The Town shall operate on an annual budget. The fiscal year
of the Town shall begin on the first day of July and shall end on
the last day of June in each year. Such fiscal year shall constitute
the tax year, the budget year, and the accounting year.
[Revised, effective 3-17-2009]
The Mayor shall prepare and submit a budget to the Council,
on such date as the Council by Ordinance shall determine, but no later
than the first day of April before the beginning of any fiscal year.
The budget shall provide a complete financial plan for the budget
year and shall contain estimates of anticipated revenues, including
projected surplus revenues as defined in Section 606, and proposed
expenditures for the coming year. The total of the anticipated revenues
shall equal or exceed the total of the proposed expenditures. The
budget shall be a public record in the office of the Clerk, open to
public inspection by anyone at reasonable times during normal business
hours.
[Revised 1-7-1991]
Before adopting the budget, the Council shall hold a public
hearing thereon, after notice thereof in at least one newspaper having
general circulation within the Town. Such notice and hearing shall
comply with those requirements of Section 6-308 of the Tax-Property
Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland concerning the constant
yield tax rate. The Council may delete items, insert new items or
may increase or decrease the items of the budget. Where the Council
shall increase the total proposed expenditures, it shall also increase
the total anticipated revenues in an amount at least equal to the
total proposed expenditures. The budget shall be prepared and adopted
in the form of an Ordinance on or before May 31st of each year. A
favorable vote of at least a majority of the total elected membership
of the Common Council shall be necessary for adoption. Upon adoption,
the Town treasurer is authorized to notify Prince George's County
of the Town's adopted tax rate. In the event the Town fails to adopt
a tax rate by May 31st, the treasurer is authorized to notify Prince
George's County that the tax rate for the new fiscal year shall be
the same rate as the prior year. In the event the Council fails to
adopt a budget by May 31st, it shall appropriate expenditures equal
to the prior year's budget for personnel and operating expenses and
shall continue to honor its carry-over contractual commitments and
its financial obligation to its employees and officials in the new
fiscal year.
Any transfer of funds between major appropriations for different
purposes must be approved by the Common Council before becoming effective.
No officer or employee shall during any budget year expend or
contract to expend any money or incur any liability or enter into
any contract which by its terms involves the expenditure of money,
for any purpose, in excess of the amount appropriated for or transferred
to that general classification of expenditure pursuant to this Charter.
Any contract, verbal or written, made in violation of this section
shall be null and void. Nothing in this section contained, however,
shall prevent the making of contracts or the spending of money for
capital improvements to be financed in whole or in part by the issuance
of bonds, nor the making of contracts of lease or for services for
a period exceeding the budget year in which such contract is made,
when such contract is permitted by law.
All appropriations shall lapse at the end of the budget year
to the extent that they shall not have been expended or lawfully encumbered.
Any unexpended and unencumbered funds shall be considered a surplus
at the end of the budget year and shall be included among the anticipated
revenues for the next succeeding budget year.
[Revised, effective 3-17-2009]
All checks issued in payment of salaries or other municipal
obligations shall be signed by the Treasurer or, in his absence, by
the mayor.
All real property within the corporate limits of the town shall
be subject to taxation for municipal purposes. The assessment used
for municipal taxation shall be the same as that for state and county
taxes. The Town shall not by authority of this section impose taxes
on property which is exempt from taxation by any Act of the General
Assembly.
From the effective date of the budget, the amount stated therein
as the amount to be raised by the property tax shall constitute a
determination of the amount of the tax levy in the corresponding tax
year.
[Revised, effective 3-17-2009]
Each year after the tax levy is made, a bill or account of the
taxes due from him/her shall be mailed or delivered in person to each
taxpayer or his agent at his last known address on or before August
15. This bill or account shall contain a statement of the amount of
real property as well as business personal property with which the
taxpayer is assessed, the amount of taxes due, and the date on which
the taxes will bear interest. Failure to give or receive notice required
by this section shall not relieve any taxpayer of the responsibility
to pay all taxes levied on his property when due. The Treasurer shall
notify residents of the University Park of the municipal tax rate
by publication in the Town newsletter or by such other means as he/she
deems appropriate.
