Accounts shall be kept by the City Finance Director, showing the financial transactions of all departments of the city. The Finance Director shall have the authority and shall be required to:
(a) 
Supervise and be responsible for the disbursement of all moneys and have control over all expenditures to ensure that the budget appropriations are not exceeded;
(b) 
Maintain a general accounting system for the city government and each of its offices, departments and agencies; keep books for and exercise financial budgetary control over each office, department and agency; keep separate accounts for the items of appropriation contained in the city budget, each of which accounts shall show the amount of the appropriation, the amounts paid therefrom, the unpaid obligations against it and the unencumbered balance; require reports of receipts and disbursements from each receiving and spending agency of the city government to be made daily or at such intervals as the Finance Director may deem expedient;
(c) 
Submit to the Council through the City Manager a monthly statement of all receipts and disbursements in sufficient detail to show the exact financial condition of the city;
(d) 
Prepare for the City Manager, as of the end of each fiscal year, a complete financial statement and report;
(e) 
Approve all proposed expenditures; unless the Finance Director shall certify that there is an unencumbered balance of appropriation and available funds, no appropriation shall be encumbered and no expenditure shall be made;
(f) 
The Finance Director shall have and perform for the City of Bangor all of the powers and duties imposed by law upon municipal treasurers and tax collectors. For purposes of this article, one or more of the functions of the Finance Director may be delegated to one or more designees.
All funds of any form received by city departments shall be timely deposited into the accounts of the city, which shall be audited annually by a certified public accountant to be chosen by the City Council, or by an accountant assigned by the state auditor.
The City Council shall require a bond with sufficient surety or sureties, satisfactory to the City Council, from all persons trusted with the collection, custody or disbursement of any public moneys; and may require such bond from such other officials as it may deem advisable. The premium charges for said bonds shall be paid by the city.
All moneys received by any officer, employee or agent of the city belonging to the city, or for, or in connection with the business of the City, shall forthwith be paid by the officer, employee or agent receiving the same into the city treasury, and shall then be deposited by the city treasurer with a responsible banking institution or institutions to be chosen by said City Council. All interest from all deposits of money belonging to the city shall accrue to the benefit of the city.
The purchasing agent shall purchase all supplies for the city and for the several officers and boards thereof, excepting educational supplies for the city schools, which may be purchased by the purchasing agent upon requisition by the school committee.
The purchasing agent shall see to the delivery of supplies to each officer and department for whom they were ordered and take and file receipts therefor. The purchasing agent shall conduct all sales of property belonging to the city which are unfit or unnecessary for the city's use but only after such sale has been authorized by the City Council, and subject to such restrictions as the City Council may by ordinance provide. The City Manager or his or her designee shall act as purchasing agent until and unless the City Council by ordinance shall provide for the appointment of a purchasing agent.
Money shall be paid out only on warrants on the City Treasury issued by the Finance Director and countersigned by a member of the City Council to be designated from time to time by the City Council; provided, however, that in the matter of payrolls, the signature of the Finance Director shall be sufficient. The Finance Director shall examine all payrolls, bills and other claims and demands against the city, and shall issue no warrant for payment until he or she finds that the claim is in proper form, correctly computed, duly certified and legally due and payable. The Finance Director may require any claimant to make oath to the validity of a claim, may investigate any claim, and for such purpose or purposes may examine witnesses under oath.
(a) 
Fiscal Year. The fiscal year of the city government shall commence on the first day of July and shall end on the 30th day of June of each calendar year.
(b) 
Budget Submission. The City Manager shall, not later than the second Monday in April, submit to the Council an annual current expense budget, which shall be a complete financial plan for the ensuing fiscal year.
