The head of the department of finance shall be the director
of finance. He shall have knowledge of municipal accounting and taxation,
and shall have experience in budgeting and financial control.
The director of finance shall have charge of the administration
of financial affairs of the city, and to that end he shall have authority
and be required to:
(1) Maintain a general accounting system for the city and each of its
departments and offices; exercise financial control over the same;
keep such books and records and submit such financial statements to
the city manager and the board of aldermen as they may require.
(2) Prescribe the forms of all financial records, receipts, vouchers,
bills, and claims used by all departments and offices of the city.
(3) Supervise and be responsible for the disbursement of all monies of
the city, and have control over all expenditures to insure that they
are proper and that appropriations are not exceeded.
(4) Certify, before any contract, order, or other document is executed
by which the city would incur financial obligation, that the expenditure
is within the purpose of the appropriation and the work program contemplated
thereby, and that there is a sufficient unencumbered balance in the
appropriation account and in the proper fund to pay the obligation.
(5) Preaudit and approve before payment all bills, invoices, payrolls,
and other evidences of claims against the city, and draw and sign
checks for the payment of all such valid claims, with countersignature
by such person as the board of aldermen shall designate for the safeguarding
of city funds.
(6) Inspect and audit any accounts or records of financial transactions
which may be maintained in his department and in any other department
or office of the city.
(7) Collect or provide for the collection of all taxes, special assessments,
license fees, and other revenues or monies due the city from any source
whatsoever; and receive from the various departments and offices all
fees, revenues, and monies collected by them.
(8) Serve as treasurer for the city, and deposit all funds coming into
his custody in such depositories as may be designated by the board
of aldermen. All such funds shall be secured in accordance with law
and ordinance.
(9) Make and have custody of all investments of the city, including those
held in a fiduciary capacity, under such regulations as the board
of aldermen may prescribe.
(10)
Compile the information required for preparing the budget, and
assist the city manager in its preparation.
(11)
Arrange for the assessment of all taxable property within the
city in the manner provided by the board of aldermen and in accordance
with law.
(12)
Perform such other duties as may be prescribed by the city manager.
There shall be within the department of finance a purchasing
agent, who may be the city manager or someone appointed by him. Pursuant
to regulations established by ordinance, the purchasing agent shall
contract for, purchase, store, and distribute all supplies, materials,
and equipment required by any department or office of the city, except
boards and commissions which may be exempt by law from such regulations.
The city manager may establish regulations under which the purchase
of designated materials and equipment may be exempt from central purchasing
regulations.
The fiscal year and the budget year of the city shall, unless
otherwise provided by ordinance, begin on the first day of July and
end on the last day of June of the following year.
The city manager shall present to the board of aldermen an annual
budget and long range capital budgets prepared in such manner as may
be provided by ordinance and in accordance with accepted principles
of municipal budgeting. The time for the presentation of the annual
budget shall be set by the board of aldermen in consultation with
the city manager, and if not so set, the budget shall be presented
not less than thirty days prior to the beginning of the fiscal year.
At the meeting of the board of aldermen at which the budget
is submitted, the board shall determine the time and place for a public
hearing on the budget, to be held on or before the next regular meeting
date, and the city clerk shall immediately provide for giving public
notice in accordance with rules provided by the board. At the time
and place provided in the public notice, or at a time and place to
which such hearing may be adjourned, interested persons shall be given
an opportunity to be heard.
The budget and all supporting schedules shall be a public record
in the office of the city clerk and open to public inspection. The
city manager shall have sufficient copies of the budget prepared for
distribution to interested persons.
The city manager shall present, along with the annual budget,
an appropriation bill which, if adopted, will authorize the expenditures
proposed in the budget. The board of aldermen may insert new items
or may increase, decrease, or eliminate items in the appropriation
bill.
If the appropriation bill has not been adopted under the provisions
of this charter so that it can become effective by the first day of
the fiscal year, then the bill presented by the manager shall become
effective on the first day of the fiscal year the same as if it had
been so adopted.
From the effective date of the appropriation ordinance, the
several amounts stated therein shall be appropriated to the several
objects and purposes of expenditure, but the city manager may control
the rate at which any appropriation is expended during the period
of the appropriation, by allotment or other means, and may reduce
the expenditures of the city or any of its agencies below the appropriations
whenever the actual revenues are less than the revenue estimates upon
which the appropriations were based.
