shall appeal from the decision of the governing body to the circuit court for the county. In the event of any such appeal, the moving party shall serve a written notice of the appeal on the clerk of the governing body and the party in whose favor the claim is allowed within 30 days after the making of such decision. If the court finds and states in its order that the claim was improperly allowed but that the consideration received or to be received by the county for payments made or to be made was or will be for value, it shall dismiss the appeal. If the court finds otherwise, it shall remand the claim to the governing body for appropriate action.
C. Whenever any claim allowed by a county governing body is declared illegal by a court of competent jurisdiction, the attorney for the Commonwealth, or the county attorney if there is one, in the name of the county, shall institute proper proceedings in the circuit court of his county within two years from the entry of the order declaring the claim illegal, if such amount has already been paid. Such attorney shall be available to the governing body and give his legal opinion when requested.
D. Nothing in this section shall prevent any county governing body from disallowing any account, in whole or in part, when rendered and verified consistent with subsection A, or requiring any other evidence of the truth and propriety of any account as it thinks proper.
Code 1950, §§ 15-257, 15-258; 1962, c. 623, §§ 15.1-550, 15.1-551; 1968, c. 450; 1980, c. 58; 1982, c. 173; 1984, c. 617; 1997, c. 587; 2010, c. 668.