(c) 
Budget Document. The annual budget shall contain: (1) an estimate of all revenue cash receipts anticipated from sources other than the tax levy for the ensuing fiscal year; (2) the estimated expenditures necessary for the operation of the several departments, offices and agencies of the city; (3) debt service requirements for the ensuing fiscal year; (4) an estimate of the sum required to be raised by the tax levy for the ensuing fiscal year; and (5) a balanced relationship between the total estimated expenditures and the total anticipated revenues and the tax levy, except for overlay as permitted by statute for the General Fund. All estimates shall be in detail showing revenues by sources and expenditures by fund, organizational units, functions and objects of expenditure. The budget shall be so arranged as to show comparative figures for receipts and expenditures for the current and next preceding fiscal years.
(d) 
Budget Message. The budget shall be accompanied by a budget message which shall contain the recommendations of the City Manager concerning the fiscal policy of the city, a description of the important features and major increases or decreases in the proposed budget and summary statements of the budget according to principal sources of revenue and the headings of expenditure.
(e) 
Budget Copies. The City Manager shall have printed sufficient copies of the budget and the budget message for the use of the Council and the public. The budget and the budget message shall be a public record.
(f) 
Lapse of Appropriations. Every appropriation, except an appropriation for a capital expenditure, shall lapse at the close of the fiscal year to the extent that it has not been expended or encumbered. An appropriation for capital expenditure shall continue in force until the purpose for which it was made has been accomplished or abandoned. The purpose of any such appropriation shall be deemed abandoned if three years pass without any disbursement from or encumbrance of the appropriation.
The Council may insert new items of expenditures or may increase, decrease, or strike out items of expenditure, except that no item of appropriation for debt service shall be reduced. The Council shall not alter the City Manager's estimate of receipt except that any increases or decreases in expenditure items shall be fully reflected by increasing or decreasing the amount to be raised by tax levy in the ensuing year. In the event the City Council shall fail to adopt a budget by the beginning date of the fiscal year, the proposed budget as presented by the city manager shall automatically become the city budget for the fiscal year.
The City Manager may at any time transfer any unencumbered appropriation balance or portion thereof from one classification of expenditure to another within the same department, office or agency. At the request of the City Manager, the Council may by order transfer any unencumbered appropriation balance or portion thereof from one department, office or agency to another. Such order for transfer may be passed upon a single reading.
Appropriations in addition to those contained in the budget shall be made only if the Finance Director certifies that there is available sufficient unanticipated and unappropriated revenues within the budgeting fund to meet such additional appropriations or by an appropriation from a reserve account within the budgeting fund or by an interfund transfer from the General Fund or other fund.
The City Council shall have the power to appropriate in any one year, without reference to other provisions of this charter, an amount not to exceed five percent of the current annual budget, for the purpose of meeting a public emergency threatening the lives, health or property of citizens; provided such appropriation shall require at least seven affirmative votes in the Council. In the absence of available general fund reserves or undesignated fund balance sufficient to meet such emergency appropriation, the Council may, in accordance with the procedure set forth in section 13 of this article, authorize the issuance of notes to fund such emergency appropriation.
The borrowing of money by and for the city shall be for municipal purposes only. The credit of the city shall in no manner be loaned to any individual, association or corporation.
(a) 
Authorization. Money may be borrowed within the limitations fixed by the constitution and statutes of the state now or hereafter applying to said Bangor, by the issue and sale of bonds or notes pledged on the credit of the city, the proceeds to be used for the acquisition of land or interests in land or personal property, the construction and equipment of buildings and other permanent public improvements, the purchase of equipment, the payment or refunding of bonds, notes and certificates of indebtedness previously issued, or for any other purpose authorized by general law or special law now or hereafter applicable to the City of Bangor; provided, however, that no bonds and/or notes issued pursuant to this section shall be used for the funding of current operating expenses. No order providing for borrowing under this section shall be passed without public notice of the same being given by posting such notice in two or more public places in the City of Bangor and by publishing the same at least in one or more newspapers published in said Bangor, such publication to be not less than ten days before final action by the City Council; nor shall any order providing for borrowing under this section be passed except on the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of all the members of the City Council. Any order providing for borrowing under this section may be amended without further public notice, provided the amount of the borrowing under such order is not thereby increased, or the purpose of the borrowing changed.
