The fiscal year of the City government shall be as specified by ordinance of the City Council.
At such date as the city manager shall determine, each department head shall furnish to the city manager estimates of revenue and expenditures for the respective 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.
At least sixty days prior to the beginning of each fiscal year, the city manager shall submit to the city council the proposed budget. After reviewing the proposed budget 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. 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 and place specified in the notice, the city council shall hold a public hearing on the proposed budget, at which interested persons shall be given the opportunity to be heard and present evidence. The hearing may be continued from time to time by the city council.
After the conclusion of the public hearing the city council shall make any revisions of the proposed budget it may deem appropriate. On or before the first date of the fiscal year, city council shall adopt the budget for that fiscal year by resolution. If because of an emergency the city council does not adopt the budget in a timely fashion, one-twelfth of the amount of the total prior fiscal year's budget may be expended each month until the budget is adopted, provided that, if the city manager's estimates project a decrease in revenues from the prior fiscal year, the amount which may be expended in any month shall be reduced by one-twelfth of the total revenue decrease projected. A copy of the approved budget, certified by the city clerk, shall be filed with the director of finance and treasurer 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 for the respective objects and purposes stated. 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 by resolution 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 funds not included in the budget, or to cancel any appropriation not expended or encumbered.
(a) 
Except as may be otherwise specifically provided in this Charter, the City shall have the full power to enact any taxes, assessments, fees, or any other measures for the purpose of raising revenue which charter cities in the State of California may enact.
(b) 
The city council shall not levy a property tax for municipal purposes, except as otherwise provided in this section, in excess of the maximum amount permissible to the City on the effective date of this Charter, unless authorized by the affirmative votes of two-thirds of those electors voting on a proposition to increase such levy at any election at which the question of such additional levy for municipal purposes is submitted to the electors, or unless authorized for general law cities under the general laws of the State of California.
(c) 
There may be levied and collected at the same time and in the same manner as other property taxes for municipal purposes are levied and collected, in addition to the above limit, a tax sufficient to meet all liabilities of the City for principal and interest of all bonds and judgements due and unpaid, or to become due during the ensuing fiscal year, which constitute general obligations of the City.
(d) 
Special levies, in addition to the above limits, may be made annually for the purposes, within the limits, and to the extent that cities may make special levies in addition to their general tax limit, under the codes and statutes of the State as they may exist from time to time.
The proceeds of any such special levy shall be used only for the respective purposes for which it is levied.
The procedure for the assessment, levy and collection of taxes upon property, taxable for municipal purposes, may be prescribed by ordinance of the city council.
The City shall not incur an indebtedness evidenced by general obligation bonds which shall in the aggregate exceed the sum of fifteen per cent of the total assessed valuation, for purposes of City taxation, of all the real and personal property within the City.
No bonded indebtedness which shall constitute a general obligation of the City may be created unless authorized by the affirmative votes of two-thirds of those electors voting on such proposition at any election at which the question is submitted to the electors, in full compliance with the provisions of the State Constitution and of this Charter, or unless otherwise authorized for general law cities under the general law of the State of California.
All claims for damages against the City shall be governed by the general laws of the State of California, so far as such general laws are applicable. For all claims not otherwise covered by the general laws of the State of California, all claims for damages against the City must be verified and presented to the city clerk within ninety days after the occurrence, event or transaction from which the damages allegedly arose, or within such shorter time as is otherwise provided by law, and shall set forth in detail the name and address of the claimant, the time, date, place and circumstances of the occurrence and the extent of the injuries or damages sustained. All such claims shall be approved or rejected by order of the city council and the date thereof given. City council may delegate its authority to reject claims to the city manager, city attorney, risk manager or other appropriate officer or department head. Any claim not approved or rejected by the city council within forty-five days of presentation of the claim to the city clerk shall be deemed rejected by operation of law.
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 director of finance and treasurer within ninety days after the last item of the account or claim accrued, but claims presented after ninety days may be honored in the discretion of the director of finance and treasurer. The director of finance and treasurer shall examine all claims presented. If the amount thereof is legally due and there remains on the books an unexhausted balance of an appropriation against which the same may be charged, the demand shall be approved and a warrant drawn therefor, payable out of the proper fund. Otherwise the claim shall be rejected, but any such rejection may be overruled by the city council.
The director of finance and treasurer shall transmit such demand, with his approval or rejection thereof endorsed thereon, and warrant, if any, to the city manager. If a demand is one for an item included within an approved budget appropriation, it shall require the approval of the city manager, 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 manager to approve any 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.
Warrants which are not paid for lack of funds shall be registered. All registered warrants shall be paid in the order of their registration when funds therefor are available and may bear interest from the date of registration at such rate as shall be fixed by the city council by resolution.
No suit shall be brought for money or damages against the City or any board, commission or officer thereof until a claim or demand for the same has been presented as provided herein and such claim and demand has been rejected in whole or in part. If rejected in part suit may be brought to recover the whole. The city attorney shall respond to any such suit on behalf of the City.
The city council shall employ, at the beginning of each fiscal year, a qualified certified public accountant who shall, at such time or times as may be specified by the city council, and at such other times as the accountant shall determine, examine the books, records, inventories and reports of all officers and employees who receive, handle or disburse public funds and of all such other officers, employees or departments as the city council may direct. As soon as practicable after the end of the fiscal year, a final audit and a report shall be submitted by such accountant to the city council, one copy thereof to be distributed to each member, one to the city manager, director of finance and general services, and city attorney, respectively, and sufficient additional copies of the audit shall be placed on file in the office of the city clerk where they shall be available for the general public, and a copy of the financial statement as of the close of the fiscal year shall be published in the official newspaper.
The city council may, by ordinance, establish procedures for the procurement of supplies, services, construction of public works, and the like. Such ordinance may provide requirements and procedures for competitive bidding, except that no competitive bidding shall be required for sole source contracts, contracts for professional services, or contracts undertaken in response to emergency situations. Such ordinance may also establish standards or qualifications for the screening of contractors or providers of goods and services by a prequalification process.