The fiscal year of the city shall be the calendar year.
[Repealed by L. 1943, c.]
The Council and each officer and board shall have the power
to spend or to authorize the expenditure of city money and to incur
obligations within the limitations imposed by law and this Charter.
[Enacted by Local Law No. 3-1958 (December 12, 1958).]
No expenditure shall be made or obligation incurred by the Council,
or by an officer or board, unless an appropriation therefor has previously
been made and there is at the time a sufficient unencumbered balance
of such appropriation and available funds, or if payable from the
proceeds of the sale of obligations, unless the issue of obligations
has been authorized therefor, except as provided by this Charter and
unless it is so certified by the Director of Finance that there is
an unencumbered balance or available funds or the issue of obligations
has been authorized.
[Enacted by Local Law No. 3-1958 (December 12, 1958).]
The Council shall designate a qualified certified public accountant
who shall make an annual independent audit of accounts and other evidences
of financial transactions of the city government on specifications
prescribed by the Council and shall submit this report to the Council
and to the City Manager. Such audit shall be made in accordance with
generally accepted auditing standards. Such accountant shall have
no personal interest, direct or indirect, in the fiscal affairs of
the city government or in any of its officers. He shall not maintain
any accounts or records of the city business.
[Repealed by L. 1943, c. 712]
[Repealed by L. 1943, c. 712]
[Repealed in part by L. 1943, c. 712]
Application of assessments. Whenever, after the retirement of
tax anticipation notes, there remain uncollected assessments in anticipation
of the collection of which such notes had been issued, such assessments,
when collected, together with the interest thereon and the costs of
sale, if any, shall become part of the sinking fund.
[Enacted by Local Law No. 4-1944 (November 13, 1944).]
Such certificates may be issued in anticipation of the collection
of the taxes of the current year in an amount which shall not exceed
the total of the annual tax levy of such year, less the amount of
the taxes of such year already collected. Such certificates shall
be a lien upon the taxes of such year, and expenditures from the receipts
of the sale thereof shall be charged against the appropriation of
such year. Whenever the amount of such certificates so issued, plus
the collection of taxes for such year equals the amount of the annual
tax levy thereof, all subsequent collections of taxes of such year
shall, up to the time of the adoption of the budget by the Council
for the second year succeeding, be applied to the payment of such
certificates which have matured or to the redemption at par and accrued
interest of the first maturing certificates then outstanding except
certificates outstanding against the then current year's taxes, after
which time all collections of taxes of such year shall become a part
of the current surplus account specified in Section 128, Subdivision
C, as herein amended. On or before December 31 of each year the city
shall borrow by issuing tax certificates of indebtedness in an amount
equal to the uncollected taxes of that current year, less the amount
provided in the current budget for uncollectible taxes under Section
121B as herein amended as diminished by transfers, if any, and less
the net unexpended balances and net excess revenues from such current
budget estimated as remaining on December 31 of such year.
[Repealed by L. 1943, c. 712]
[Enacted by Local Law No. 4-1944 (November 13, 1944).]
The amount of all tax certificates unredeemed at the time of
the adoption of the budget by the Council for the second year next
succeeding the year in which such certificates were issued shall be
included in the budget of that year as an appropriation and such certificates
shall be redeemed from such appropriation.
[Enacted by Local Law No. 4-1944 (November 13, 1944).]
There shall also be included in the budget for each year a sum
for the payment of taxes to be levied against real property owned
by the city for the year for which the budget is adopted and an additional
sum which is equivalent to the amount of taxes which will remain unpaid
at the expiration of the year for which the budget is adopted and
which in the opinion of the Council will be uncollectible.
[Repealed by L. 1943, c. 712]
[Repealed by Local Law No. 5-1947 (October 20, 1947).]
[Enacted by Local Law No. 5-1947 (October 20, 1947).]
Wherever provision is made in this Charter, state law or otherwise
for the payment of funds into the sinking fund, such funds shall be
paid into the current surplus account, and, in such event, the current
surplus account shall be deemed to be the sinking fund.
[Enacted by Local Law No. 5-1947 (October 20, 1947).]
