The fiscal year of the city shall begin on the first day of October and shall end on the last day of September of each calendar year. Such fiscal year shall also constitute the budget and accounting year.
The city manager, between sixty (60) and ninety (90) days prior to the beginning of each fiscal year, shall submit to the council a proposed budget, which budget shall provide a complete financial plan for the fiscal year, and shall contain the following:
(a) 
A budget message, outlining the proposed financial policies of the city for the fiscal year, and the reasons for salient changes from the previous fiscal year in expenditure and revenue items, and explaining in detail any major changes in financial policy;
(b) 
A consolidated statement of anticipated receipts and proposed expenditures for each department, comparing them with those of the previous fiscal year;
(c) 
An analysis of property valuations;
(d) 
An analysis of tax rate;
(e) 
Tax levies and tax collections by years for at least five (5) years;
(f) 
General fund resources in detail;
(g) 
Special fund resources in detail;
(h) 
Summary of proposed expenditures by function, department and activity;
(i) 
Detailed estimates of expenditures shown separately for each activity to support the summary called for in (h) above;
(j) 
A revenue and expense statement for all types of bonds, time warrants and other indebtedness;
(k) 
A description of all bond issues, time warrants and other indebtedness outstanding, showing rate of interest, date of issue, maturity date, amount authorized, amount issued and amount outstanding;
(l) 
A schedule of requirements for the principal and interest of each issue of bonds, time warrants and other indebtedness;
(m) 
The appropriation ordinance;
(n) 
The tax levying ordinance.
The budget and all supporting schedules shall be filed with the person performing the duties of city secretary, submitted to the council and shall be a public record. The city manager shall provide copies for distribution to all interested persons.
At the meeting of the council at which the budget is submitted, the council shall fix the time and place of a public hearing on the budget, and shall cause to be published in the official newspaper of the city, a notice of the hearing setting forth the time and place with following Truth and Taxation Guidelines as provided by the State.
(Amnd. at an election held May 1, 2021)
At the time and place set forth in the notice required by Section 4, or at any time and place to which such public hearing shall from time to time be adjourned, the council shall hold a public hearing on the budget submitted, and all interested persons shall be given an opportunity to be heard for or against any item or the amount of any item therein contained.
After the conclusion of such public hearing, the council may insert new items or may increase or decrease the items of the budget, except items in proposed expenditures fixed by law, but where it shall increase the total proposed expenditures, it shall also provide for adequate resources.
(Amnd. by referendum 4/5/80)
The budget shall be adopted by the favorable vote of a majority of the members of the council.
The budget shall be finally adopted not later than fifteen (15) days prior to the beginning of the fiscal year, and should the council fail to so adopt a budget, then the existing budget, together with its tax-levying ordinance and its appropriation ordinance, shall be deemed adopted for the ensuing fiscal year.
Upon final adoption, the budget shall be in effect for the fiscal year. A copy of the budget, as finally adopted, shall be filed with the person performing the duties of city secretary, the county clerk of Jackson County and the state comptroller of public accounts at Austin. The final budget shall be printed, mimeographed or otherwise reproduced and copies shall be made available for the use of all offices, departments, and agencies and for the use of interested persons and civic organizations.
From the effective date of the budget, the several amounts stated therein as proposed expenditures shall be and become appropriated to the several objects and purposes therein named. No funds can be transferred or added to a budgeted item without council approval.
All purchases made and contracts executed by the city shall be pursuant to a requisition from the head of the office, department or agency whose appropriation will be charged, and no contract or order shall be binding upon the city unless and until the city manager certifies that there is to the credit of such office, department or agency a sufficient unencumbered appropriation and an allotment balance to pay for the supplies, materials, equipment, or contractual services for which the contract or order is to be issued. Before the city makes any purchase or contract for supplies, materials, equipment, or contractual services, opportunity shall be given for competitive bidding as provided for by law or ordinance; provided that the council, or the city manager in such cases as he/she is authorized to contract for the city, shall have the right to reject any and all bids. Contracts for personal and professional services shall not be let on competitive bids. The council may by ordinance convey upon the city manager authority to contract for expenditures without further approval of the council for all budgeted items not exceeding state statute limitations.
(Amnd. by referendum 4/1/78; Ordinance 84-02 adopted 2/15/84, adopted by referendum 4/5/84)
From the effective date of the budget, the amount stated therein as the amount to be raised by property tax shall constitute a determination of the amount of the levy for the purposes of the city in the corresponding tax year; provided, however, that in no event shall such levy exceed the legal limit provided by the constitution and laws of the State of Texas.
