[Amended by L.L. No. 3-1982]
The fiscal year of the City shall be August
l of each calendar year to July 31 of the ensuing calendar year.
The budget shall consist of a balanced program
of expenditures and revenue for each fiscal year, classified and presented
by object, purpose of expenditure, program, or such other classification
as the Council may approve.
A.
On or before April 1 of each year, the head of each
department shall prepare and file with the Department of Administration
and Finance in such form and detail as the Mayor may approve, the
departmental budget estimates for the ensuing fiscal year.
[Amended by L.L. No. 3-1982; L.L. No. 1-1990]
B.
The departmental budget estimates shall include, but
shall not be 1imited to, statements of departmental expenditures for
the last completed fiscal year, estimated expenditures for the then
current fiscal year and appropriation requests for the next fiscal
year for current operations of the department.
C.
The departmental budget estimates shall also include
the estimated capital needs and appropriation requests of the department
for the next fiscal year and the ensuing four fiscal years.
D.
The Director of Administration and Finance shall promptly
compile, analyze and submit to the Mayor the departmental budget estimates
in such form convenient for budget preparation as may be approved
by the Mayor, and shall forward one or more copies of capital appropriation
requests, with supporting information, to the Planning and Development
Board in the Department of Development.
[Amended by L.L. No. 3-1982]
E.
Between April 1 and May 9, the Mayor shall hold such
hearings with department heads and other officials as he or she deems
appropriate. Members of the Planning and Development Board and the
Director of Administration and Finance may be permitted to participate
in such hearings.
[Amended by L.L. No. 3-1982; L.L. No. 1-1990][1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Former Subsection F, which
immediately followed this subsection, was deleted by L.L. No. 3-1982.
F.
On or before May 10 of each year, the Mayor shall
submit to the Council his or her budget document for the ensuing fiscal
year.
[Amended by L.L. No. 3-1982; L.L. No. 1-1990]
The budget document shall consist of a budget
message, a proposed current expense budget, a proposed capital budget
and explanatory materials, as required by this Chapter. The budget
message accompanying the proposed City budget shall consist of such
explanatory comments, exhibits and schedules concerning the budget
as the Mayor may deem desirable to explain the relation of the budget
plan to the needs and fiscal resources of the City.
The current expense budget shall provide a complete
financial plan for the fiscal year. It shall contain, with comparative
figures, proposed expenditures for the next preceding fiscal year:
A.
A general summary;
B.
A current section stipulating the detailed estimates
of all anticipated revenues and proposed expenditures presented by
such organization, program, or other classification system as the
Mayor deems appropriate and informative; including the total anticipated
revenues in an amount equal to the total of proposed current expenditures,
showing specifically, "the amount to be raised by taxation of property";
C.
Such schedules, exhibits, and other explanatory material
as the Council may request or approve; a financial statement of the
City government as of the end of the previous fiscal year, showing
specifically such surpluses and reserves as may be available for expenditure
in subsequent fiscal years; and an analysis of the work program and
unit costs of performance contemplated by the budget so far as appropriate
units of measurement may have been developed and installed.
The capital outlay section of the budget shall
comprise the capital budget. It shall consist of three parts:
A.
A part listing all pending and proposed capital projects
for the budget year, classified in the same manner as operating expenditure
requests, including the cost of each capital project or outlay, its
priority, its method of financing, and the amount it requires for
"down payment" under the Local Finance Law, the amount of bonds to
be issued, and the amount to be raised from other sources;
B.
A part showing by year the recommended capital improvement
program for the four fiscal years beyond the budget, including the
estimated costs of projects and their methods of financing;
C.
A part showing the schedule of existing debt maturities
and debt service payments required thereon, together with the estimated
additions to such schedule required by the proposed capital budget
for the ensuing fiscal year.
The term "capital outlay" shall mean:
A.
Any physical public betterment or improvement or preliminary
studies and surveys relative thereto;
B.
Land or rights in land;
C.
Any furnishings, machinery, apparatus or equipment
for any physical betterment or improvement;
D.
Any betterment, object or purpose for which a period
of probable usefulness has been established by the Local Finance Law;
and
E.
Any combination of the above items.
[1]
Editor's Note: Former § 12.8, Capital
Expenditures Board, was deleted by L.L. No. 3-1982.
[Amended by L.L. No. 1-1990]
The Planning and Development Board shall prepare
annually a capital improvement program for the ensuing five fiscal
years, including the priority of each item or project in the program.
Each capital improvement program shall include an estimate of the
construction or acquisition cost, and of the annual operating and
maintenance costs of each item or project, together with a proposed
method for financing such costs. The capital improvement program shall
be submitted to the Mayor on or before April 1 of each year.
[Amended by L.L. No. 3-1982; L.L. No. 1-1990]
Upon receiving the budget documents, the Council shall forthwith take up the Mayor's recommendations, and may conduct public hearings thereon. It shall consider, review, and, as it deems necessary, revise the Mayor's budget; provided that it may not increase the total proposed expenditures without the affirmative vote of four members of the Council. On or before June 10 of each year, the Council shall by ordinance adopt the current expense and capital budgets for the ensuing fiscal year. The budget will be deemed finally adopted on said date, unless the Mayor vetoes same pursuant to Chapter 4, § 4.4 of the Charter, in which event, the budget will be deemed finally adopted when the procedures specified in Chapter 4, § 4.4 have been concluded. The expense budget shall constitute an appropriation of the sums shown therein for the purposes specified and shall also constitute a tax levy of the amount shown therein as required to be raised by taxation on real property, as of the August 1 next following the date of final adoption thereof as determined by this section.