The current surplus account is hereby declared to be a sinking
fund and shall be deemed a sinking fund to which bonds of the City
of New Rochelle may be sold when authorized by the Council.
[Repealed by L. 1943, c. 712]
[L. 1943, Ch. 710]
All contracts for construction or work to be done providing
for the expenditure of over $300 shall be endorsed by the Director
of Finance and unless so endorsed shall not be binding on the city.
The Director of Finance shall endorse contracts if there is an unencumbered
balance of an appropriation, or, in the case of a contract payable
from the proceeds of the sale of obligations, if the issue of such
obligations has been authorized. In the case of a contract under which
the amount is estimated, the estimated amount of the contract shall
be certified to by the officer submitting the contract for endorsement
and the endorsement of the Director of Finance shall be limited to
such amount. The Director of Finance shall charge the amount of the
contract so endorsed by him against the appropriation therefor. The
endorsement of the Director of Finance shall be sufficient evidence
in any action of an available balance of the particular appropriation.
The provisions of this section shall not apply to contracts involving
monthly payments for salaries, water, light, coal, rent, power, telephone
and the like made for the ordinary maintenance or operation of a department,
nor to contracts for more than one year authorized by the Council
and providing for regular monthly payments.
[Amended by Local Law No. 5-1985 (May 21, 1985).]
The claims and accounts against the city must be transmitted
to the Commissioner of Finance in the form of vouchers and audited
by him before payments. No voucher shall be audited unless it shows
the appropriation and account against which it is to be charged. No
voucher shall be charged against one appropriation or account when
properly chargeable against another appropriation or account.
If claimant is dissatisfied with an audit he may appeal to the
Council by serving notice of appeal in writing upon the Director of
Finance and the Council at any time before the first regular meeting
of the Council that is held after he received the Director of Finance
audit. If any taxpayer is dissatisfied with an audit he may appeal
to the Council on behalf of the city by serving notice of appeal in
writing upon the Council, the claimant and the Director of Finance,
within 10 days after the audit. The Council shall make rules for the
procedure upon the hearing of such appeals, and the decision and audit
of the Council after the hearing upon the appeal to it shall be final
and conclusive as to the amount of the claim, but if there is no appeal
from the original audit it shall in like manner be final and conclusive.
The Director of Finance and the Council upon an appeal to it, as herein
provided, shall have authority to take evidence and examine witnesses
in reference to the claim and for that purpose may issue subpoenas
for the attendance of witnesses, and the Director of Finance and each
member of the Council are hereby declared to be ex officio commissioners
of deeds.
[Enacted by Local Law No. 4-1964 (November 19, 1964).]
a. No action or proceeding to recover or enforce any claim, debt or
demand against the city shall be brought until the expiration of 30
days after the same has been presented to the Director of Finance
for audit. All actions brought against the city upon a contractual
liability, expressed or implied, must begin within one year from the
time when the cause of action accrued, or if for injuries to person
or property, caused by negligence, within one year from the time of
receiving the injuries; and in other cases within six months after
the refusal of the Director of Finance to allow the claim.
b. No action or special proceeding shall be prosecuted or maintained
against the city in any case founded upon tort as set forth and described
in § 50-i of the General Municipal Law of the State of New
York unless a notice of claim shall be served upon the city in accordance
with the provisions of §§ 50-e and 50-i of the General
Municipal Law and all of the provisions of said sections shall apply
to the presentation of such claims and actions brought thereunder.
An omission to present such notice within the time as above provided
shall be a bar to an action against the city.
c. The Director of Finance shall keep a separate record of non-contractual
claims and shall have the same powers with respect to the investigation
of such claims as he has with respect to contractual accounts and
claims against the city. If such a claim, not exceeding $50, is approved
by the head of the department in connection with which it originated,
the Director of Finance may settle and audit such claim in the same
manner as contractual accounts and claims.
[L. 1942, c. 767; amended by Local Law No. 1-1985 (January
15, 1985).]