The city manager may transfer any unencumbered appropriation
balance or portion thereof from one classification of expenditure
to another within a department or office. At the request of the city
manager, the board of aldermen may by resolution transfer any unencumbered
appropriation balance or portion thereof from one department or office
to another. All appropriations shall lapse at the end of the budget
year to the extent that they shall not have been spent or lawfully
encumbered.
The board of aldermen shall by ordinance, after the appropriation
ordinance is adopted, set the tax rates on the various classes of
property as assessed, and such rates shall be certified by the city
clerk to the director of finance, who shall compute the taxes and
extend them upon the tax rolls.
The city may issue its negotiable bonds in evidence of indebtedness
incurred for any purpose which may be authorized in this charter,
and for any purpose for which any city is authorized to incur indebtedness
under the constitution and laws of the state. Some of the purposes
hereby specifically authorized for which the bonds of the city may
be issued, sold, pledged, or disposed of on the credit of the city,
or solely upon the credit of specific property owned by the city,
or solely upon the credit of income derived from property used in
connection with any public utility owned or operated by the city,
or upon any two or more such credits, shall be:
(1)
The acquiring of land; the purchase, construction, reconstruction,
repairs, and improvement upon or extension of the following: water
systems, including lakes and reservoirs; public sewers, sewage disposal
plants; buildings and equipment for the police and fire departments;
libraries and their equipment; other public buildings and equipment
therefor; facilities and equipment for the collection and disposal
of garbage and refuse; bridges, viaducts, subways, tunnels, railroads,
bus lines, terminals for bus, air, and railroad travel and their equipment;
warehouses, public market facilities, airports, and equipment therefor;
street lighting systems, gas or electric utility systems, heating
and power plants, telephone and telegraph systems, facilities for
radio and television broadcasting and reception; off-street parking
facilities; any public utility or equipment therefor; public housing,
hospitals, orphan homes, industrial schools, jails, workhouses, and
other charitable, correctional, or penal institutions and equipment
therefor; golf courses, swimming pools, and other recreational facilities,
and their equipment; parks, parkways, streets, boulevards, grounds,
or other public improvements.
(2)
The paying, refunding, or renewing of any bonds issued by the
city, whether general obligation bonds or revenue bonds, and the establishment
of a local improvement fund to be used for the purpose of paying cash
for local improvements, such fund to be replenished from time to time
by the payment into it of the proceeds of special assessments made
on account of such local improvements.
The foregoing enumeration shall not be construed to limit any
general provision of this charter or of law authorizing the city to
borrow money or issue and dispose of bonds, and such general provisions
shall be construed according to the full force and effect of their
language as if no specific purposes had been mentioned; and the authority
to issue such bonds for any purpose aforesaid is cumulative and shall
not be construed to impair any authority to make any public improvements
under any provision of this charter or of any law.
|
If, under the constitution and laws of the state, an election
is required to authorize the issuance of any bonds, the number of
votes required for approval shall be as therein specified. Notice
of such elections shall be given, and such elections held, conducted,
and the returns made, canvassed, and declared in the manner provided
by ordinance consistent with the constitution and laws of the state.
|
Prior to the adoption of an ordinance calling or providing for
the holding of an election at which any question of the incurring
of any tax-secured bonded indebtedness shall be submitted, the director
of finance shall prepare, swear to, and file for public inspection
in the office of the city clerk, a special debt statement which shall
set forth:
(1)
The aggregate principal amount of all outstanding bonds and
notes of the city.
(2)
Deductions, if any, permitted by the constitution and general
laws.
(3)
The amount of existing net indebtedness.
(4)
The amount of net indebtedness after the issuance of the bonds
authorized by such bond ordinance.
(5)
The assessed valuation of all taxable tangible property within
the city as shown by the last completed assessment for state and county
purposes.
(6)
The aggregate principal amount of bonds which the city may issue
pursuant to law.
This debt statement, after approval by a majority of the board
of aldermen, shall be published with the notice of the bond election
and shall be presumed to be accurate.
|
All bonds shall be sold at public sale upon sealed proposals.
At least ten days prior to the date of sale, the director of finance
shall give notice by direct mail and by such other advertising as
the board of aldermen may direct to all parties and financial institutions
which in his opinion may be interested in the purchase of such bonds
or which make written application for such notice.