The Town shall operate on an annual budget.
The fiscal year of the Town shall begin on the first day of July and
shall end on the last day of the following June. Such fiscal year
shall constitute the tax year, the budget year and the accounting
year.
At or before the first Town Council meeting
in April of each year, the Mayor shall submit to the Town Council
a budget for the ensuing fiscal year and an accompanying message.
[Amended 9-18-1995 by Res. No. 4]
The Mayor's message shall explain the budget,
both in fiscal terms and in terms of the work programs. It shall outline
the proposed financial policies of the Town for the ensuing fiscal
year, describe the important features of the budget, indicate any
major changes from the current year in financial policies, expenditures
and revenues, together with the reasons for such changes, summarize
the Town's debt position and include such other material as the Mayor
deems desirable.
The budget shall provide a complete financial
plan of all Town funds and activities for the ensuing fiscal year
and, except as required by law or this Charter, shall be in such form
as the Mayor deems desirable or the Town Council may require. In organizing
the budget, the Mayor shall utilize the most feasible combination
of expenditure classification by fund, organization unit, program,
purpose or activity and object. It shall begin with a clear general
summary of its contents; shall show in detail all estimated income,
indicating the proposed property tax levy, and all proposed expenditures,
including debt service, for the ensuing fiscal year; and shall be
so arranged as to show comparative figures for actual and estimated
income and expenditures of the current fiscal year and actual income
and expenditures of the preceding fiscal year. It shall indicate in
separate sections:
A.
Proposed expenditures for current operations during
the ensuing fiscal year, detailed by offices, departments and agencies
in terms of their respective work programs and the method of financing
such expenditures.
B.
Proposed capital expenditures during the ensuing fiscal
year, detailed by offices, departments and agencies, when practicable,
and the proposed method of financing each such capital expenditure.
C.
The total of proposed expenditures shall not exceed
the total of estimated income and applied surplus, if any.
A.
Notice and hearing. The Town Council shall publish
in one or more newspapers of general circulation in the Town a notice
stating:
B.
Amendment before adoption. After the public hearing,
the Town Council may adopt the budget with or without amendment. In
amending the budget, it may add or increase programs or amounts and
may delete or decrease any programs or amounts, except expenditures
required by law or for debt service for estimated cash deficit, provided
that no amendment to the budget shall increase the authorized expenditures
to an amount greater than the total of estimated income or applied
surplus, if any.
C.
Adoption. The Town Council shall adopt the budget
on or before the 10th day of June of the fiscal year currently ending.
D.
Extension. If the budget is not adopted by July 1,
a majority vote of the Town Council shall be necessary to extend the
current budget for a single thirty-day period. Expenditures for that
period shall not exceed one-twelfth (1/12) of the annual expenses
of the current year.
Immediately upon adoption of the budget, the
Town Town Council shall adopt an ordinance appropriating funds for
the ensuing fiscal year. Funds shall be appropriated to each of the
various departments, offices, agencies or functions in accordance
with the adopted budget. The Appropriation Ordinance shall also include
a summary of estimated income for the ensuing fiscal year in accordance
with the adopted budget and shall levy all property and other taxes
required to realize the income estimated.
A.
Supplemental appropriations. If during the fiscal
year, the Town Administrator certifies that there are available for
appropriation revenues in excess of those estimated in the budget,
the Town Council may make supplemental appropriations for the year
up to the amount of such excess.
B.
Emergency appropriations. To meet a public emergency
affecting life, health, property or the public peace, the Town Council
may make emergency appropriations. Such appropriations shall be made
by ordinance. To the extent that there are no available unappropriated
revenues to meet such appropriations, the Town Council may by such
emergency ordinance authorize the issuance of tax anticipation notes.
C.
Transfer of appropriations. At any time during the
fiscal year, the Town Administrator may transfer part or all of any
unencumbered appropriation balance among programs within a department
or office, and the Town Council may by resolution transfer part or
all of any unencumbered appropriation balance from one department
or office to another.
D.
Limitations; effective date. No appropriation for
debt service may be reduced or transferred, and no appropriation may
be reduced below any amount required by law to be appropriated or
by more than the amount of the unencumbered balance thereof. A three-fifths
vote of all members of the Town Town Council shall be required for
the authorization of supplemental and emergency appropriations and
reduction or transfer of appropriations.
No officer or employee shall during any budget
year expend or contract to expend any money or incur any liability
or enter into any contract which by its terms involves the expenditure
of money for any purpose, in excess of the amounts appropriated for
or transferred to that general classification of expenditure pursuant
to this Charter. Any contract, verbal or written, made in violation
of this Charter shall be null and void. Nothing in this section contained,
however, shall prevent the making of contracts or the spending of
money for capital improvements to be financed in whole or in part
by the issuance of bonds, nor the making of contracts or lease or
for services for a period exceeding the budget year in which such
contract is made, when such contract is permitted by law.
All appropriations shall lapse at the end of
the budget year to the extent that they shall not have been expended
or lawfully encumbered. All unexpended and unencumbered funds shall
be considered a surplus at the end of the budget year and shall be
included among the anticipated revenues of the next succeeding budget
year.
