Public official surety bond
Public official surety bond
Public official surety bond is a type of bond which guarantees that the public official will faithfully perform the official duties as per law. Public officials by definition are those who have been appointed to look after the welfare of the public like tax collectors, judges, court clerks, treasurers, notaries etc. These public officials are thus responsible for all accounts and cash collection of public funds. The deputies and subordinates of public officials are also included in the public official surety bond. What all comes under the ambit of public official surety bond? Dishonesty, loss of any sort due to negligence on the part of the public official, failure to give a proper account of public funds, an error in judgment and losses resulting from that, illegal operations, wrongdoing are some of the things which are covered. Thus a bonded official has to be very careful and faithful it his/her execution of the job duties and responsibilities. Public official surety bond is very easy to get, especially for smaller bond amounts where the principal is a very reputed person known for his/ her integrity and he/she handles only small amounts of public funds. For bond amounts less that $25,000, no application is required at all. In case of treasurers and other officials who handle large sums of public funds, the procedure for issuance of a public official surety bond is more stringent. It is scrutinized if the public funds which are handled by the applicant are being deposited to the appropriate banks as per law. Also, the deputies and the subordinates of the applicant need to be also bonded. Thirdly, the past record of the applicant is also checked to ensure that the applicant has been fulfilling his duties faithfully. For tax collectors, the public official surety bond also entails a clause which exonerates the applicant from any uncollected taxes. This clause is in addition to all the clauses which are applicable for a treasurer. If a subdivision having a lot of employees has to be bonded, the best way to do it is to take a public employee blanket bond which is a type of public official surety bond where all the employees are bonded together. For premium calculation, the list of employees and their respective positions need to be furnished. For public officials continuing in office, in case of expiry, the public official surety bond will be automatically renewed. In case of re-election too, the bond is automatically renewed unless the principal has specifically asked for a cancellation of the bond or by re-appointment, the roles and responsibilities of the principal has changed which would necessitate another round of scrutiny before the bond is issued.