[Amended 7-15-2008 by Ord. No. 2008-40]
The Auditor Division shall be under the charge of the City Auditor, who shall render to the Mayor such assistance as may from time to time be required respecting the accounts and finances of the City, including such assistance as may be proper to form estimates for the appropriations for each department. The Auditor shall also render such other services and furnish such other information respecting the accounts, finances and payments of or by the City as the Mayor or City Council may from time to time require. He shall have free access to each and every source of information in regard to the financial affairs of the City.
There shall be an Assistant City Auditor who shall be appointed by the City Auditor and who shall be sworn to the faithful discharge of his duties.
The several officers, departments and boards of the City shall, at the time that they render accounts of money received or of bills receivable to the City Collector for collection, make an accurate and certified list or account thereof, and file the list or account with the City Auditor upon such forms as he may prescribe. If for any reason the whole or a part of such bills or accounts, as thus certified, is not collectible, the officer, department or board rendering such bills or accounts is authorized to make an abatement of the bill or account and shall render a statement, showing the amounts abated and the reasons therefor, to the City Auditor and the City Collector upon such forms as they may prescribe.
The City Auditor shall at least once in each week direct to the Treasurer all necessary warrants or orders for the payment of money, which warrants or orders shall be signed by the Mayor and countersigned by the City Auditor and shall be accompanied by a list of the several schedules which they are drawn to meet.
The Auditor shall receive and examine before payment schedules of debts, claims and demands due from the City to any person as prepared by the commissions, boards or heads of the several departments of the City, and see that they are correct and properly vouched for, as well as separately made out when belonging to different departments, and accompanied by the bills for such debts, claims and demands; and that the schedules bear the written approval of a majority of the commission or board or of the head in charge of the department concerned and are signed by the majority of the commission or board or by the head or someone in his behalf authorized so to sign by authority evidenced in such manner as may be satisfactory to the Auditor.
The Auditor shall charge such bills and accounts as are referred to in § 2-428 to the account of the several appropriations to which they belong, provided he shall find by careful examination that sufficient funds duly appropriated exist for their payment and it shall appear to him that all proceedings in connection therewith have been correctly and lawfully had and that the requirements set out in this division have been observed.
After final allowance of claims by the Auditor, he shall transmit to the Mayor the schedule setting out the claims with his warrant indicating the allowance thereof and authorizing the Mayor to draw on the Treasurer accordingly; and after signing of the warrant by the Mayor, the Auditor shall transmit to the City Treasurer the schedule with his warrant or order covering the claims as authorized by § 2-426.
When it is necessary for money to be paid in advance on contracts made for work begun, but not completed, the Mayor, upon being satisfied of such necessity, may draw an order on the Treasurer for the amount thus necessary to be advanced. Every such order shall be signed by the Mayor and countersigned by the Auditor, who shall enter the order in the book of account which he is required to keep, with the reason for its payment.
The Auditor shall furnish the Mayor and the City Council at the first regular meeting after the 15th of each month a financial report summarizing the expenditures in each department for the previous month and showing the total appropriation, and the total expenditures by each department to the date of the report, as well as the balance remaining to the credit of each department from the respective amounts appropriated for the use of each department.
The Auditor shall make an annual report to the Mayor and the City Council, in the month of September, of all receipts and expenditures of the preceding financial year, giving in detail the amount of appropriation and expenditure of each department. Such statement shall be accompanied by a schedule of the property, real and personal, belonging to the City, and the value thereof, and also an exhibit of the loans or debts bearing interest due from the City, the rate of interest, and the time when payable, the whole to conform as near as practicable to the accounts of the City Treasurer, and to show the financial condition of the City. Such report, when accepted, shall be filed in the office of the Auditor.
At the close of the year the several departments shall, not later than July 10 of the following year, notify the City Auditor of all obligations or claims outstanding against the appropriations under their direction, and the City Auditor shall reserve a sufficient balance to meet such obligations. Any balance remaining thereafter in the regular departmental appropriations shall be closed into the excess and deficiency account. Special appropriations and loan accounts only may be closed by specific order of the City Council and as allowed by law.