The fiscal year of the City government shall begin on the first day of July of each year and end on the thirtieth day of June the following year.
Unless otherwise provided by ordinance, the City shall continue to use, for the purpose of ad valorem municipal taxation, the County system of assessment and tax collection, as such system is now in effect or may hereafter be amended and insofar as such provisions are not in conflict with this Charter.
If the City Council fails to fix the rate and levy taxes on or before August 31, in any year, the rate for the next preceding fiscal year shall thereupon be automatically adopted and a tax at such rate shall be deemed to have been levied on all taxable property in the City for the current fiscal year.
At such date as he shall determine, the City Administrator, or an officer designated by him, shall obtain from each department head estimates of revenue and expenditures for his department, detailed in such manner as may be prescribed by the City Administrator. In preparing the proposed budget, the City Administrator shall review the estimates, shall hold conferences thereon with the department heads, respectively, and may revise the estimates as he may deem advisable.
At least thirty-five days prior to the beginning of each fiscal year, the City Administrator shall submit to the City Council the proposed budget as prepared by him. After reviewing same and making such revisions as it may deem advisable, the City Council shall determine the time for the holding of a public hearing thereon and shall cause to be published a notice thereof not less than ten days prior to said hearing, by at least one insertion in the official newspaper.
Copies of the proposed budget shall be available for inspection by the public in the office of the City Clerk at least ten days prior to said hearing.
At the time so advertised, or at any time to which such public hearing shall from time to time be adjourned, the City Council shall hold a public hearing on the proposed budget, at which interested persons desiring to be heard shall be given an opportunity to do so.
After the conclusion of the public hearing, the City Council shall further consider the proposed budget and make any revision thereof that it may deem advisable, and on or before June 30 it shall adopt the budget with revisions, if any, by the affirmative votes of at least three members. Upon final adoption, the budget shall be in effect for the ensuing fiscal year. A copy thereof, certified to by the City Clerk, shall be placed, and shall remain on file, in the office of the City Clerk where it shall be available for inspection. The budget so certified shall be reproduced and copies made available for the use of all officers, departments and agencies of the City.
From the effective date of the budget, the several amounts stated therein as proposed expenditures shall be and become appropriated to the several offices, departments or agencies for the respective objects and purposes therein specified. All appropriations shall lapse at the end of the fiscal year to the extent that they shall not have been expended or lawfully encumbered.
At any meeting after the adoption of the budget, the City Council may amend or supplement the budget by motion adopted by the affirmative votes of at least three members so as to authorize the transfer of unused balances appropriated for one purpose to another purpose, or to appropriate available revenues not included in the budget.
There shall be established under the control and direction of the City Administrator a centralized purchasing system for all city departments and agencies. The City Administrator shall recommend and the City Council shall consider and adopt by ordinance, rules and regulations governing the contracting for, purchasing, storing and distribution of all supplies, materials and equipment required by any office, department or agency of the City government.
Subject to the provisions of Section 608, before making any purchase of, or contract for, supplies, materials or equipment, vendors shall be given ample opportunity for competitive bidding, under such rules and regulations and with such exceptions as the City Council may prescribe by ordinance.
The City Council shall maintain a revolving fund, to be known as the "Cash Basis Fund," for the purpose of placing the paying of the running expenses of the City on a cash basis. A sufficient reserve shall be built up in this fund from any available source with which to meet all lawful demands against the City for the first five months, or other necessary period, of the succeeding fiscal year prior to the receipt of ad valorem tax revenues. Transfers may be made by the City Council from such fund to any other fund or funds of such sum or sums as may be required for the purpose of placing such funds, as nearly as possible, on a cash basis.
All moneys so transferred from the Cash Basis Fund shall be returned thereto before the end of the fiscal year.
A fund for capital outlays, generally, is hereby created, to be known as the "Capital Outlay Fund." The City Council by ordinance may create a special fund or funds for a special capital outlay purpose. The City Council may transfer to any such fund any unencumbered surplus funds remaining on hand in the City at any time.