[Amended by L.L. No. 1-1990]
No expenditures shall be made from the City
treasury except pursuant to an appropriation made pursuant to law,
except to pay interest or principal on City indebtedness.
A.
No department shall expend or commit any City funds
during any budget year, for any purpose, in excess of the amounts
appropriated for that purpose, except as provided by this section.
Any officer or employee of the City who knowingly shall violate this
section may be removed from office or employment by the appointing
officer.
B.
Any contract, verbal or written, made in violation
of this Section 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 the extent that they are financed
in whole or in part by the issuance of bonds, nor the making of contracts
of lease or for services for a period exceeding the budget year in
which such contract is made.
C.
At any time within the last three months of the budget
year:
(1)
The Council may by resolution transfer any unencumbered
appropriation balance or portion thereof from one department to another,
except that no transfer shall be made from appropriations otherwise
required by law; and
(2)
The Director of the Department of Administration
and Finance, with the approval of the Mayor, may transfer any unencumbered
appropriation balance or portion thereof between the same general
classifications of expenditures within any department; and he or she
shall report all such transfers to the Council.
D.
All appropriations shall lapse at the end of the budget
year to the extent that they shall not have been expended or lawfully
encumbered.
The Council may establish a capital reserve
fund pursuant to the provisions of Article 2 of the General Municipal
Law, and subject to the restrictions and control therein provided.
The assets of any capital reserve fund by whatever designation held
by the City upon the effective date of this Charter shall be appropriated
and transferred to such a capital reserve fund.
The Council may make emergency appropriations
after the adoption of a budget for any fiscal year for the purposes
of an unforeseeable public emergency during such year. Such an appropriation
shall be made only for a purpose and in such amount as budget notes
could be issued under the Local Finance Law. The total amount of all
emergency appropriations shall be provided in full as a deferred charge
in the City budget for the next succeeding fiscal year except to the
extent, if any, that provision for paying, funding or refunding any
such emergency appropriations shall have been made prior to the adoption
of such next ensuing budget. Each emergency appropriation shall be
made by ordinance adopted by the affirmative vote of four members
of the Council, declaring the existence of the emergency, and setting
out its nature in full. The City may issue budget notes to meet any
such emergency appropriation, in accordance with the provisions of
the Local Finance Law. The recital or determination of the emergency
in the ordinance authorizing the appropriation shall be deemed to
be true for all purposes of determining the validity of such notes,
and the City and all other persons interested shall be stopped from
denying the truth thereof.
A.
No department of the City government shall expend
or commit any funds of the City unless the Director of Administration
and Finance shall first certify that there is an unencumbered balance
of appropriation and funds available for the purpose.
B.
Purchases, expenditures and commitments may be made
or incurred by any department, and bills, claims or demands may be
paid, only in compliance with the requirements of Chapter 7 of this
Charter.
A.
Each department shall, upon request of the Bureau
of Purchasing, submit a complete statement of the materials, supplies
and equipment and work and labor under contract, which will be required
by the department during the ensuing year, half-year or quarter-year
as the Bureau of Purchasing may determine, according to the best estimate
of the department head. Such statement shall be in such form and detail
as the Bureau of Purchasing may require.
B.
Purchases shall be made upon requisition of a department
head to the Purchasing Agent, under such procedures and in such form
as the Director of Administration and Finance may prescribe or approve.
Except as he or she may authorize in case of emergency, no purchase
shall be made and no bill, claim or voucher shall be approved unless
the procedures prescribed by or pursuant to the Charter have been
followed.
All purchases of any work, supplies, materials,
equipment or contractual services for the City's account shall be
made by the Bureau of Purchasing, subject to requirements of competitive
bidding as established by law. Each purchase shall be made upon written
requisition from the head of the department whose appropriation will
be charged, and the certification of the City Comptroller that a sufficient
unencumbered balance of appropriation is available to pay therefor.
The Bureau of Purchasing shall establish and
approve uniform standards for requisitions and purchases. The Bureau
shall control the delivery of all supplies, materials, equipment and
other items purchased, and shall make or cause to be made proper tests,
checks and inspections thereof. The Bureau shall ascertain whether
the said supplies, materials, equipment and other items purchased
comply with the specifications, and shall cause laboratory or other
tests to be made whenever, in the opinion of the bureau head, it is
necessary to determine whether the materials or supplies furnished
are of the quality and standard required.
The Council shall appoint a certified public
accountant, specially qualified in municipal accounting and finance,
to make an annual audit of the financial transactions and accounts
of the City government. The report of audit shall be made as soon
as feasible after the end of each fiscal year and copies thereof shall
be presented to the members of the Council and the Mayor, and shall
be placed on file in the office of the City Clerk for examination
by any interested person.
