The fiscal year of the city shall begin on the first day of October and end on the last day of the following September.
On or before the 31st day of July of each year the City Manager shall submit to the City Council a budget for the ensuing fiscal year and an accompanying message.
(Ordinance 2018-02-19 adopted 2/6/18, prop. 5, approved at election of 5/5/18)
Budget message. The City Manager’s message shall explain the budget in both fiscal terms and in terms of work programs submitted with the budget. It shall outline the proposed financial programs of the city for the ensuing fiscal year and the capital programs of the city for five (5) fiscal years. It shall describe the important features of the budget, [and] indicate any major changes from the current year in financial policies, expenditures and revenues and the reasons for such changes. It shall also summarize the city’s debt position and contain such other material as the City Manager deems desirable.
Budget. The budget shall provide a complete financial plan of all city funds and activities for the ensuing fiscal year using the most practical and acceptable municipal accounting procedures.
It shall begin with a clear general summary of its contents; shall show in detail all estimated income, indicating the property tax levy, [and] all proposed expenditures, including debt service, for the ensuing fiscal year and shall show comparative figures for estimated income and expenditures of the current fiscal year and actual income and expenditures of the preceding two (2) fiscal years.
It shall indicate in separate sections:
(a) 
Proposed expenditures for current operations during the ensuing fiscal year, detailed by offices, departments and agencies in terms of their respective work programs, and the method of financing such expenditures;
(b) 
Proposed capital expenditures during the ensuing fiscal year by offices, departments and agencies, and the proposed method of financing such capital expenditures; and
(c) 
Anticipated net surplus or deficit for the ensuing fiscal year of all utilities owned or operated by the city and the proposed method of its disposition; subsidiary budgets for all such utilities, giving detailed income and expenditure information, shall be attached at [as] appendices to the budget.
The total proposed budget expenditures shall not exceed the total of estimated income and available funds.
The City Manager shall submit a five-year capital program. The capital program shall include the proposed program by the planning and zoning commission and comments by the City Manager. The program as submitted shall include:
(a) 
A clear general summary of its contents;
(b) 
A list of all capital improvements which are proposed to be undertaken during the five (5) fiscal years succeeding the budget year, with appropriate supporting information as to the necessity for such improvements;
(c) 
Cost estimates, method of financing and recommended time schedules for each such improvement; and
(d) 
The estimated annual cost of operating and maintaining the facilities to be constructed or acquired.
The above information may be revised and extended each year with regard to capital improvements still pending or in process of construction or acquisition.
At the time that the budget and budget message are submitted to the City Council, the City Manager shall determine the place and time of the public hearing on the budget and cause to be published in the officially designated newspaper of the City of Forest Hill, a notice of the place and time, which shall not be less than three (3) days nor more than fourteen (14) days after the date of publication.
After the public hearing, the City Council may adopt the budget with or without amendment. In amending the budget, it may add or increase programs or amounts and may delete or decrease any program or amounts except expenditures required by law or for debt service or for estimated cash deficit, provided that no amendment to the budget shall increase the authorized expenditures to an amount greater than the total estimated income and available funds.
The City Council shall adopt the budget on or before the last day of the last month of the fiscal year currently ending.
Adoption of the budget shall constitute appropriations of the amounts specified therein as expenditures from funds indicated.
Taxes shall be established by an ordinance separate from the budget adoption as required by law.
The budget, budget message, capital program and all supporting schedules as adopted, shall be a public record in the office of the city secretary and open to public inspection by anyone during regular business hours of the city offices.
In the case of public necessity, emergency expenditures to meet unusual and unforeseen conditions which could not, by reasonable diligent thought and attention, have been included in the original budget may from time to time be authorized upon the affirmative vote of a majority of the full membership of the City Council, as amendments or supplements to the original budget, including interdepartmental transfers. Such amendments, supplements and transfers shall be approved in an ordinance and shall be filed with the original budget.
Defects in the form or preparation of the budget or the failure to perform any procedural requirement shall not invalidate any tax levy or the tax roll.
The City shall comply with state law requirements for notice and bids for public purchases and contracts.
Not less than thirty (30) and no more than sixty (60) days prior to the end of each fiscal year, the City Council shall designate a certified public accountant who, at the end of the fiscal year, shall make an independent audit of accounts and other evidences of financial transactions of the city government and shall submit his written report to the City Council. He may make additional audits as required by the City Council. Notice shall be given by publication in some newspaper of general circulation in the city that the annual audit is on file at the City Hall for inspection. Such accountant shall have no personal interest, direct or indirect, in the fiscal affairs of the city government during the time he is retained by the City of Forest Hill. He shall not maintain any accounts or record of the city business, but, within specifications approved by the City Council, shall post-audit the books and records of the City of Forest Hill. The city council may not employ the same certified public accountant to make such independent audit for more than six consecutive years.