All checks issued in payment of salaries or
other municipal obligations shall be issued by the Town Clerk-Treasurer
or, in the event of his/her absence or disability, the Town Council
may authorize some other officer of the Town to issue and sign such
checks. All checks shall be countersigned by the Town Administrator
or by any member of the Town Council.
All real property and all tangible personal
property within the corporate limits of the Town, or personal property
which may have a situs there by reason of the residence of the owner
therein, shall be subject to taxation for municipal purposes, and
the assessment used shall be the same as that for state and county
taxes. No authority is given by this section to impose taxes on any
property which is exempt from taxation by any act of the General Assembly.
Immediately after the levy is made by the Town
Council in each year, the Clerk-Treasurer shall give notice of the
making of the levy by posting a notice thereof in some public place
or places in the Town. He shall make out and mail or deliver in person
to each taxpayer or his agent at his last known address a bill or
account of the taxes due from him. This bill or account shall contain
a statement of the amount of real and personal property with which
the taxpayer is assessed, the rate of taxation, the amount of taxes
due and the date on which the taxes will bear interest. Failure to
give or receive any notice required by this section shall not relieve
any taxpayer of the responsibility to pay on the dates established
by this Charter all taxes levied on his property.
From the effective date of the budget, the amount
stated therein as the amount to be raised by the property tax shall
constitute a determination of the amount of tax levy in the corresponding
tax year.
Real estate situated within an area annexed
after July 1 in any year shall be assessed for taxes on a pro-rata
basis; one-twelfth (1/12) for each month or portion thereof of the
regular assessment made for state and county purposes for the year.
[Amended 1-26-1982 by lies. No. 296; 3-1-1993 by Res. No.
421; 3-3-2003 by Res. No. 624]
The taxes provided for in § C6-11 of this Charter shall be due and payable on the first day of July in the year for which they are levied and shall be overdue and in arrears on the first day of the following October. They shall bear interest while in arrears at the interest rate set annually by Caroline County. All taxes not paid and in arrears after six months shall be collected as provided in § C6-16.
A list of all property on which the Town taxes
have not been paid and which are in arrears as provided by § C6-15
of this Charter shall be turned over by the Clerk-Treasurer to the
official of the county responsible for the sale of tax-delinquent
property as provided in state law. All property listed thereon shall
if necessary be sold for taxes by this county official, in the manner
prescribed by state law.
All fees received by an officer or employee
of the Town government in his official capacity shall belong to the
Town government and be accounted for to the Town.
The financial books and accounts of the Town
shall be audited annually.
During the first six months of any fiscal year,
the Town shall have the power to borrow in anticipation of the collection
of the property tax levied for that fiscal year and to issue tax anticipation
notes or other evidences of indebtedness as evidence of such borrowing.
Such tax anticipation notes or other evidences of indebtedness shall
be a first lien upon the proceeds of such tax and shall mature and
be paid no later than six months after the beginning of the fiscal
year in which they are issued. No tax anticipation notes or other
evidences of indebtedness shall be issued which will cause the total
tax anticipation indebtedness of the Town to exceed 50% of the property
tax levy for the fiscal year in which such notes or other evidence
of indebtedness are issued. All tax anticipation notes or other evidences
of indebtedness shall be authorized by ordinance before being issued.
The Town Council shall have the power to regulate all matters concerning
the issuance and sale of tax anticipation notes.
The power and obligation of the Town to pay
any and all bonds, notes or other evidences of indebtedness issued
by it under the authority of this Charter shall be unlimited, and
the Town shall levy ad valorem taxes upon all the taxable property
of the Town for the payment of such bonds, notes or other evidences
of indebtedness and interest thereon, without limitation of amount.
The faith and credit of the Town is hereby pledged for the payment
of the principal of and the interest on all bonds, notes or other
evidences of indebtedness, hereafter issued under the authority of
this Charter, whether or not such pledge be stated in the bonds, notes
or other evidences of indebtedness or in the ordinance authorizing
their issuance.
[Amended 1-21-1986 by Res. No. 339; 3-3-2003 by Res. No.
625]
The Town shall have the power to borrow money
for any proper public purpose and to evidence such borrowing by the
issuance of bonds, notes or other evidence of indebtedness. Such bonds,
notes or other evidence of indebtedness may be sold either by private
negotiations without advertisement or publication of notice of sale,
or by public sale after solicitation of competitive bids, as determined
by resolution or ordinance authorizing the issuance of the bonds,
notes or other evidence of indebtedness. The Town exempts its bonds,
notes or other evidence of indebtedness from Md. Code Ann. Article
31, §§ 9 through 11, as amended from time to time.
All bonds, notes or other evidences of indebtedness
validly issued by the Town previous to the effective date of this
Charter and all ordinances passed concerning them are hereby declared
to be valid, legal and binding and of full force and effect as if
herein fully set forth.
[Amended 10-30-1984 by Res. No. 327; 9-18-1995 by Res. No.
4]
A.
The Councilpersons shall have the power to provide
by ordinance for rules and regulations regarding purchasing such as
the use of competitive bids.
B.
All expenditures for supplies, materials, equipment,
construction of public improvements or contractual services shall
be made in accordance with the Town procurement ordinance. The Town
at any time in its discretion may employ its own forces for the construction
or reconstruction of public improvements without advertising for (or
readvertising for) or receiving bids.
