The fiscal year of the City of Joshua shall be set by City ordinance.
Such fiscal year shall also constitute the budget and accounting year.
A.
Content.
The budget shall provide a complete financial plan of all City
funds and activities and, except as required by law or this Charter,
shall be in such form as the City Manager deems desirable or the Council
may require. The City Council shall adopt the proposed budget with
or without amendment, by majority vote of the total Council, after
public hearings and before the first day of the ensuing fiscal year.
B.
If the Council
fails to adopt the budget in accordance with State Law, the amounts
appropriated for the current fiscal year shall be deemed adopted for
the ensuring fiscal year on a month to month basis with all items
in it pro-rated accordingly until such time as the Council adopts
a budget for the ensuing fiscal year. The levy of property tax normally
approved as a part of the budget adoption will be set to equal the
total current fiscal year receipts, unless the ensuring fiscal year
budget is approved in accordance with State Law.
The City Manager, in work session with City Council, shall propose
annually a five (5) year capital program for consideration by the
City Council on or before ninety (90) days prior to submission of
the budget.
A.
Capital
Program Contents.
The capital program shall contain the
following:
1.
A summary
of its contents.
2.
A list
of all capital improvements, with supporting information as to the
reason for each improvement.
3.
Cost estimates,
methods of financing, and recommended time schedule for each improvement.
4.
Estimated
annual cost of operation and maintenance for the proposed improvement.
5.
The source
or basis of the estimates.
Upon final adoption, the budget shall be in effect for the budget
year. A copy of the budget, as finally adopted, shall be filed with
the City Secretary, and the County Clerk as required by law.
From the effective date of the budget, the amounts stated therein
as proposed expenditures shall be appropriated for the expenditures
therein named.
From the effective date of the budget, the amount stated therein
as the amount to be raised by property tax shall determine the amount
of the levy for the purposes of the City in the corresponding tax
year.
When recommended by the City Manager, and at the discretion
of the City Council, the budget may contain a reasonable sum set aside
as an unallocated reserve fund, to meet unexpected and unforeseen
contingencies in current operating costs of any budget project.
In case of public necessity, expenditures to meet unusual and
unforeseen conditions which could not, by reasonable diligence, thought
and attention have been included in the original budget, may from
time to time be authorized. Such supplements and amendments shall
be approved in a form acceptable to the Council and shall be filed
with the original budget.
A.
Defects
in the Budget.
Defects in the form or preparation of
the budget or the failure to perform any procedural requirement shall
not invalidate any tax levy, nor shall it invalidate the tax roll.
B.
Lapse of
Appropriations.
Every appropriation, except an appropriation
for a capital expenditure, shall lapse at the close of the fiscal
year to the extent that it has not been expended or encumbered. An
appropriation for a capital expenditure shall continue in force until
the purpose for which it was made has been accomplished or abandoned;
the purpose of any such appropriation shall be deemed abandoned if
three years pass without any disbursement from or encumbrance of the
appropriation.
C.
Interfund
transfers are permitted and allowed provided the City Council approves
the same.
D.
To meet
a public emergency created by a natural disaster or manmade calamity
affecting life, health, property, or the public peace, the Council
may make emergency appropriations.
In such case, the Council may, authorize the issuance of emergency
notes, but the emergency notes and renewals shall be paid not later
than the last day of the fiscal year next succeeding that in which
the emergency appropriations were made.
The City Manager shall present a monthly financial report in
a form acceptable to the City Council.
The City Council, by an affirmative vote of at least four (4)
members of the Council, shall select and contract with a municipally
oriented certified public accounting firm for the purpose of rendering
an independent annual audit of all accounts and other financial records
of the City government. The personnel of the firm conducting the audit
shall not hold any public office in the City nor have any personal
financial interest in the fiscal affairs of the City government or
any of its offices. After completion of any audit of the City, the
auditor shall prepare a financial statement, and shall submit the
financial statement to the City Council as a part of the agenda, at
a regular Council meeting, within one hundred twenty (120) days after
the end of the fiscal year. The City Secretary shall provide copies
to the public at cost, upon request.
All purchases shall comply with State Law.
All fees received by any officer or employee shall belong to
the City of Joshua.
All items of City property will be sold according to procedures
as established by City ordinance.
Any City improvement costing more than a said dollar amount
established by City Ordinance, shall be executed by contract except
where such improvement is authorized by the Council to be executed
directly by a City department in conformity with detailed plans, specifications
and estimates. All improvement contracts for more than a said dollar
amount established by City Ordinance, shall be awarded in accordance
with State requirements for competitive public bids. Alterations in
any such contract shall be made in accordance with State Law concerning
alterations to competitive bid contracts.
Any bid received by the City must be a sealed bid, with provisions
for a public opening at a date and hour to be designated by the City
Council.
All checks, vouchers or warrants for the withdrawal of money
from the City depository shall be signed by the City Manager or the
City Manager’s designee and other elected official authorized
by the City Council.
The Council upon an affirmative vote of four (4) members, shall
have the power, except as prohibited by law, to borrow money by whatever
method it may deem to be in the public interest.
The City Council shall have the power to levy and collect taxes
for any municipal purpose not prohibited by State Law or restricted
by this Charter.
The City Council may authorize property tax exemptions not prohibited
by State Law.
All taxes due the City shall be payable in legal tender to the
City. Such taxes shall be delinquent if not paid before February 1st
of the year following the year in which imposed.
The interest and penalty on delinquent taxes shall be assessed
as provided by State Law.