No civil action shall be maintained against the city for damages
or injuries to person or property sustained in consequence of any
street, highway, trees, bridge, culvert, sanitary sewer or storm drains,
sidewalk or crosswalk or any other public place being defective, out
of repair, unsafe, dangerous or obstructed, or in consequence of the
existence of snow or ice thereon, unless written notice thereof, specifying
the particular place, had actually been given to the Commissioner
of Public Works prior to the happening of the event causing such damage
or injury to person or property, and there was a failure or neglect
by the city to repair or remove the defect, danger or obstruction
or to cause the snow or ice to be removed or the specified place to
be made reasonably safe within a reasonable time after the receipt
of notice relating to it.
[Enacted by Local Law No. 3-1952 (August 11, 1952).]
1. Investigation of claims. It shall be the duty of the Director of
Finance to cause all claims, whether presented for audit or upon a
contractual liability, expressed or implied, or for injuries to persons
or property, to be thoroughly investigated. He shall have the power
to issue subpoenas to compel the attendance of the claimant or any
other person or persons to appear, to be sworn or affirmed and to
testify before him relative to such claim and, when so sworn, to answer
as to any facts relative to the justness of such claim.
2. An omission or refusal to attend or testify in obedience to such
subpoena or to be sworn or affirmed or to answer any proper or material
question on the part of any person or persons making a claim against
the city shall be a bar to an action or proceeding against the city.
[Enacted by Local Law No. 3-1934 (October 15, 1934); repealed
by Local Law No. 3-1985 (April 16, 1985).]
[Enacted by Local Law No. 4-1936 (July 20, 1936).]
Transfers from the contingent fund may be made by the Council.
No transfer shall be made from one appropriation or account to another
appropriation or account other than the contingent fund except by
unanimous consent of the Council.
Transfers, however, from one item to another item in the same
account number in the budget may be made by order of the City Manager,
except that the City Manager shall have no authority to order the
transfer of any items so as to increase the items of salaries and/or
wages. It shall be the duty of the City Manager to report to the Council
all such transfers made by his order at the meeting following the
date when the transfers are ordered.
[Enacted by Local Law No. 4-1944 (November 13, 1944).]
Unencumbered balances or appropriations and net excess revenues,
including those represented by uncollected taxes and other uncollected
receivables and also any balances remaining by reason of the inclusion
in the budget of the items specified in Sections 121A and 121B shall,
at the end of the year, be transferred to the credit of a current
reserve account, and when these balances are converted into cash they
shall be transferred to a current surplus account. The amount in the
surplus account estimated to be on hand December 31 of each year which
is in excess of $300,000 may be used as a general credit to reduce
the budget of the following year. The Director of Finance may borrow
from the surplus account on certificates of indebtedness of the city.
[Enacted by Local Law No. 7-1936 (December 16, 1936).]
Interest charged as penalties for deferred payment of taxes
subsequent to 1932 and collected during any year shall be used as
revenue toward the payment of the operating expenses for such year.
An estimated amount of collections of interest charged as penalties
for deferred payment of taxes shall be included as revenue in the
budget for each year.
[Repealed by Local Law No. 4-1944 (November 13, 1944).]
[Enacted by Local Law No. 4-1944 (November 13, 1944).]
The Council may provide that any appropriation other than a
general department appropriation may be continued until the same is
expended, provided that the same is not continued for more than three
years. However, authority to extend appropriations as herein provided
shall apply to the general appropriations made in the budget for public
welfare administration, home and veterans' relief, institutional care,
old age assistance, special prevention of cruelty to children and
public nurse service.
[Amended by Local Law No. 3-1985 (April 16, 1985).]
An official receipt shall be given to each person who makes
a payment in cash to the city by the officer or employee receiving
the same, and all payments to the city shall be transmitted to the
Treasurer on the day received and reported to the Commissioner of
Finance as he prescribes.
[Enacted by Local Law No. 3-1958 (December 12,1958); amended
by Local Law No. 5-1985 (May 21, 1985).]
All payments shall be made by the Treasurer by check upon vouchers
prescribed as to form by the Commissioner of Finance. Each check shall
identify the claim in payment of which it is drawn by the claim number,
date and amount. Checks shall be drawn and signed by the Treasurer
and countersigned by the Commissioner of Finance.
All payroll checks shall be transmitted promptly by the Treasurer
to the several boards and officers for delivery to the employees.
[Enacted by Local Law No. 6-1940 (August 29, 1940).]