In the absence of unappropriated available revenues or other funds to meet emergency appropriations, the council may by resolution authorize the borrowing of money to meet such deficit by the issuance of notes or time warrants, each of which shall be designated “emergency note” and may be renewed from time to time, but all such notes of any fiscal year and any renewals thereof shall mature and be payable not later than the last day of the fiscal year next succeeding the fiscal year in which the emergency appropriation was made.
The total estimated expenditures of the renewal fund and debt service fund shall not exceed the total estimated resources of each fund (prospective income plus cash on hand). The classification of revenue and expenditure accounts shall conform as nearly as local conditions will permit to the uniform classification as promulgated by the National Committee on Governmental Accounting or some other nationally accepted classification.
The city budget may be amended and appropriations altered in accordance therewith in cases of public necessity, the actual fact of which shall have been declared by the council.
Deleted.
(Ordinance 84-02 adopted 2/15/84)
The council shall have the power under the provisions of the state law to levy, assess and collect an annual tax upon real and personal property within the city to the maximum provided by the constitution and laws of the State of Texas. The council shall also have the power to levy other taxes consistent with the laws of the State of Texas. The council shall also have the power to implement necessary procedures, in accordance with state law, to exercise this power to tax.
(Ordinance 84-02 adopted 2/15/84)
All moneys received by any person, department, or agency of the city for or in connection with affairs of the city shall be deposited in the city depository or depositories, which shall be designated by the council or by state statute in accordance with such regulations and subject to such requirements as to security for deposits and interest thereon as provided by law. All checks, vouchers, or warrants for the withdrawal of money from the city depositories shall be signed by the city manager and countersigned by the department head, or alternates designated by the council. Provided, that the council, under such regulations and limitations as it may prescribe, may by ordinance authorize the use of machine imprinted facsimile signatures of said city manager on such checks, vouchers, or warrants.
(Ordinance 84-02 adopted 2/15/84)
Deleted.
(Ordinance 84-02 adopted 2/15/84)
Deleted.
(Ordinance 84-02 adopted 2/15/84)
Deleted.
(Ordinance 84-02 adopted 2/15/84)
Deleted.
(Ordinance 84-02 adopted 2/15/84)
All taxes due the city shall be payable at a location designated by the city council and may be paid at any time after the tax rolls for the year have been completed and approved. All matters with regard to the city tax rolls and the collection of taxes thereon will be governed by state law if not specifically referred to in the city Charter.
(Ordinance 84-02 adopted 2/15/84)
(a) 
The tax levied by the city is hereby declared to be a lien, charge or encumbrance upon the property upon which the tax is due, which lien, charge or encumbrance the city is entitled to enforce and foreclose in any court having jurisdiction over the same, and the lien, charge or encumbrance on the property in favor of the city, for the amount of the taxes due on such property is such as to give the state courts jurisdiction to enforce and foreclose said lien on the property, on which the tax is due, not only as against any resident of this state or person whose residence is unknown, but also as against nonresidents.
(b) 
All persons or corporations owning or holding personal property or real estate in the city on the first day of January of each year shall be liable for all municipal taxes levied thereon for such year.
(c) 
The city’s tax lien shall exist from January 1 in each year until the taxes are paid, and the statute of limitation shall not apply. Such lien shall be prior to all other claims, and no gift, sale, assignment or transfer of any kind, or judicial writ of any kind, can ever defeat such lien.
The council may compromise any tax suits and correct any error in assessment, preparation of the tax rolls or in preparation of a tax statement to the extent and in the manner approved by state law.
(Ordinance 84-02 adopted 2/15/84)
The city shall have the power to borrow money on the credit of the city to issue general obligation bonds for permanent public improvements or for any other public purpose not prohibited by the constitution and laws of the State of Texas, and to issue refunding bonds to refund outstanding bonds of the city previously issued. All such bonds shall be issued in conformity with the laws of the State of Texas.
The city shall have power to borrow money for the purpose of constructing, purchasing, improving, extending or repairing of public utilities, recreational facilities or any other self-liquidating municipal function not prohibited by the constitution and laws of the State of Texas, and to issue revenue bonds to evidence the obligation created thereby, and to issue refunding bonds to refund outstanding bonds of the city previously issued. Such bonds shall be a charge upon and payable solely from the properties, or interest therein, pledged, or the income therefrom, or both, and shall never be a debt of the city. All such bonds shall be issued in conformity with the laws of the State of Texas.
No bond (other than refunding bonds issued to refund and in exchange for previously issued outstanding bonds) issued by the city shall be sold for less than par value and accrued interest.
All bonds of the city having been issued and sold in accordance with the terms of this section, and having been delivered to the purchasers thereof, shall thereafter be incontestable, and all bonds issued to refund and in exchange for outstanding bonds previously issued shall, after said exchange, be incontestable.