Except for travel advances provided by §81.23 of this title (relating to Travel Using Chapter 19 Funds Authorized), all payments made from Chapter 19 funds will be issued on a reimbursement basis. An invoice from the vendor and a copy of the county paid voucher, ledger or bank statement must be submitted with all Chapter 19 Purchase Requests. The signed timesheet required by §81.22 of this title (relating to Use of Chapter 19 Funds for Temporary Employees) will be considered a "vendor's invoice" for purposes of this rule. Payments issued by the Comptroller of Public Accounts will be payable to the county, in the form of direct deposit to a new or pre-existing bank account as directed by the voter registrar. If the county establishes a new account, the county must budget funds to cover all setup fees, check orders and/or service charges associated with opening and maintaining the new account. Chapter 19 funds will not incur any fees or service charges associated with the setting up of a new account. Please note: our office encourages the county to use an existing account and develop a separate fund. The county voter registrar will use such account for the purpose of depositing and/or expending Chapter 19 funds. The voter registrar shall not commingle Chapter 19 fund ledger accounts with any other county fund ledger account. The voter registrar shall complete fund reconciliations on a monthly basis. Fund general ledgers or activity statements must be provided to the Agency semiannually and are considered part of the Chapter 19 fund records and must be available if requested by the Office of the Secretary of State for audit purposes. Except for travel expenses authorized by §81.23 of this title (relating to Travel Using Chapter 19 Funds Authorized), no cash payments may be made from Chapter 19 funds. All disbursement payments of Chapter 19 funds must be made by check or state transfer drawn on the Chapter 19 prescribed bank account as described above. Please be advised, whether the accounts are combined with an existing account or separate accounts are established, it will be the county voter registrar's legal responsibility to maintain a separate bookkeeping system to identify the debits and credits relating to all activities from the receipt of Chapter 19 Funds.

Source Note:The provisions of this §81.19 adopted to be effective October 1, 1995, 20 TexReg 7277; amended to be effective January 3, 2007, 31 TexReg 10755; amended to be effective June 22, 2008, 33 TexReg 4663.