Duty of the public officers. Officers who sit mute while a contractor treats special-purpose tax as a customer-loyalty fund are not protected by “the contractor did it.” Public money in a political subdivision remains public money. K.S.A. 21-6005 reaches a person who has control of it by virtue of official position.
Kansas law will void a city or county contract in defined situations. It does not say that every time a contractor spends a dollar wrong, the whole agreement disappears by itself. The distinction matters. When Kansas law actually says “void” The rule is aimed at the government’s power to make the contract , not at every later mistake in performance. Kansas courts repeat the same points: A city or county cannot bind itself beyond its powers. A contract it had no power to make is ultra vires, void, and unenforceable. No further validity analysis is required. Anyone who contracts with a municipality is bound, at that party’s peril, to know the municipality’s authority. Contracts a municipality is not legally permitted to enter cannot be ratified . Performance by the contractor, money spent in reliance, and benefits received by the city do not estop the government from saying the contract was void. Cash-basis law, K.S.A. 10-1119: any contract between a municipal governing b...