The taxes provided for in Section 610 of this Charter shall
be due and payable on the first of July in the year for which they
are levied and shall be overdue and in arrears on the first day of
the following October. They shall bear interest while in arrears at
the rate prescribed by the Mayor and Common Council by Ordinance,
or, if there is no Ordinance, at the rate for tax arrearage established
by Prince George's County, Maryland, for each month or fraction of
a month until paid. All taxes not paid and in arrears after the first
day of the following January shall be collected as provided in Section
612.
[Revised, effective 3-17-2009]
A list of all property on which the Town taxes have not been
paid and which are in arrears as provided by Section 611 of this Charter
shall be submitted by the Treasurer to the official of the county
responsibility for the sale of tax delinquent property as provided
in State Law. All property listed thereon shall, if necessary, be
sold for taxes by this county official, in the manner prescribed by
State law or set forth in Article 81 of the Annotated Code of Maryland
as amended.
The financial books and accounts of the Town shall be maintained
in accordance with the rules of the Maryland Department of Fiscal
Services or its successor, and audited annually in a manner determined
by the Common Council but not contrary to applicable State law.
During the first six (6) months of any fiscal year, the Town
shall, by Ordinance, have the power to borrow in anticipation of the
collection of the property tax levied for that fiscal year, and to
issue tax anticipation notes or other evidences of indebtedness as
evidence of such borrowing. Such tax anticipation notes or other evidences
of indebtedness shall be a first lien upon the proceeds of such tax
and shall mature and be paid no later than six (6) months after the
beginning of the fiscal year in which they are issued. No tax anticipation
notes or other evidences of indebtedness shall be issued which will
cause the total tax anticipation indebtedness of the Town to exceed
fifty percent (50%) of the property tax levy for the fiscal year in
which such notes or other evidence of indebtedness shall be authorized
by Ordinance before being issued. The Common Council may regulate
all matters concerning the issuance and sale of tax anticipation notes.
[Revised, effective 11-10-2009]
The Town may borrow money for any proper public purpose and
to evidence such borrowing by the issuance and sale of its general
obligation bonds, notes, or other certificates of indebtedness in
the manner prescribed in Article 23A of the Annotated Code of Maryland
(1957 edition, as amended) Any bonds issued under the authority of
Article 23A, as amended from time to time, or under any other lawful
authority heretofore or hereafter enacted, may be sold by the Town
at private sale without advertising or publication of notice of sale
or solicitation of competitive bids if the ordinances authorizing
the issuance of such bonds shall so specify.
The power and obligation of the Town to pay any and all bonds,
notes, or other evidences of indebtedness issued by it shall be unlimited
and the Town shall levy ad valorem taxes upon all the taxable property
of the Town for the payment of such bonds, notes, or other evidences
of indebtedness and interest thereon. The faith and credit of the
Town is hereby pledged for the payment of the principal of the interest
on all bonds, notes, or other evidences of indebtedness, hereafter
issued under the authority of this Charter, whether or not such pledge
be stated in the bonds, notes, or other evidences of indebtedness,
or in the Ordinance authorizing their issuance.
All bonds, motes or other evidences of indebtedness validly
issued by the Town previous to the effective date of this Charter
and all ordinances passed concerning them are hereby declared to be
valid, legal and binding and of full force and effect as if herein
fully set forth.
(a)Â
Purchases for the Town government shall be made by the Treasurer
under the direction of the Mayor and Common Council. The Common Council
may establish by Ordinance, rules and regulations regarding purchasing
procedures including the use of competitive bids.
[Revised, effective 3-17-2009]
(b)Â
All contracts involving professional services such as accounting,
architecture, auditing, engineering, law, planning, Town newsletter
editor and surveying shall be negotiated by the Mayor and approved
by the Common Council. The newsletter editor shall serve at the pleasure
of the Mayor and Council.
[Revised, effective 4-23-2015]
[Effective 4-19-1994]
All funds reserved by the Council for a particular purpose shall
be denoted by a specific reserve category and shall continue from
fiscal year to fiscal year until further action of the Council. No
such funds shall be expended, transferred to a budget line item, or
transferred to and/or 29 combined with another specific or general
reserve category without prior approval of the Council.
