The fiscal or budget year and the tax year of the county begins on the first day of July and ends on the 30th day of June of the succeeding year.
(a) 
The term "County government" includes all agencies and their officers, agents, and employees who receive or disburse County funds.
(b) 
The term "County funds" means any monies appropriated or approved by the Council or to which the County may at any time have legal or equitable title.
(c) 
The term "current expense budget" means the plan of the County to receive and expend funds for charges incurred for operation, maintenance, interest, and other charges for an ensuing fiscal year.
(d) 
The term "capital project" means: (1) any public physical betterment or improvement and any preliminary studies and surveys relative thereto; (2) the acquisition of property of a permanent nature for public use; and (3) the purchase of equipment for any public betterment or improvement when first constructed.
(e) 
The term "capital budget" means the plan of the County to receive and expend funds for capital projects during the first fiscal year included in the capital program.
(f) 
The term "capital program" means the plan of the County to receive and expend funds for capital projects during the fiscal year covered by the capital budget and the next succeeding five fiscal years thereafter.
The County budget consists of the current expense budget, the capital budget and capital program, and the budget message. It represents a complete financial plan for the County reflecting receipts and disbursements from all sources, including all revenue, all expenditures, and the surplus or deficit in the general and all special funds of the County government.
When directed by the County Manager, the head of each agency which receives or disburses County funds shall furnish to the County Manager annual work programs setting forth the nature, volume, cost, and other factors concerning the work to be performed and the estimates of the revenues and expenditures of their several operations for the ensuing fiscal year. Estimated revenues shall be detailed as to source, and estimated expenditures as to program or project. All estimates shall be submitted in a form and with supporting data as the County Manager requests. The County Manager may amend the budget proposals, except for the budget requests of the Legislative Branch and the Board of Appeals, and he shall cause to be prepared the County budget as set forth in Sections 606 and 608 of this Charter.
When, annually, the County Manager directs, each agency which receives or disburses County funds shall submit to the County Manager an itemized list of the capital projects which the agency proposes to undertake in the ensuing fiscal year and the next succeeding five fiscal years thereafter. The County Manager may amend the capital budget and capital program proposals and shall cause to be prepared the County budget as set forth in Sections 607 and 608 of this Charter.
The proposed current expense budget shall contain the following information: (1) a statement of all revenue estimated to be received by the County during the ensuing fiscal year, classified to show the receipts by funds and sources of income; (2) a statement of debt service requirements for the ensuing fiscal year; (3) a statement of the estimated cash surplus if any, available for expenditure during the fiscal year, and any estimated deficit in any fund required to be made up in the ensuing fiscal year; (4) an estimate of the several amounts of monies which the County Manager deems necessary for conducting the business of the County, to be financed from and not to exceed estimated revenue for the ensuing fiscal year; (5) a statement of the bonded and other indebtedness of the County government and its agencies, including self-liquidating and special taxing district debt and contingent liabilities; (6) a statement of the proposed contingency reserves, all of which shall not exceed three percentum of the general fund and of any other fund; (7) a comparative statement of the receipts, amounts budgeted, and actual expenditures for the last completed fiscal year, the estimated receipts and expenditures of the currently ending fiscal year and the expenditures recommended by the County Manager for the ensuing fiscal year for each program or project, classified by agency, character, and object; and (8) any other material which the County Manager deems advisable or the Council requires.
The proposed capital budget and capital program shall be arranged to set forth clearly the plan or proposed capital projects to be undertaken in the ensuing fiscal year and in each of the next five fiscal years, and also the proposed means of financing the plan. The capital budget shall include a statement of the receipts anticipated during the ensuing fiscal year from all borrowing and other sources for capital projects.
The budget message shall contain supporting summary tables and explain the proposed current expense budget and capital program both in fiscal terms and in terms of work to be done. It shall outline the proposed financial policies of the county for the ensuing fiscal year and describe the important features of the current expense budget. It shall indicate any major changes in financial policies and in expenditures, appropriations and revenues as compared with the fiscal year currently ending and shall set forth the reasons for the changes.
At such date as may be fixed by the Council and upon not less than ninety (90) calendar days' notice, the County Manager shall submit to the Council the proposed county budget for the ensuing fiscal year.
The proposed county budget shall be made available to the public upon request.
