Unless otherwise fixed by the council, the fiscal year of the
city shall be the twelve months commencing each July 1.
[Amended Ref. of 11-6-1990, Sec. 2]
(1)
It shall be the duty of the council, at least twenty-five days
before the end of the fiscal year, to adopt the annual operating budget
ordinance for the next fiscal year. The consideration of the operating
budget ordinance shall begin forthwith upon receipt from the mayor
of his annual operating budget message and the proposed annual operating
budget ordinance, both of which shall be submitted in written or printed
form. The proposed budget ordinance shall be regarded as having been
introduced immediately upon its receipt.
(2)
The annual operating budget ordinance shall provide for liquidating
and deficit and shall make appropriations to the council, the mayor,
and all departments, boards and commissions which form a part of the
executive or administrative branch of the city government, and for
all other items which are to be met out of the revenue of the city.
The council may also make provision for the expenditures for part
time outside legal counsel at its discretion. Expenditures for the
repair of any property, for the regrading, repaving or repairing streets,
and/or the acquisition of any property or for any work or project
which does not have a probable useful life to city of at least five
years following the time the expenditure is made for it shall be deemed
to be ordinary expenses and shall be provided for in the annual operating
budget ordinance.
[Amended Ref. of 11-8-2016, Sec. 18]
(3)
The mayor's estimates of receipts for the ensuing fiscal year
and of surplus or deficit, if any, for the current fiscal year may
be altered by the council.
(4)
In every annual operating budget ordinance, provision shall
be made for:
(5)
The annual operating budget ordinance may be amended both as
to expenditure and revenue line items before final passage. After
final passage, no amendments shall be made to said ordinance which
would have the net effect of increasing the aggregate total of the
appropriations made therein. Transfers of funds may be made between
cost centers as defined in Section 4-101(2) specified in said budget,
but such transfers may only be made upon the recommendation of the
mayor and approval thereof by the council by means of an amending
ordinance prior to transfer.
(6)
At any time during the fiscal year, if it is indicated that
actual revenue receipts will not equal the original estimates upon
which appropriations were based, the council shall by ordinance, upon
the recommendation of the mayor, make such reductions or suspensions
in the appropriations for any and all departments as will prevent
the occurrence of a deficit.
The council may, upon the recommendation of the mayor, make
operating appropriations in addition to those included in the annual
operating budget ordinance:
(a)
To meet emergencies which could not be anticipated when the
operating budget ordinance was passed;
(b)
To pay the expenses of holding elections, special elections
and elections on proposals to amend this Charter;
(c)
To pay the costs of councilmanic investigations and inquiries
and the compensation of attorneys retained by the council as authorized
by this Charter;
(d)
To pay persons appointed or designated in accordance with Subdivision
(9) of Section 7-102.
[Amended Ref. of 11-6-1990, Sec. 2]
The council shall ordain such revenue measures as will yield
sufficient revenue to balance the budget.
(1)
Prior to the passage of the annual operating budget ordinance,
the council shall adopt a capital program and a capital budget.
(2)
The capital program shall embrace all physical public improvements
and any preliminary studies and surveys relative thereto, the acquisition
of property of a permanent nature, and the purchase of equipment for
any public improvements when first erected or acquired that are to
be financed in whole or in part from bond funds subject to control
or appropriation by the council. It shall show the capital expenditures
which are planned for each of the five ensign fiscal years. For each
separate purpose, project, facility, or other property there shall
be shown the amount, if any, and the source of the money that has
been spent, encumbered, or is intended to be spent or encumbered prior
to the beginning of the ensuing fiscal year and also the amounts and
the sources of the money that are intended to be spent during each
of the ensuing five years. The council may delete projects from the
capital program as submitted to it, but it shall not otherwise amend
the capital program without the approval of the mayor, provided, however,
that in all cases it shall first request through the mayor the recommendations
of the city planning commission. The council shall not be bound by
such recommendations and may act without them if they are not received
within thirty days from the date they were requested.
(3)
The capital budget ordinance shall show in detail the capital
expenditures intended to be made or incurred in the ensuing fiscal
year that are to be financed from bond funds subject to control or
appropriation by the council, and shall be in full conformity with
that part of the capital program applicable to the year which it covers.
Amounts specified as intended to be spent out of new appropriations
shall, upon enactment of the capital budget ordinance, constitute
appropriations of such amounts. The council may amend the capital
budget ordinance but no amendment shall be valid which does not conform
to the capital program.
In an emergency created by the failure of the council to pass
the annual appropriation ordinance, the same amounts appropriated
in the fiscal year immediately preceding shall be available for each
department, board, commission, and other agency of the city government,
subject to monthly or quarterly allotments, in accordance with seasonal
requirements as determined by the director of finance and approved
by the mayor; provided, however, that expenditures for payment of
any indebtedness of the city on bonds or notes and interest thereon
shall be in such amounts as may be required, regardless of whether
or not an annual appropriation ordinance is passed by the council.
As promptly as possible after the submission to it by the law
department, as required by this Charter, of a proposed codification
and revision of the effective general ordinances of the city, or of
a new Code of ordinances, the council shall consider and act upon
the same, and after the Code has been adopted,[1] all measures of general application shall be ordained
as amendments of or additions to it. The council shall cause the Code
to be published by and distributed through the department of records,
as other publications of the city are published and distributed. Periodically
thereafter, at intervals of not more than ten years, the council shall
cause new and up-to-date editions of the Code to be similarly published
and distributed.
[Amended Ref. of 11-2-2010]
The council may by ordinance add new powers and new duties,
not inconsistent with the scheme of this Charter, to the powers and
duties of the offices, department, boards and commissions which are
herein designated as the agencies of the executive and administrative
branch of the city government, and may create new divisions or consolidate
divisions of departments, but it shall not, except as herein provided,
increase the number of such departments, independent boards or commissions,
nor shall it abolish any board or commission, unless said board or
commission no longer has any function to perform.
The council shall not enact any ordinance which shall in any
way affect any zoning ordinance, the physical development plan of
the city, plans of streets and revisions of such plans, and land subdivision
plans or any ordinance which would authorize the acquisition or sale
of city real estate, other than real estate acquired at tax sales
of the city, without first receiving the recommendations thereon of
the city planning commission, unless such recommendations are not
received by the council within thirty days after the introduction
of any ordinance subject to this section. It shall be the duty of
the city clerk to submit any such ordinance to the city planning commission
immediately upon its introduction.
The mayor shall submit to the council his proposal for a comprehensive,
fair and actuarially sound pension and retirement system covering
officers and employees of the city and the council shall promptly
consider it and act upon the setting up of such a system. However,
any system enacted shall not impair or diminish rights of officers
or employees under any pension and retirement systems in force and
effect at the time of the adoption of this Charter.
[Amended Ref. of 11-6-1990, Sec. 5; Ref. of 11-2-2010]
All collective bargaining agreements which the city has negotiated
with labor organizations representing city employees, including employees
under the jurisdiction of the school committee, shall be presented
to the council for approval.
