The fiscal year of the Borough shall begin on the first day
of January and end on the last day of December of each year.
On or before the 15th day of November of each year, the Borough
Manager shall submit to the Council a proposed budget for the ensuing
fiscal year and an accompanying budget message.
The budget shall provide a complete financial plan of all Borough
funds and activities for the ensuing fiscal year and, except as required
by this Charter, shall be in such form as the Council may require.
In organizing the budget, the Borough Manager shall utilize the most
practical combination of expenditure classification by fund, organization
unit, program, purpose of activity and object. The budget shall contain,
inter alia, the following:
A.
It shall begin with a general summary of its contents.
B.
It shall show in detail all estimated income, indicating the existing
and proposed tax levies, as well as other assessments, fees and charges.
C.
It shall show all proposed expenditures, including debt service,
for the ensuing fiscal year.
D.
It shall show the number of proposed employees in every job classification.
E.
It shall be so arranged as to show comparative figures for actual
and estimated income and expenditures for the current fiscal year
and actual income and expenditures of the preceding fiscal year.
F.
It shall indicate proposed operating expenditures during ensuing
fiscal year, detailed by offices, departments and agencies in terms
of their respective work programs and the methods of financing such
expenditures.
G.
It shall indicate 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.
H.
The total of proposed expenditures shall not exceed the total of
estimated income.
The Borough Manager's message shall explain the budget
both in fiscal terms and in terms of programs. It shall outline the
proposed financial policies of the Borough 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 Borough's debt position and include such other materials
as the Borough Manager deems desirable or as the Council requests.
The annual budget shall be a public record and shall be available
for public inspection after submission and prior to adoption and after
adoption.
The annual budget shall be adopted by ordinance. Final adoption
of the budget shall occur prior to the commencement of the year for
which it is prepared but only after it has been available for public
inspection, after due notice, for at least 10 days. If Council fails
to adopt the budget on or before December 31, the amounts appropriated
for current operation for the current fiscal year shall be deemed
adopted for the ensuing fiscal year on a month-to-month basis, with
all items in it prorated accordingly, until such time as the Council
adopts a budget for the ensuing fiscal year.
A.
The Council may authorize or ratify modifications of the budget during
the year for which it is prepared; provided, however, that where the
aggregate of modifications results in an increase or decrease of a
departmental appropriation by more than 15% of the originally approved
budget, such modification shall be by ordinance only.
B.
The revised budget shall show the original budgeted amounts in one
column with a separate adjacent column listing the revised budgeted
amounts.
C.
To meet a public emergency affecting life, health, property or the
public peace, the Council may make emergency appropriations. Such
appropriations may be made by emergency ordinance, but such ordinances
may not levy taxes, grant, renew or extend a franchise or authorize
the borrowing of money, except to the extent that there are no available
unappropriated revenues to meet such appropriations. The Council may
by such emergency ordinance authorize the issuance of emergency notes
which may be renewed from time to time.
No expenditure or payment of any funds of the Borough shall
be made except upon approval of Council; provided, however, that payroll
and utility expenditures may be made at the direction of the Borough
Manager where based upon a prior ordinance or contract. Directives
for payment, as approved by the Council, shall be certified by the
Borough Manager to the authorized signers. All checks or drafts of
the Borough shall be signed by:
The Council shall provide for an independent annual audit of
all Borough accounts by a certified public accountant who has no personal
interest, direct or indirect, in the fiscal affairs of the Borough
government or any of its elected or appointed officers. The Council
may provide for more frequent audits, as well as special audits, as
it deems necessary. The results of the annual audit and a financial
statement of the fiscal affairs of the Borough shall be presented
to the Council and published in a newspaper of general circulation
in the Borough by April 1 of the year following the fiscal year audited.
The specific laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania governing
the auditing, adjusting and settlement of accounts of the officers
of the Borough and the appeal therefrom shall continue to apply to
all such matters.
Before entering upon the duties of their respective offices
or positions, the Borough Manager and the Borough Mayor, as well as
any other officer, agent or employee of the Borough, as the Council
may determine, shall each execute and file with the Borough a surety
bond with a corporate surety authorized to do business in the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania, conditioned for the honest and faithful performance
of his respective duties, in such sums as shall be fixed by the Council.
Any such bond and surety thereon, before being accepted by the Borough,
shall be approved by the Borough Solicitor. The agency placing such
bond shall be determined by the Council and premium therefor shall
be paid by the Borough. Such bond may provide for one or more additional
obligees in the event that the officer bonded is acting in a dual
or similar capacity with other political subdivisions or governmental
or quasi-governmental entities.
Council shall follow the provisions of the law as established
by the General Assembly from time to time for the borrowing of money
by municipalities.