Upon receipt of the proposed county budget, the Council shall cause to be published a notice of the place and time of at least two (2) public hearings on the budget by the Council. The public notice shall be published in at least one (1) newspaper of general circulation in the county. The Council may hold other preliminary hearings on the budget for the purpose of obtaining information as it determines, but no action may be taken by the Council on the budget except in public session and after the public budget hearings prescribed in this section.
(a) 
After the public hearings, the Council may increase, decrease or delete any items in the budget except those required by the laws of this state and except any provisions for debt service on obligations then outstanding or for estimated cash deficits.
(b) 
The passage of the current expense budget and the capital budget shall be by the affirmative vote of not less than a majority of the full Council in a law to be known as the Annual Budget and Appropriation Ordinance of Talbot County.
(c) 
The Annual Budget and Appropriation Ordinance shall be passed by the Council on or before June 1 of each year, to be effective on the first day of the fiscal year to which it applies.
(d) 
Any borrowing to finance capital projects must be authorized by an existing enabling law of the General Assembly of Maryland or by an enabling law of the Council enacted separately from the budget law. An enabling law of the Council is subject to the referendum provisions of Section 217 of this Charter. The Council may pass bond issue authorization ordinances pursuant to an enabling law or laws then in effect to provide the means of financing capital projects to be financed from borrowing. Bond issue authorization ordinances are not subject to the referendum provisions of Section 217 of this Charter.
The budget as enacted shall be reproduced and made available to the public upon request.
When the County budget is finally established by the Annual Budget and Appropriation Ordinance, the Council shall thereupon levy and cause to be raised the amount of taxes required by the current expense budget and the current portion of the capital budget in the manner provided by law so that the budget is balanced as to proposed income and expenditures.
Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Article, from and after July 1, 2021, revenues derived from taxes on properties included in the Constant Yield Tax Rate Certification prepared by the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation shall not increase, compared with the previous year, by more than two percent, except that revenues derived from such taxes may increase above the revenue cap limit by up to one cent per one hundred dollars of assessed value in each of the five fiscal years beginning July 1, 2021. Any increase above the revenue cap limit authorized in this Section shall be in addition to, and not in lieu of, any increases above such limit authorized by State law.
[1]
Editor's Note: Amended by referendum 11-1-1978; amended effective 12-5-1996; amended at referendum 11-3-2020.
Transfers of appropriations between general classifications of expenditures in the current expense budget within the same agency and within the same fund may be authorized by the County Manager. Transfers between agencies of the county government and within the same fund of the current expense budget may be made only during the last quarter of the fiscal year and only on the recommendation of the County Manager and with the approval of the Council. Interproject transfers of appropriations between capital projects in the capital budget may be authorized by legislative act of the Council upon request of the County Manager, but no new project may be created nor any abandoned, except in accordance with Section 620 of this Charter. Nothing contained herein shall be construed to prevent the Council, upon request of the County Manager, from providing by law for interfund cash borrowings to meet temporary cash requirements nor to prevent reimbursements among funds for services rendered.
During any fiscal year, the Council, upon the recommendation of the County Manager, may make additional or supplementary appropriations from unexpended or unencumbered funds set aside for contingencies in the county budget if the County Manager first certifies, in writing, that the funds are available for appropriation. No supplemental appropriation shall exceed the amount of funds so certified.
To meet a public emergency affecting life, health or property, the Council, upon the recommendation of the County Manager, may make emergency appropriations from contingent funds, revenue received from anticipated sources but in excess of the budget estimates therefor, or revenues received from sources not anticipated in the budget for the current fiscal year. To the extent that there may be no available unappropriated revenues to meet emergency appropriations, the Council may authorize the issuance of emergency notes which may be renewed from time to time. Notes and renewals shall be paid not later than the last day of the fiscal year next succeeding that in which the emergency appropriation was made. The total of emergency appropriations in any fiscal year shall not exceed five percentum of all appropriations made in the budget for that year.
Unless otherwise provided by law, all unexpended and unencumbered appropriations in the current expense budget remaining at the end of the fiscal year lapse into the County treasury. No appropriation for a capital project in the capital budget may lapse until the purpose for which the appropriation was made is accomplished or abandoned; but any capital project stands abandoned if three fiscal years elapse without any expenditure from or encumbrance of the appropriation made therefor. The unrestricted balances remaining to the credit of the completed or abandoned capital projects shall be available for appropriation in the current or a subsequent expense or capital budget.
