A Public Official Bond is a surety undertaken to be served as a statutory obligation requiring faithful performance, fidelity, and integrity of an official’s responsibilities and duties to the public.
The bond requires public officers and secondary obligatory to pay a fixed sum of money if they do not faithfully perform their duties in the office.
This bond is one of the aged forms of written guarantee that requires persons to acquire to qualify for office.
Public Official Bonds are of assorted kinds as they depend upon on statues of different jurisdiction.
They are usually categorized as performance bonds, fidelity bonds, or public employee dishonesty bonds.
The bond requirements are mentioned in the individual state codes.
Those elected as most public officials, ranging from governors and mayors to local school board members and brokers selling fishing or hunting permits, are obliged to be bounded by these bonds.. They are effective before and once a public official has condemned the oath of office.
The bond protects against Conduct or omissions made by public officials that constitute a breach of his official duties.
The bond here serves as a guarantee against fraud or dishonesty and covers losses arising from neglect or other earnest offenses.
The bond protects any of the government entities and provides coverage to the public.
This is usually considered as an Indemnity Bond rather than a Forfeiture Bond like a contractual agreement designed to protect the city or the entire citizenship served by the public official.
The bond indemnifies those parties that have suffered losses as a result of the official’s misbehavior.
Some statutes permit a member of the public to file a suit against the bond, if that individual has suffered severe financial damages caused by a public official’s misbehavior.
The state government usually pays for its own financial security, nevertheless, those bonded public officials have to pay up the Surety if a claim is made against their contract.
The Surety company will financially back up the official and pay the state if it garnered proof that these damages are caused by the bonded public official’s unacceptable behavior.
The official will then reimburse the Surety with the full reimbursement amount.
The bond cost is usually the percentage of the bond amount like 1 to 5 percent of the total value, that varies from state to state and will be based on the role of the public official and associated risks.
