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 of the following year.
At such date as he/she shall determine, the City Manager shall obtain from each department head estimates of revenue and expenditures for his/her department, detailed in such manner as may be prescribed by the City Manager. In preparing the proposed budget, the City Manager shall review the estimates, hold conferences thereon with the respective department heads and may revise the estimates as he/she may deem advisable.
At least thirty-five (35) days prior to the beginning of each fiscal year, the City Manager shall submit to the City Council the proposed budget as prepared by him/her. After reviewing the 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 (10) days prior to said hearing, by at least one insertion in a newspaper of general circulation within the City. Copies of the proposed budget shall be available for inspection by the public in the office of the City Clerk at least ten (10) days prior to said hearing.
At the time so advertised or 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 such opportunity.
After the conclusion of the public hearing the City Council shall make any revisions of the proposed budget that it may deem advisable and shall adopt the budget. A copy thereof, certified by the City Clerk, shall be filed with the person retained by the City Council to perform auditing functions for the Council and a further copy shall be placed, and shall remain on file, in the office of the City Clerk where it shall be available for public inspection. The budget so certified shall be reproduced and copies made available for the use of the public and of departments, offices 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 departments, offices and agencies. All appropriations shall lapse at the end of the fiscal year to the extent that they shall not have been expended or encumbered.
At any meeting after the adoption of the budget, the City Council may amend or supplement the budget by motion adopted by a majority vote so as to authorize the transfer of unused balances appropriated for one department to another department or to appropriate available funds not included in the budget or to cancel any appropriation not expended or encumbered.
The City Manager is authorized to make budgetary revisions among departmental appropriations. The City Manager is fully authorized to transfer monies and to expend monies and/or all funds, for departments and activities as he/she may determine necessary to insure the proper operation and control of City business; except, that no such transfers shall be made in contravention to State law or City ordinances or exceed the total amount appropriated for each department or as amended by the City Council.
The City Council shall adopt policies and procedures governing contracting for public works which are defined to include the construction or improvement of public buildings, works, streets, drains, sewers, utilities, parks or playgrounds. The City Council may, in its sole discretion, adopt selected policies and procedures by reference to state law, but no state law shall govern public works contracting unless it is expressly adopted by the City Council or has been finally determined to be applicable to all charter law cities by an appellate court with jurisdiction over the City of Los Alamitos. Except as otherwise provided in this Charter or by state law made applicable to the City of Los Alamitos, the City Council shall award to the lowest responsible bidder each contract involving an expenditure of more than the bidding threshold amount (as defined in this section) for the construction or improvement of public works or for the purchase of supplies or materials for any such project. Bids shall be solicited via notice by publication in the official newspaper by one (1) or more insertions, the first of which shall be at least ten (10) days before the time for opening bids. Public works are exempted from the requirements of this section where the work will be performed by a City or County of Orange department.
All bids must be accompanied by either a certified or cashier's check, or a bidder's bond executed by a corporate surety authorized to engage in such business in California, made payable to the City. Such security shall be in an amount not less than that specified in the notice inviting bids or in the specifications referred to therein, or if no amount be so specified, then in an amount not less than ten (10) percent of the aggregate amount of the bid. If the successful bidder neglects or refuses to enter into the contract within the time specified in the notice inviting bids or in the specifications referred to herein, the amount of the bidder's security shall be declared forfeited to the City and shall be collected and paid into its general fund and all bonds so forfeited shall be prosecuted and the amount thereof collected and paid into such fund.
The City Council may reject any and all bids presented and may advertise at its discretion.
The City Council, without advertising for bids, after rejecting bids, or if no bids are received, may declare and determine that in its opinion, based on estimates approved by the City Manager, the work in question may be purchased more economically on the open market, and after the adoption of a resolution to this effect by a majority vote of the Council, the Council may proceed to have said work done in the manner stated, without further observance of the provisions of this section. Such contracts likewise may be let without advertising for bids, if such work shall be deemed by the City Council to be of urgent necessity for the preservation of life, health or property, and shall be authorized by resolution passed by at least three (3) affirmative votes of the Council and containing a declaration of the facts constituting such urgency.
The bidding threshold amount shall be One Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand Dollars ($125,000) initially and shall annually be adjusted by the City Engineer upon confirmation by the City Council. On June 1st of each year, the City Engineer shall compute the percentage difference between the current California Construction Cost Index (CCCI) and the CCCI for the previous June 1st. The City Engineer shall adjust the bidding threshold amount by such percentage, rounding to the nearest dollar. The City Council shall review such adjustment at a public hearing and, upon Council confirmation, the bidding threshold amount shall be the adjusted figure. Should the CCCI be revised or discontinued, the City Engineer shall use the revised index, or a comparable index approved by the City Council.
(Passed by the voters as Measure X at the election of November 5, 2024)
This City shall have the power and be subject to the same limitations with respect to taxation as a general law City of California.
The City Manager shall have the power and the duty to supervise, and be responsible for, the disbursement of all monies and of all expenditures to insure that budget appropriations are not exceeded; audit all purchase orders before issuance; audit and approve before payment, all bills, invoices, payrolls, demands or charges against the City government; with the advice of the City Attorney when necessary, determines the regularity, legality and correctness of such claims, demands or charges; and draw warrants upon the City Treasurer for all claims and demands audited and approved as provided in this Charter, specifying the purpose for which drawn and the fund from which payment is to be made.
Procedures prescribed by the State Legislature governing the presentation, consideration and enforcement of claims against chartered cities or against officers, agents and employees thereof shall apply to the presentation, consideration and enforcement of claims against the City.
All other demands against the City must 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 City Manager within one hundred (100) days after the last item of the account or claim accrued. The City Manager shall examine the same. If the amount thereof is legally due and there remains on his/her books an unexhausted balance of an appropriation against which the same may be charged, he/she shall approve such demand and draw his/her warrant on the City Treasurer therefor, payable out of the proper fund; otherwise he/she shall reject it. Objections of the City Manager may be overruled by the City Council and the warrant ordered drawn. Any person dissatisfied with the refusal of the City Manager to approve any demand, in whole or in part, may present the same to the City Council, which after examining the matter, may approve or reject a demand in whole or in part.
If a demand is one for an item not included within an approved budget appropriation, it shall require the approval of the City Council, following the adoption by it of an amendment to the budget authorizing such payment.
Notwithstanding anything contained in this Charter to the contrary, the City Manager shall not approve any claim nor pay any demand without the prior approval of the majority of the City Council voting by roll call vote at a regular meeting of the City Council.