The fiscal year of the city shall begin on the first day of July and end on the thirtieth day of June. Taxes shall be due and payable on a day fixed by ordinance but not later than the thirtieth day following the beginning of each fiscal year. The council shall also determine by ordinance the installments in which taxes may be paid, the dates on which penalties for nonpayment shall apply and the rate of such penalties.
(Approved at referendum 11/3/1998)
Annually at such time as the director of finance may prescribe but in no case later than the first day of March the head of each department, including the school committee, and of each board, commission, office or agency not included in any department but which is supported wholly or partially by city appropriations shall file with the director of finance in such form and detail as the director of finance shall require an estimate of the cost of operating such department, office or agency during the ensuing fiscal year, together with an estimate of receipts incidental to the operation thereof for the same period. There shall be included with these estimates a statement of the work program to be carried out by the department, office or agency in the ensuing year and an explanation of any considerable increase or decrease in the estimates as compared with those for the current or preceding years. It shall be the duty of the city assessor, at such date or dates as the director of finance shall require, to furnish the director of finance with an estimate of the taxable valuation of real estate and tangible and intangible personal property subject to taxation in the ensuing fiscal year and an estimate the sum to be realized from the taxation of the same at such dates as the director of finance may specify, taking into account the probable rate of tax delinquency and other factors affecting tax collection, within the knowledge of the city assessor. It shall be the duty of the city treasurer to file with the director of finance at such time as the director of finance shall require statements showing the total of taxes levied and collected and of receipts estimated and actually received by such department, office and agency for the past five completed fiscal years.
(Res. No. 73-122, 6/25/1973, § 13, approved at referendum 8/7/1973; approved at referendum 11/3/1998)
It shall be the duty of the mayor with the cooperation of the director of finance and after consultation with the heads of departments, including the school committee, and the heads of offices and agencies not included in any department, to frame and submit to the council not later than the first day of April of each year an operating budget for the ensuing fiscal year containing: (a) An estimate of the amount of any general fund surplus in the current fiscal year available for appropriation the ensuing fiscal year; (b) an estimate of receipts for the ensuing fiscal year from taxes on real estate and tangible and intangible personal property which in no case shall exceed the sum estimated as realizable from the taxation of such property the highest rates of taxation permitted to the city by the laws of the state; (c) an estimate of other receipts for the ensuing fiscal year itemized by sources; (d) debt service requirements for the ensuing fiscal year; (e) an estimate of any deficit from the operations of the current fiscal year and any other charge or obligation required by this Charter or by law to be paid in the ensuing fiscal year; (f) an estimate of the expenditures recommended by the mayor as necessary or desirable for the purpose of carrying on the work of the several departments, offices and agencies of the city for the ensuing fiscal year itemized, except in the case of the school committee, by organizational units, activities and objects and related as far as possible to work programs. The operating budget shall further be arranged to show in parallel columns comparative figures for receipts and expenditures as estimated for the current fiscal year and the ensuing fiscal year and actual receipts and expenditures for the preceding fiscal year. The total of estimated expenditures listed in the operating budget shall not exceed the total receipts estimated therein, taking into account any general fund surplus or deficit estimated to be carried over from the current fiscal year and the estimated receipts from proposed new revenue measures within the authority of the council to enact.
(Res. No. 73-122, 6/25/1973, § 13, approved at referendum 8/7/1973)
The school committee shall submit to the director of finance not later than the first day of March in each year its budget request for the sum necessary to operate the public schools of the city for the ensuing fiscal year including the cost of maintenance and repair of school buildings. The proposed school budget shall be in such detail as has been agreed upon between the director of finance and the superintendent of schools. On the request of the school committee a time shall be fixed by the mayor at which the school committee or its representatives shall be heard, publicly if they desire, on their budget proposals. In preparing the operating budget for submission to the council the mayor shall include the detailed estimates as submitted by the school committee as an exhibit but shall recommend only a single total appropriation for school purposes. If this sum is either greater or less than the total originally requested by the school committee the mayor shall set forth in the mayor's budget message the reasons for the change. During the consideration of the operating budget by the council it shall afford an opportunity for the school committee or its representatives to be heard publicly on its budget. Final action by the council on the budget proposals of the school committee shall relate only to the total amount thereof which the school committee may expend in its discretion, subject to the provisions of section 11.01.