(b) 
Term. Every issue of bonds shall be payable within a fixed term of years, the term of such bond to not exceed the estimated period of utility of the interests, public improvements, equipment or other items purchased with the proceeds from the sale, but the declaration of the City Council embodied in the order authorizing the issue shall be conclusive determination of the estimated period of utility thereof; and the term within which all bonds shall be made payable shall in no case exceed 30 years. Notes issued in accordance with this section shall be for a term not exceeding 20 years, or for a term not exceeding the estimated period of utility of the interests, public improvements, equipment or other items to be funded, whichever is less. Any issue of bonds or notes may be made callable before maturity by appropriate recital in the order authorizing the borrowing.
(c) 
Tax Levy. Every order for the issue of bonds or notes except revenue bonds and notes issued in connection with temporary loans as authorized in section 13(d), 14 or 15 of this article shall provide for a tax levy for each year of an amount necessary to meet the payment of the annual serial installment of principal and the annual interest thereon; and such amounts shall be included in the tax levy for each year until the debt is extinguished.
(d) 
General Fund Debt. This subsection 13(d) applies to "general fund debt" which means bonds or notes that are expected to be paid from the City's general fund. Bonds or notes issued to finance general fund activities and to be paid from the City's general fund ("general fund debt") may be issued as general obligation bonds and such bonds may be issued as serial bonds, term bonds or any combination thereof, and such bonds shall bear such date or dates, mature at such time or times and in such amounts, bear interest at such rate or rates, fixed or adjustable, be payable in such form and at such time or times and at such place or places, contain such redemption and conversion privileges, contain such provisions regarding security for the payment thereof and be sold under such terms and conditions as the City Council may determine.
This subsection 13(d) shall apply to any general fund debt whether issued on a stand-alone basis or on a consolidated basis with other general fund projects or enterprise debt. Notwithstanding the foregoing, interest payments on all general fund debt shall be paid on a current annual basis; provided, however, that the first payment date for such interest payments may be extended up to 15 months from the date such general fund debt is incurred.
(e) 
Enterprise Debt. For purposes of this subsection 13(e) "enterprise activities" means any revenue-generating project, business or activity treated by the City as a separate enterprise for its internal account purposes. Bonds or notes issued to finance enterprise activities ("enterprise debt") may be issued as general obligation bonds or as limited obligation revenue bonds payable solely from revenues generated by the enterprise for which the project is undertaken, or any portion thereof and in either case, such bonds may be issued as serial bonds, term bonds or any combination thereof, and such bonds shall bear such date or dates, mature at such time or times and in such amounts, bear interest at such rate or rates, fixed or adjustable, be payable in such form and at such time or times and at such place or places, contain such redemption and conversion privileges, contain such provisions regarding security for the payment thereof and be sold under such terms and conditions as the City Council may determine. This subsection 13 (e) shall apply to any enterprise debt whether issued on a stand-alone basis or on a consolidated basis with other enterprises debt or general fund debt.
(f) 
Refunded Obligations. Bonds or notes issued to refund any outstanding bonds or notes or other indebtedness of the City, whether refunding outstanding general fund debt or enterprise debt may be issued as serial bonds, term bonds or any combination thereof, and such bonds shall bear such date or dates, mature at such time or times and in such amounts, bear interest at such rate or rates, fixed or adjustable, be payable in such form and at such time or times and at such place or places, contain such redemption and conversion privileges, contain such provisions regarding security for the payment thereof and be sold under such terms and conditions as the City Council may determine. This subsection 13 (f) shall apply to any refunding obligations whether issued on a stand-alone basis or a consolidated basis with other enterprise debt or general fund debt.
Notwithstanding any of the provisions of Section 13 above money may be borrowed by the issuance of revenue bonds and notes pursuant to general law or any special law applicable to the City of Bangor.
