account for care, support, supplies or attendance, furnished to poor persons, by order of the overseer of the poor, or otherwise, shall be audited or allowed by the overseer, unless such bill, claim or account be verified by the claimant, to the effect that such care, support, supplies or attendance have been actually furnished for such poor persons, that such poor persons have actually received the same, and that the prices charged therefor are reasonable and not above the usual market rates. § 26. Overseers to keep books of accounts. Overseers of the poor, who receive and expend money for the relief and support of the poor in their respective towns and cities, shall keep books to be procured at town or city expense, in which they shall enter the name, age, sex and native country of every poor person who shall be relieved or supported by them, together with a statement of the causes, either direct or indirect, which shall have operated to render such relief necessary, so far as the same can be ascertained. They shall also enter upon such books a statement of the name and age, and of the names and residences of the parents of every child who is placed by them in a family, with the name and address of the family with whom every such child is placed, and the occupation of the head of the family. They shall also enter upon books so procured, a statement of all moneys received by them, when and from whom, and on what account received, and of all moneys paid out by them, when and to whom paid and on what authority, and whether to town, city or county poor; also a statement of all debts contracted by them as such overseers, the names of the persons with whom such debts were contracted, the amount and consideration of each item, the names of the persons for whose benefit the debts were contracted, and if the same have been paid, the time and manner of such payment. The overseers shall lay such books before the board of town auditors or the common council of the city, at its first annual meeting in each year and, upon being given ten days' notice thereof, at any adjourned or special meeting of such board or council, together with a just, true and verified itemized account of all moneys received and expended by them for the use of the poor since the last preceding annual meeting of said board, and a verified statement of debts contracted by them as such overseer and remaining unpaid. The board or council shall compare said account with the entries in the book, and shall examine the vouchers in support thereof, and may examine the overseers of the poor, under oath, with reference to such account. They shall thereupon audit and settle the same, and state the balance due to or from the overseer, as the case may be. Such account shall be filed with the town or city clerk, and at every annual town meeting, the town clerk shall produce such town account for the next preceding year, and read the same, if it be required by the meeting. The overseers of the town shall have such books present each year at the annual town meeting, subject to the inspection of the voters of the town, and the entries thereon for the preceding year shall there be read publicly at the time reports of other town officers are presented, if required by a resolution of such meeting. No credit shall be allowed to any overseers for moneys paid, unless it shall appear that such payments were made necessarily or pursuant to a legal order. [As amended by L. 1897, Ch. 222, § 1.] Such overseers shall § 27. Annual report of overseers. make to the town board, at its second annual meeting in each year, a written report, stating their account as provided in the last section, continued to that date, and any deficiency that may then exist in the town poor fund, with their estimate of the sum which they shall deem necessary for the temporary and out-door relief and support of the poor in their town for the ensuing year, and in counties where there is no county alms-house, their estimate of such sum as they shall deem necessary to be raised and collected therein for the support of the poor for the ensuing year. If such board shall approve the statement and estimate so made or any part thereof, they shall so certify in duplicate, one of which certificates shall be filed in the office of the town clerk, and the other shall be laid by the supervisor of the town, before the board of supervisors of the county, on the first day of its next annual meeting. The board of supervisors shall cause the amount of such deficiency and estimates, as so certified, together with the sums voted by such town for the relief of the poor therein to be levied and collected in such town, in the same manner as other town charges, to be paid to the overseers of the poor of such town, and the warrants attached to the tax-rolls in such county shall direct accordingly. The moneys so raised shall be received by such overseers, and applied toward the payment of such deficiency, and for the maintenance and support of the poor, for whose relief such estimates were made. The town board shall also, on or before the first day of December, annually certify to the county superintendents, the name, age, sex and native country, of every poor person relieved and supported by such overseers during the preceding year, with the causes which shall have operated to render them such poor persons, the amount expended for the use of each person, as allowed by the board, and the amount allowed to each overseer for services rendered in relation to temporary or town relief. The town board shall include in such annual statement to the county superintendents and the county superintendents shall include in their own report to the state board of charities a statement of the name and age, and of the names and residence of the parents of every child who has been placed by such overseers in a family during the preceding year, with the name and address of the family with whom each child is placed, and the occupation of the head of the family. § 28. Accounts of town officers. The accounts of any town officer for personal or official services rendered by him, in relation to the town