(Res. No. 73-122, 6/25/1973, § 13, approved at referendum 8/7/1973; approved at referendum 11/3/1998)
At the same time as the mayor submits the operating budget to the council the mayor shall submit to the council the draft of an ordinance making appropriations based on the budget recommendations for the support of the several departments, boards, commissions, offices and agencies of the city but which, except for the single total appropriation for school purposes, need not be itemized further than by divisions or other major organizational units of departments, by independent boards, commissions, offices and agencies not included in any department, and by the principal objects of expenditure.
(Approved at referendum 11/3/1998)
At the same time that the mayor submits the operating budget to the council the mayor shall submit a budget message which shall contain: (a) A summary of the operating budget, (b) a statement of the financial policy of the city, (c) the principal features of the capital improvement program and capital budget as provided in section 6.12, and (d) an explanation of major increases or decreases in the operating budget as compared with prior years.
(Approved at referendum 11/3/1998)
The mayor shall cause the budget message to be printed or otherwise reproduced for general public distribution at the time of its submission to the council. The mayor shall supply copies of the operating and capital budgets and of the appropriation ordinance to each member of the council and to each newspaper of general circulation in the city. The mayor shall also deposit two copies of each such document in the office of the city clerk and one copy in each public library in the city where such copies shall be open to public inspection during the regular hours at which such office or libraries are open. No further publication of the appropriation ordinance shall be required prior to passage.
(Approved at referendum 11/3/1998)
On receipt of the operating and capital budgets the council shall fix the time and place for public hearings thereon which may be separate or concurrent and which shall begin not later than the seventh day after the receipt of such budgets. Notice of such hearing or hearings shall be published by the city clerk as a paid advertisement once in a daily newspaper of general circulation in the city not later than three days prior to the date of the hearing. Such hearing or hearings shall be continued if necessary from day to day until all persons desiring it shall have been heard, provided that hearings on the budget shall be concluded prior to the fifteenth day of May. The hearing on the operating budget shall be in lieu of other bearing on the appropriation ordinance.
The council shall act finally on the operating budget and appropriation ordinance not later than the fifteenth day of May. If by the time fixed for final action the council has not adopted with or without amendment the operating budget and appropriation ordinance they shall become effective as submitted to the council. In acting on the budget and appropriation ordinance the council may increase, decrease or strike out any item or items of appropriation or add items not included in the operating budget and appropriation ordinance as submitted to it by the mayor; provided, that the balanced relation between expenditures and receipts is preserved. If the action of the council results in raising the total of authorized expenditures above the total of estimated receipts the council must provide by ordinance an equivalent in increased receipts. If the action of the council results in reducing the total of authorized expenditures below the total of estimated receipts by as much as five percent the council must take action to reduce the anticipated receipts by an equivalent amount.
The signature of the mayor shall not be required on the operating budget and appropriation ordinance. Following their adoption, if the council has changed the amount of any item or items of appropriation or added an item or items of appropriation not included in the operating budget and appropriation ordinance as submitted by the mayor the city clerk shall forthwith deliver to the mayor a copy of the portion of the journal recording such changes. If the mayor disapproves of any such change, the mayor shall within forty-eight hours of his receipt of the record of changes file with the city clerk a message of disapproval. The council may by a vote of two-thirds of all its members override the mayor's disapproval. If the mayor's disapproval is not overridden the change disapproved shall be eliminated.
(Approved at referendum 11/3/1998; Res. No. 2020-28, § 1, 6/25/2020, approved at referendum 11/3/2020)
Immediately following final action on the operating budget or at the conclusion of action on the mayor's item veto the council shall adopt and cause to be delivered to the city assessor a resolution levying and ordering the assessment and collection of a tax on ratable real estate and tangible personal property at such a rate to be fixed by the city assessor as provided by law as will together with the assessment and collection of a tax on ratable intangible property belonging to the inhabitants of the city, at rates established in accordance with law, amount in the aggregate to a minimum and maximum to be set forth in the resolution. The minimum shall be equal to the receipts from taxes on property as estimated in the operating budget as adopted and the maximum shall be as determined by council. It shall then be the duty of the city assessor to prepare a roll including all property subject to city taxes and deliver the same to the city treasurer on or before the fifteenth day of June in each year.
