59.255 Comptroller.

(1) Eligibility.

(a) No person may hold the office of comptroller unless he or she is either a certified public accountant, licensed or certified under ch. 442, or has a master's degree or a doctorate degree in accounting or finance from a regionally accredited, nonprofit, post-secondary educational institution.

(b) No person holding the office of sheriff, undersheriff, circuit judge, district attorney, clerk of the circuit court, clerk, or member of the board shall be eligible to hold the office of comptroller or deputy comptroller.

(c) This section applies only to a county with a population of 750,000 or more.

(2) Duties and responsibilities.

(a) The comptroller is the chief financial officer of the county, and the administrator of the county's financial affairs. The comptroller shall oversee all of the county's debt.

(b) The comptroller shall appoint one deputy to aid the comptroller, under the comptroller's direction, in the discharge of the duties of the office of comptroller. The appointment shall be in writing and shall be filed and recorded in the comptroller's office. Such deputy, in the absence of the comptroller from the comptroller's office or in case of a vacancy in said office or any disability of the comptroller to perform the duties of the office of comptroller, unless another is appointed therefor as provided in par. (c), shall perform all of the duties of the office of comptroller until such vacancy is filled or such disability is removed. The person so appointed shall take and file the official oath. The person shall file his or her appointment with the clerk. The board may, at its annual meeting or at any special meeting, provide a salary for the deputy.

(c) If any comptroller is incapable of discharging the duties of the office of comptroller, the county executive shall appoint a person, subject to confirmation by the board, comptroller who shall serve until such disability is removed. A person so appointed or appointed to fill a vacancy in the office of comptroller, upon giving an official bond with like sureties as are required of such comptroller, shall perform all the duties of such office, and thereupon the powers and duties of any deputy performing the duties of the last comptroller shall cease.

(d) Each month, at the board's first meeting, the comptroller shall report to the board and the county executive, in writing, the condition of the county's outstanding contracts and of each of the county's funds and the claims payable from the funds. The comptroller shall also file with the county executive and the board each year on or before October 1 a certified and detailed statement of the receipts and disbursements on account of each fund of the county during the preceding fiscal year, specifying the source of each receipt and the object of each disbursement, and also an estimate of the receipts and disbursements for the current fiscal year.

(e) The comptroller shall countersign all contracts with the county if he or she determines that the county has, or will have, the necessary funds to pay the liability that the county may incur under the contract. No contract is valid until so countersigned.

(f) At least monthly the comptroller shall examine the treasurer's accounts as reported and as kept, and shall report to the county executive and board as to their correctness and as to any violation by the treasurer of the treasurer's duty in the manner of keeping accounts or disbursing moneys.

(g) Whenever requested to do so by the county executive or board, the comptroller shall provide an independent fiscal analysis of any matter affecting the county, and shall provide the county executive and board with a fiscal note for all proposed legislation.

(h) Annually, the comptroller shall prepare a written 5-year financial condition forecast for the county, which shall be distributed to the county executive and the board.

(i) The comptroller shall perform all audit functions related to county government. The comptroller shall also have the duties and all the powers and responsibilities conferred upon the clerk as auditor under s. 59.47 (1), and shall perform any additional duties and shall have any additional powers as are imposed and conferred upon him or her from time to time by resolution adopted by the board. Audit functions under this paragraph shall be performed in accordance with governmental auditing standards issued by the comptroller general of the United States and generally accepted auditing standards.

(j) The comptroller shall administer and oversee all shared services contracts.

(k) The comptroller may in writing, filed in the office of the clerk, appoint a deputy who shall act under the comptroller's direction and in the comptroller's absence or disability, or in case of a vacancy shall perform the comptroller's duties. The deputy shall receive such compensation as the board provides. The acts of a deputy shall be covered by official bond as the board directs.

History: 2011 a. 62; 2013 a. 165 s. 115; 2017 a. 150.