poor, shall be audited and settled by the town board and charged to such town. But no allowance for time or services shall be made to any officer for attending any board solely for the purpose of having his account audited or paid. This chapter § 29. Overseers of the poor in cities. shall apply to overseers of the poor in cities, except where otherwise specially provided by law. In the absence of such special provision, overseers of the poor in each city shall make their report to the auditing board of such city, by whatever name known, at the beginning of the fiscal year of such city, if such time be fixed, otherwise on the first day of January in each year; the common councils of such cities as shall be liable for the support of their own poor shall yearly determine the sum of money to be appropriated for the ensuing year, and a certified copy of such determination shall be laid before the board of supervisors of the county, who shall cause the same to be assessed, levied, collected and paid to the county treasurer. 30. Hospital accommodations for indigent persons. 1. Any city or county, in which a hospital duly incorporated is situated, may send to and support, in the same, such sick and disabled indigent persons as require medical or surgical treatment, and when admitted the authorities of such city or county shall pay to the directors of such hospital such sum per week as may be agreed upon or found to be just during the period in which such person shall remain in such hospital. [L. 1872, Ch. 733, § 2 pt. incorporated.] 2. In all counties of this state in which there are not adequate hospital accommodations for indigent persons requiring medical or surgical care and treatment, or in which no appropriations of money are made for this specific purpose, it shall be the duty of county superintendents of the poor, upon the certificate of a physician approved by the board of supervisors, or of the overseers of the poor in the several towns of such counties, upon the certificate of a physician approved by the supervisor of the town, as their jurisdiction over the several cases may require, to send all such indigent persons requiring medical or surgical care and treatment to the nearest hospital, the incorporation and management of which have been approved by the state board of charities, provided transportation to such hospital can be safely accomplished. The charge for the care and treatment of such indigent persons in such hospitals, as herein provided, shall not exceed one dollar per day for each person, which shall be paid by the several counties or towns from which such persons are sent, and provision for which shall be made in the annual budgets of such counties and towns. [Added by L. 1901, Ch. 103, § 1.] ARTICLE [3] 4 Settlement and Place of Relief of Poor Persons Section 40. Settlements, how gained. 41. Qualification of last section. 42. Poor persons not to be removed, and how supported. 43. Proceedings to determine settlement. 44. Hearing before superintendents. 45. How to compel towns to support poor persons. 46. Proceedings to determine who are county poor. 47. In counties without alms-house. 48. Decisions to be entered and filed. 49. Appeal to the county court. 50. Penalty for removing. 51. Proceedings to compel support. 52. Liability, how contested. 53. Neglect to contest. 54. Actions, when and how to be brought. 55. Penalty for bringing foreign poor into this state. 57. Recovery from pauper who has property. § 40. Settlements, how gained. Every person of full age, who shall be a resident and inhabitant of any town or city for one year, and the members of his family who shall not have gained a separate settlement, shall be deemed settled in such town or city, and shall so remain until he shall have gained a like settlement in some other town or city in this state, or shall remove from this state and remain therefrom one year. A minor may be emancipated from his or her father or mother and gain a separate settlement: 1. If a male, by being married and residing one year separately from the family of his father or mother. 2. If a female, by being married and having lived with her husband; in which case the husband's settlement shall be deemed that of the wife. 3. By being bound as an apprentice and serving one year by virtue of such indentures. 4. By being hired and actually serving one year for wages, to be paid such minor. § 41. Qualification of last section. A woman of full age, by marrying, shall acquire the settlement of her husband. Until a poor person shall have gained a settlement in his or her own right, his or her settlement shall be deemed that of the father, if living, if not, then of the mother; but no child born in any alms-house shall gain any settlement merely by reason of the place of such birth; neither shall any child born while the mother is such poor person, gain any settlement by reason of the place of its birth. No residence of any such poor person in any alms-house, while such person, or any member of his or her family, is supported or relieved at the expense of any other town, city, county or state, shall operate to give such poor person a settlement in the town where such actual residence may be. § 42. Poor persons not to be removed, and how supported. No person shall be removed as a poor person from any city or town, to any other city or town of the same or any other county, nor from any county to any other county except as hereinafter provided; but every poor person, except the state poor, shall be supported in the town or county where he may be, as follows: 1. If he has gained a settlement in any town or city in such county, he shall be maintained by such town or city. 2. If he has not gained a settlement in any town or city in the county in which he shall become poor, sick or infirm, he shall be supported and relieved by the superintendents of the poor at the expense of the county. 3. If such person be in a county where the distinction between town and county poor is abolished, he shall, in like manner, be supported at the expense of the county, and in both cases, proceedings for his relief shall be had as herein provided. |