Not later than the fifteenth day of January in each year the head of each department and of each board, commission, office or agency not included in any department shall file in the office of the director of finance and with the city plan commission copies of a descriptive list of all capital improvement projects within the jurisdiction of each such department, board, commission, office or agency, not financed or expected to be financed from current revenues, on which the department, board, commission, office or agency is engaged or which in the opinion of such head should be undertaken in the ensuing fiscal year or in the next four fiscal years thereafter, with as complete data as practicable on the cost of each such project, the time necessary to complete it and the means of financing the same already adopted or recommended by such head. Projects relating to the construction, reconstruction or enlargement of school buildings and other facilities required for school purposes shall be submitted by the school buildings committee as provided in section 11.03. The council may by resolution require the inclusion of any specific project or projects in the list of any department, board, commission, office or agency and it shall be the duty of the designated department, board, commission, office or agency to prepare an estimate of the cost of such project or projects and to supply such other data relative thereto as may be specified in such resolution. It shall be the duty of the city plan commission and its staff, with the assistance of the engineering division of the department of public works, to review the proposals submitted by the several departments, boards, commissions, offices and agencies with reference to their necessity and desirability, to their conformity to those portions of the comprehensive plan already adopted, to sound principles of city planning and to the financial resources of the city. After consultation with the director of finance and such public hearings as it may deem necessary the city plan commission shall submit to the mayor not later than the fifteenth day of March in each year a capital budget for the ensuing fiscal year and a capital improvement program for the next four fiscal years thereafter together with a statement of the reasons therefor. At the same time that the mayor submits the operating budget to the council the mayor shall submit a capital budget for the ensuing fiscal year and a capital improvement program for the next four fiscal years thereafter embodying the mayor's estimates of cost and recommendations of means of financing each project contained therein, provided that no project shall be included in said project or program which has not been favorably considered by the city plan commission. In acting on the capital budget and capital improvement program the council may accept, reject or modify the projects described therein or the proposed methods of financing the same. After the adoption of the capital budget by a majority of all members of the council no money shall be expended on or contract entered into for any capital improvement project during the ensuing fiscal year except in accordance with such capital budget. The capital improvement program when adopted with or without amendment shall take effect as part of the comprehensive plan provided in chapter 13 until modified by a future capital budget and capital improvement program.
(Res. No. 73-122, 6/25/1973, § 13, approved at referendum 8/7/1973; approved at referendum 11/3/1998)
Any portion of an appropriation remaining unexpended and unencumbered at the close of the fiscal year shall lapse and become available in the general fund for appropriation in the ensuing fiscal year, provided that an appropriation from any source for any permanent public improvement shall not lapse until the purpose for which the appropriation was made has been accomplished or abandoned. Any project shall be deemed to have been abandoned if three fiscal years shall have passed without any expenditure from or encumbrance of the appropriation therefor.
Any unexpended and unencumbered balance in a fund created by an issue of bonds the whole or any part of which issue is outstanding and unpaid shall, when such balance is no longer needed for the purpose for which such was created, be employed solely in the payment of said bonds and the interest thereon.
The mayor shall send a written notification to the city council and the school committee within five business days of any temporary interfund bond transfer. Every thirty days thereafter, an accounting shall be given to the council and to the school committee on the nature and status of the borrowing. No temporary interfund bond transfer shall continue for more than sixty days without the approval of the city council.
(Approved at referendum 11/3/1998)
After the annual appropriation ordinance has been adopted and before the beginning of the fiscal year to which it applies, the head of each department, board, commission, office or agency, except the school committee, shall submit to the mayor in such form as the mayor shall prescribe a work program which shall show the requested allotments of the appropriations for such department, board, commission, office or agency for the entire fiscal year by quarterly periods. Before the beginning of the fiscal year the mayor shall approve with such modifications as the mayor shall determine the allotments for each department, board, commission, office and agency and shall file the same with the director of finance who shall not authorize any expenditure to be made from any appropriation except on the basis of approved allotments. The aggregate of such allotments shall not be greater than the amount of the appropriation from which they are made. The allotments for each quarter need not be equal but shall be apportioned to the work program of the department, board, commission, office or agency concerned. An approved allotment may be revised during the fiscal year in the same manner as the original allotment was made. If at any time during the fiscal year the mayor shall ascertain that the receipts for the fiscal year will be less than the total appropriations for the year the mayor shall reconsider the work programs and allotments of the several departments, boards, commissions, offices and agencies and revise the allotments so as to forestall the incurring of a deficit.
(Approved at referendum 11/3/1998)
The mayor may at any time authorize the transfer of any unencumbered appropriation balance or portion therefor from one classification of expenditure to another within the same department, board, commission, office or agency, provided that the existence of the balance proposed to be transferred is certified in writing by the director of finance. At the request of the mayor but only within the last three months of the fiscal year the council may by ordinance transfer any portion of an unencumbered appropriation balance certified in writing by the director of finance from one department, board, commission, office or agency to another except that no such transfer shall be made from the appropriation of the school committee.