Money may be borrowed temporarily in anticipation of taxes, of authorized issues of bonds or notes, and of other revenues payable to the City from any source, as provided by general law or any special law applicable to the City of Bangor.
[Amended 11-6-2012]
The City Council shall target an unassigned fund balance of no more than 16.66% of the operating budget for the General Fund. The target balance shall be established at 8.33% of the last year's General Fund operating budget.
The City Council shall have the authority to adopt by order a credit reserve fund as provided for in statute. The purpose of this fund will be to assist the City in continuing its normal operations without increasing the tax rate. Appropriation from this fund shall be made by appropriation resolve which shall be read on two separate days in accordance with the provisions of Section 7 of Article II of this charter.
The City Council shall have the authority to create such other reserve funds as authorized by statute or that the Council shall deem advisable. The order creating such fund shall include a statement as to the intent and purpose of the fund, the funding mechanism, and the authority to use and withdraw from the fund. Appropriation from such fund shall be made by appropriation resolve which shall be read on two separate days in accordance with the provisions of Section 7 of Article II of this charter.
[Added 11-6-2012]
(a) 
The City Council shall submit the following to voter referendum:
(1) 
Orders or resolves authorizing the issue of general obligation securities of the city in a principal amount of five one-hundedth of one percent of the last certified state valuation of the City for a single capital improvement or item of capital equipment.
(2) 
Orders or resolves directly or indirectly obligating the city to expend, over a term greater than one municipal year, municipal tax funds in excess of an amount greater than seven and one-half one-hundredths of one percent of the last certified state valuation of the city for a single capital improvement or item of capital equipment.
(b) 
The provisions of this section shall not be applicable to any order or resolve authorizing (i) the refunding of any securities or other obligations of the city; (ii) the issuance of general obligation securities, or other direct or indirect obligations, of the city for streets, sidewalks, or storm or sanitary sewers; (iii) the issuance of general obligations securities, or other direct or indirect obligations, of the city for the city's self-sustaining enterprise funds; (iv) money borrowed in anticipation of revenue as provided in Article VIII, Section 15; (v) the issuance of general obligations securities, or other direct or indirect obligations, of the city for State or Federal mandates and judicially or adminsitratively ordered actions; (vi) any construction or financing of improvements or equipment needed as a result of a fire, flood, disaster or other declared emergency. For purposes of this section, the city council may by vote of seven of the members adopt emergency orders or resolves authorizing construction or financing of improvements or equipment needed as a result of a fire, flood, disaster or other emergency and such orders or resolves shall contain a section in whch the emergency is set forth and defined; provided, however, that the declaration of the city council shall be conclusive.
(c) 
Any order or resolve described in subsection (a) of this sction shall be approved by separate action of the city council.
(d) 
No order or resolve described in subsection (a) of this section, not excepted by subsection (b), shall become effective until approved by a majority of voters voting at a regular or special municipal election. In the event that the total number of votes cast for and against the question for the referred order or resolve is less than ten percent of the registered voters of the city at the time of the election, then such order or resolve shall be deemed to be approved and effective.
(e) 
The form of the ballot question for the referred order or resolve shall be substantially as follows:
Shall the order or resolve "[title]" be approved?
(f) 
The ballot shall include a statement of information as required by 30-A M.R.S.A. section 5772, as the same may be amended from time to time.
(g) 
The method of voting at municipal elections under this section shall be in the same manner otherwise prescribed for municipal elections by law.
(h) 
A copy of the order or resolve submitted pursuant to this section shall be posted in the City Clerk's office at least two weeks prior to the date of the election.
(i) 
Whenever any order or resolve is required by the provisions of this section to be submitted to the voters of the city at an election, the City Council must order one publication of the complete text to be made in a newspaper of general circulation in the City of Bangor, such publication to be made no less than 10 days nor more than 15 days prior to the election.