City funds shall be deposited by the Treasurer only in such
banks or trust companies, one or more, as shall have been approved
by the Council.
Upon receiving a warrant for the collection of taxes and special
assessments, the Treasurer shall forthwith advertise in the official
newspaper once in each week for two consecutive weeks that he has
received such warrant, and shall state the date upon which a penalty
for nonpayment will be added and the amounts of the penalties for
nonpayments. The Treasurer shall from time to time mail statements
of unpaid taxes and special assessments to persons owing the same
if in his judgment it will accommodate such persons or tend to promote
the prompt collection of taxes and special assessments, but the incompleteness
or incorrectness of such a statement, or the failure to send the same,
shall in no way effect the validity of the tax or special assessment.
[Enacted by Local Law No. 1-1933 (June 5, 1933); amended by Local Law No. 7-1936 (December 16, 1936); Local Law No. 3-1951 (August 13, 1951); Local Law No. 4-1964 (November 19, 1964); Local Law No. 2-1977 (February 1, 1977); Local Law No. 2-1980 (December 26, 1979); Local Law No. 5-2003 (March 18, 2003); Local Law No. 12-2003 (September 11, 2003); Local Law No. 7-2004 (May 18, 2004).]
1. Effective through December 31, 2003, City general taxes
and special assessments shall be due and payable, 1/2 thereof on the
first day of January, and 1/2 thereof on the first day of July of
each current year; interest at the rate of 2% per month or any portion
thereof shall be charged as a penalty for the deferring of payment
of the first half after the 31st day of January; and at the same rate
for the deferring of payment of the second half after the 31st day
of July of each year.
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The deferred 1/2 of the taxes for the current year may be paid
on the first day of January or any time thereafter, provided that
the first half shall have been paid or shall be paid at the same time.
Sewer, street paving and street macademizing assessments may be paid
in such equal installments as the Council may determine, with interest
thereon as provided in this section.
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1. Effective
January 1. 2004. City general taxes and special assessments shall
be due and payable on the first day of January of each current year;
interest at the rate of 2% per month or any portion thereof shall
be charged as a penalty for the deferring of payment after the 31st
day of January.
2. County
general taxes and special assessments shall be due and payable on
the first day of June of each current year; interest at the rate of
2% per month or any portion thereof shall be charged as a penalty
for the deferring of payment after the 30th day of June.
3. On
all taxes and special assessments levied prior to the first day of
April 1914, interest shall continue to be charged as a penalty for
the deferring of payment at the rates and in the manner prescribed
by Chapter 559, Laws of 1910, up to the first day of April 1914, and
thereafter as a penalty for the deferring of payment at the rate of
1% per month or any portion thereof until paid. On all taxes and special
assessments levied after the first day of April 1914, interest at
the rate of 2% per month or any portion thereof as a penalty for the
deferring of payment shall be charged from the day they become due
until paid. Notwithstanding anything in this section to the contrary,
no interest shall be charged as a penalty upon any tax or assessment
paid within 30 days from the first publication of the notice prescribed
in the next preceding section.
[Enacted by L.L. No. 1-1995 (January 17, 1995).]
The City of New Rochelle shall enforce the collection of delinquent
taxes in the City of New Rochelle pursuant to Article 11 of the Real
Property Tax Law of the State of New York, as amended by Chapter 602
of the Laws of 1993 and Chapter 532 of the Laws of 1994, as well as
other technical and clarifying amendments.
[Repealed by L.L. No. 1-1995 (January 17, 1995).]
[Repealed by L.L. No. 1-1995 (January 17, 1995).]
[Repealed by L.L. No. 1-1995 (January 17, 1995).]
[Repealed by L.L. No. 1-1995 (January 17, 1995).]
The Council may make an appropriation or supplement an appropriation
by the transfer from a contingent fund which may have been included
in the budget of such an amount as it deems necessary. No direct charge
for expenditures shall be made against the contingent fund.
[Enacted by Local Law No. 4-1964 (November 19, 1964).]
The Council may appropriate money for public sports or games
and public recreational features and for public, patriotic or commemorative
celebrations or observances.
[Repealed by Local Law No. 5-1940 (June 27, 1940).]