Appropriations in addition to those contained in the annual appropriation ordinance shall be made only by ordinance on the recommendation of the mayor and only if the director of finance shall certify in writing that there is available in the general fund an unappropriated and unencumbered cash balance sufficient to meet such appropriation, provided that in the case of an immediate public emergency threatening the lives, health, safety or property of the people of the city the council may by ordinance adopted by the vote of two-thirds of all its members appropriate a sum not to exceed one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in any one year without reference to other provisions of this Charter.
No money shall be drawn from the city treasury or obligation for the payment of money incurred except in accordance with an appropriation duly made or transferred as provided in this Charter. No expenditure shall be made from any appropriation or allotment or any obligation incurred to be paid therefrom unless the director of finance shall first certify in writing that there is a sufficient unencumbered balance in such appropriation or allotment to meet the same. Every expenditure or obligation authorized or incurred in violation of the provisions of this Charter shall be void. Every payment made in violation of the provisions of this Charter shall be deemed illegal and every officer or employee of the city who shall knowingly authorize or make such payment or take part therein and every person who shall knowingly receive such payment or any part thereof shall be jointly and severally liable to the city for the full amount so paid or received. Violation of this provision by any officer or employee of the city shall be ground for that person's removal. Nothing herein shall be taken to prohibit the school committee from contracting with prospective teachers for services to be rendered in the ensuing fiscal year, prior to the adoption of the operating budget and appropriation ordinance by the council.
(Approved at referendum 11/3/1998)
Notwithstanding other provisions of this Charter, in the event of an emergency threatening the public safety, health or welfare and requiring the immediate expenditure of money by the city, the city council, on the written recommendation of the mayor, by a resolution or a loan order passed with the affirmative votes of at least two-thirds of its members, may appropriate funds in amounts and for purposes in addition to those contained in the operating budget and appropriation ordinance or in the capital budget. Appropriations which are to be met from unappropriated and unencumbered cash in the general fund shall be made by resolution, and appropriations which are to be raised by borrowing shall be made by loan order. Such a resolution or loan order shall include a brief statement of the facts which show the existence of such emergency. Such a resolution or loan order shall not take effect unless it is approved by the mayor before the end of the tenth day following the day on which it is presented to him for his approval.
(1973 public laws, Ch. 189; Res. No. 73-121, 6/25/1973, § 1, approved at referendum 8/7/1973; approved at referendum 11/3/1998)
The city shall maintain an undesignated fund balance (rainy day fund), which shall, at a minimum, be equal to five percent of the city's annual operating budget. No appropriation, allotment or expenditure shall be made which would cause the year end undesignated fund balance (rainy day fund) to go below five percent of the city's annual operating budget except for an unanticipated non-recurring expenditure or revenue loss arising from an emergency involving the health, safety or property of the residents of the City of Cranston. Such an appropriation that would cause the amount in the year end undesignated fund balance (rainy day fund) to go below five percent of the city's annual operating budget shall be made upon the written recommendation of the mayor and approved by the affirmative votes of at least two-thirds of the entire city council.
(Res. No. 2020-29, § 1, 6/25/2020, approved at referendum 11/3/2020)
The city may not increase the property tax levy by more than three percent but no higher than four percent above the amount levied for the previous fiscal year unless approved by the affirmative vote of at least a majority of the entire city council and at least one of the conditions set forth in R.I.G.L. Section 44-5-2 is met. Furthermore, the city may not increase the property tax levy by more than four percent above the amount levied for the previous fiscal year unless approved by the affirmative vote of at least four-fifths of the entire city council and at least one of the conditions set forth in R.I.G.L. Section 44-5-2 is met.
R.I.G.L. Section 44-5-2 provides for the following conditions for a tax increase: (1) the city forecasts or experiences a loss in total non-property tax revenues; (2) the city experiences or anticipates an emergency; (3) the city forecasts or experiences debt services expenditures that exceed the prior year's debt service expenditures by an amount greater than a four percent increase; or (4) the city experiences substantial growth in its tax base as the result of major new construction that necessitates either significant infrastructure or school housing expenditures by the city or a significant increase in the need for essential municipal services.
(Res. No. 2020-36, § 1, 6/25/2020, approved at referendum 11/3/2020)