Warrants; recordkeeping requirements; release of information

The treasurer shall maintain a record in which he shall make an entry of all warrants and other legal demand instruments legally drawn upon him by the governing body and presented for payment, stating correctly the amount, number, in whose favor drawn and the date such warrant was issued. All such warrants and other legal demand instruments shall be paid, in the order presented, out of the fund drawn upon.

No information contained in the record of warrants and other legal demand instruments, including any invoice that has been presented to a locality for payment, and the locality has attempted to pay it, but the payment has not been completed because electronic payment has failed or a check was mailed but not cashed, shall be released for any purpose except (i) that the local governing body may publish aggregated information relating to warrants and other legal demand instruments paid, as classified by expenditure item, recipient, date, or disbursement, or (ii) as a means of establishing the status of a claim previously reported as having been paid when a person legally entitled to the funds presents evidence that a previously submitted claim has not been paid. In no case, however, shall the governing body of any county, city, or town publish any information that is prohibited from release under federal or state law, including but not limited to confidential records held pursuant to § 58.1-3.