Once created, such fund shall remain inviolate for the purposes for which it was created; if, for capital outlays, generally, then for any such purposes and if for a special capital outlay, then for such purpose only, unless the assent of the voters is expressed to the use of such fund for some other purpose by majority vote of the electors voting in favor thereof at a general or special municipal election at which such proposition is submitted; provided that if the purpose for which a special capital outlay fund was created has been accomplished, the City Council may transfer any remaining surplus to the general capital outlay fund.
All demands against the City shall be in writing and may be in the form of a bill, invoice, payroll, or formal demand. Each such demand shall be presented to the duly appointed finance officer within one hundred days after the last item of the account or claim accrued, and he shall examine the same. If the amount thereof is legally due and there remains on his books an unexhausted balance of an appropriation against which the same may be charged, he shall approve such demand and pay same out of the proper fund. Otherwise, he shall reject it. Objections of the duly appointed finance officer may be overruled by the City Council and the demand ordered paid.
The duly appointed finance officer shall transmit such demand, with his approval or rejection thereof endorsed thereon to the City Administrator. If a demand is one for an item included within an approved budget appropriation, it shall require the approval of the City Administrator before payment; otherwise it shall require the approval of the City Council, following the adoption by it of an amendment to the budget authorizing such payment. Any person dissatisfied with the refusal of the City Administrator to approve a demand, in whole or in part, may present the same to the City Council which, after examining into the matter, may approve or reject the demand in whole or in part.
Checks shall be paid out of the fund designated if there be sufficient money in the fund for that purpose. A check not paid for lack of funds shall be registered, and all registered checks shall be paid in the order of their registration when funds therefor are available.
The duly appointed finance officer of the City shall cause checks to be drawn for payment of municipal or other bonds, payable out of other funds in the treasury upon presentation and surrender of the proper bonds or coupons, upon the approval of the City Treasurer.
The City Council may provide for revolving petty cash funds to be paid to the City Administrator or department heads and used for payment in cash of expenditures provided for in the budgets, which cannot conveniently be paid otherwise. The City Administrator, or such department heads, shall account to the City Council and the duly appointed finance officer for all disbursements made therefrom when making demand for replenishment of the same and at such other times as the Council may require, and the amounts shall thereupon be charged against the proper appropriations.
No suit shall be brought on any claim for money or damages against the City, or any board, commission or officer thereof, on any cause of action for which this Charter or the general law requires a claim to be presented, until a demand for the same has been presented as in this Charter provided and such claim and demand has been rejected in whole or in part. Any such claim shall fully comply with the requirements for the presentation and consideration of claims as set forth in the applicable sections of the general law of the State.
Every claim for money or damages against the City, or any board or commission thereof, shall be filed with the City Clerk, who shall thereupon present the same to the City Council, officer, board or commission authorized by this Charter to incur or pay the expenditure. In all cases, such claims shall be processed as required by the general law of the State.
The City Council shall employ, at the beginning of each fiscal year, a certified public accountant who, from time to time, shall examine the books, records, inventories and reports of all officers and employees who receive, handle or disburse public funds, and of such other officers, employees or departments as the City Council may direct. At the end of the year, a final audit and report shall be submitted by such accountant to the City Council, one copy thereof to be distributed to each member, one to the City Administrator, one to the City Attorney, one to the City Treasurer, one to the duly appointed finance officer, and three additional copies to be placed on file in the office of the City Clerk where they may be available for inspection by the general public.
The City shall have the power to issue revenue bonds for the purpose of financing the acquisition, construction, extension, improvement or repair of any municipal revenue producing facilities, but no such bonds shall be issued unless the same shall first be authorized by the affirmative vote of a majority of those electors voting on the question of incurring such indebtedness at any election at which such question is submitted to the electors of the City. The Council may issue and sell bonds so authorized, may fix the terms and conditions thereof, and may make, fix and establish such covenants, conditions, terms and provisions as it deems necessary or desirable to facilitate the issuance and sale of the bonds or for the protection and security of the holders thereof. Bonds issued pursuant to this section shall not be general obligations of the City but shall be payable, principal and interest, solely from revenues or other special funds specifically pledged to that purpose.