[1]
Editor's Note: Amended by referendum 11-2-2010.
No agency of the County government during any fiscal year may 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 or allotted for the same general classification of expenditure in the budget for the fiscal year, or in any supplemental appropriation as hereinabove provided. Any contract, verbal or written, made in violation of the Section is null and void, and if any officer, agent, or employee of the County government knowingly violates this provision, he shall be personally liable and his action shall be cause, after public hearing, for his removal from office by the County Manager or by majority vote of the Council. If the nature of the transaction reasonably requires the making of any contract, lease, or other obligation requiring the payment of funds from the appropriations of a later fiscal year, it shall be made only upon prior written approval of the Council. No contract for the purchase of real or lease-hold property may be made unless the funds therefor are included in the capital budget.
No obligations of the County may be authorized in any fiscal year for or on account of any capital project not included in the County budget as finally enacted for that year; but upon receipt of a recommendation in writing from the County Manager, the Council, after public hearing and with the affirmative vote of four-fifths of the full Council may amend the County budget in accordance with the recommendation without increasing the total amount of appropriation therefor. The recommendation may include reduction in the amount appropriated for a capital project, with or without abandoning the project. Unrestricted balances from such capital projects shall be added to the funds set aside for contingencies in the County current expense budget and shall be available for appropriation in accordance with Section 616.
[1]
Editor's Note: Amended by referendum 11-2-2010.
(a) 
The Council may, by legislative act, create special taxing areas for special services, purposes and benefits, and may appropriate funds for the operation thereof, chargeable exclusively to such special taxes.
(b) 
The Council may, in the case of utilities or public works serving such special taxing areas, set rates for services, which shall be exclusively allocated to operations or debt service and retirement of capital expenditure revenue bonds issued for such special services.
(c) 
Budgets for the operational and capital programs of such special taxing areas (the special fund) shall be separate from the general current and capital budget. Receipts from County taxes, grants, State revenues and receipts, other than those special taxing areas, shall be paid into the general fund, which is the primary fund for the financing of current expenses for the conduct of County business.
(d) 
No general fund revenues or receipts may be dedicated to, expended for, or used to supplement appropriations from the special funds except as a loan to the special fund as authorized by Section 615 of this Charter.
(e) 
The Council, by the Annual Budget and Appropriation Ordinance, or by other legislative act, may provide for the establishment of working capital or revolving funds for the financing of central stores, equipment pools, or other services common to the agencies of the County.
(f) 
Notwithstanding other provisions of this Section, the Council may establish a Reserve Fund for Permanent Public Improvements, into which there may be paid by the Annual Budget and Appropriation Ordinance cash surpluses not otherwise appropriated or toward the financing of which taxes or other sources of revenue may be dedicated.
Unless and until otherwise provided by legislative act of the Council, within limitations provided by State law, the aggregate amount of bonds and other evidences of indebtedness outstanding at any one time shall not exceed fifteen per centum upon the assessable basis of the County; but, (1) tax anticipation notes or other evidences of indebtedness having a maturity not in excess of twelve months; (2) bonds or other evidences of indebtedness issued or guaranteed by the County payable primarily or exclusively from taxes levied in or on, or other revenues of, special taxing areas or districts heretofore or hereafter established by law; and (3) bonds or other evidences of indebtedness issued for self-liquidating and other projects payable primarily or exclusively from the proceeds of assessments or charges for special benefits or services, are not subject to, or included as bonds or evidences of indebtedness in computing or applying the per centum limitation above provided.
All bonds shall be in serial form and payable, as consecutively numbered, in annual installments, the first of which shall be payable not more than two years from the day of issue. Bonds shall be properly authenticated. Bonds may be registerable or non-registerable as to principal or interest. All interest coupons transferable by delivery shall be attached to the bonds and be properly authenticated. All bonds shall be made payable within the probable useful life of the improvement or undertaking with respect to which they are to be issued, or, within the average probable useful life of the several improvements or undertakings. The determination of the Council as to the probable useful life of any improvement or undertaking is conclusive. No bonds may mature and be payable more than thirty years after their date of issuance.