No payment shall be made or obligation incurred against any allotment or appropriation except in accordance with appropriations duly made and unless the City Manager or his designee first certifies that there is a sufficient unencumbered balance in such allotment or appropriations and that sufficient funds therefrom are or will be available to cover the claim or meet the obligation when it becomes due and payable. Any authorization or payment or incurring of obligation in violation of the provisions of this Charter shall be cause for removal of any officer who knowingly authorized or made such payment or incurred such obligations, and he shall also be liable to the City for any amount so paid. However, this prohibition shall not be construed to prevent the making or authorizing of payments or making of contracts for capital improvements to be financed wholly or partly by the issuance of bonds, time warrants, certificates of indebtedness, or certificates of obligation, or to prevent the making of any contract or lease providing for payments beyond the end of the fiscal year, provided that such action is made or approved by ordinance.
The City Manager shall submit to the Council at its first regular City Council meeting each month the financial condition of the City budget items, budget estimates versus accruals for the preceding month and for the fiscal year to date. Such records are to be made public by the Council during open meeting. The financial records of the City will be maintained in accordance with accepted principles recommended by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and by the National Committee on Governmental Accounting.
At the close of each fiscal year, and at such times as it may be deemed necessary, the Council shall cause an independent audit to be made of all accounts of the City by a Certified Public Accountant. The Certified Public Accountant shall have no personal interest, directly or indirectly, in the financial affairs of the City or any of its officers. Upon completion of the audit, the results thereof in a summary form shall be published immediately in the official newspaper of the City and copies of the audit placed on file in the City Secretary’s office as a public record.
(a) 
The Council may, by ordinance, confer upon the City Manager general authority to contract for expenditures without further approval of the Council for all budgeted items if the amount of the expenditure would not require competitive bidding under state law. All contracts or purchases, involving more than the limits set, shall be let to the lowest most responsible bidder whose submittal is among those most responsive to the needs of the City after there has been opportunity for competitive bidding as provided by law or ordinance; provided that the Council, or City Manager, in such cases as he is authorized to contract for the City, shall have the right to reject any and all bids.
(b) 
Contracts exempted from competitive bidding requirements by state law for reasons other than the amount of the expenditure may be negotiated by the Council, or City Manager, if given authority by the Council, without competitive bidding.