The Town shall operate on an annual budget.
The fiscal year of the Town shall begin on the first day of July and
shall end on the last day of June in the next year. Such fiscal year
shall constitute the tax year, the budget year, and the accounting
year.
[Amended 12-10-2001 by Res. No. 2001-01, effective 1-29-2002; 6-11-2007 by Res. No. 2007-01]
The Mayor, on such date as the Council shall
determine, but at least 45 days before the beginning of any fiscal
year, shall submit a budget to the Council. The budget shall provide
a complete financial plan for the budget year and shall contain estimates
of anticipated revenues and proposed expenditures for the coming year.
The total of the anticipated revenues shall equal or exceed the total
of the proposed expenditures. The budget shall be a public record
in the office of the Treasurer (or such other staff member as may
be designated by the Mayor and the Council), open to public inspection
by anyone during normal business hours.
Before adopting the budget the Council shall
hold a public hearing thereon after 10 days' notice thereof in one
newspaper having general circulation within the Town. The Council
may insert new items or may increase or decrease the items of the
budget. Where the Council shall increase the total proposed expenditures
it shall also increase the total anticipated revenues in an amount
at least equal to such total proposed expenditures. The budget shall
be prepared and adopted in the form of an ordinance. A favorable vote
of at least four members of the Council shall be necessary for adoption.
Council shall adopt a budget for the next fiscal year prior to the
close of the preceding fiscal year.
No public money may be expended without having
been appropriated by the Council. From the effective date of the budget,
the several amounts stated therein as proposed expenditures shall
be and become appropriated to the several objects and purposes named
therein.
Any transfer of funds between appropriations
for different purposes by the Mayor must be approved by the Council
before becoming effective.
No officer or employee shall during any budget
year expend or contract to expend any money or incur any liability
or enter into any contract which by its terms involves the expenditure
of money for any purpose, in excess of the amounts appropriated for
or transferred to that general classification of expenditure pursuant
to this Charter. Any contract, verbal or written, made in violation
of this Charter shall be null and void. Nothing in this section contained,
however, shall prevent the making of contracts or the spending of
money for capital improvements to be financed in whole or in part
by the issuance of bonds, nor the making of contracts of lease or
for services for a period exceeding the budget year in which such
contract is made, when such contract is permitted by law.
All appropriations shall lapse at the end of
the budget year to the extent that they shall not have been expended
or lawfully encumbered. Any unexpected and unencumbered funds shall
be considered a surplus at the end of the budget year and shall be
included among the anticipated revenues for the next succeeding budget
year.
[Amended 2-24-2003 by Res. No. 2003-01; 6-11-2007 by Res. No. 2007-01]
All checks issued in payment of salaries or
other municipal obligations shall be prepared by the Treasurer and
signed by the Town Manager and shall be countersigned by the Mayor,
or Council President, if the Mayor is unavailable.
All real property and all tangible property
within the corporate limits of the Town, or personal property which
may have a situs there by reason of the residence of the owner therein,
shall be subject to taxation for municipal purposes, and the assessment
used shall be the same as that for state and county taxes. No authority
is given by this section to impose taxes on any property which is
exempt from taxation by any act of the General Assembly.
From the effective date of the budget, the amounts
stated therein as the amount to be raised by the property tax shall
constitute a determination of the amount of the tax levy in the corresponding
tax year.
[Amended 6-11-2007 by Res. No. 2007-01]
Promptly after the levy is made by the Council
in each year, the Treasurer shall give notice of the making of the
levy by posting a notice thereof in some public place or places in
the Town. He shall make out and mail or deliver in person to each
taxpayer or his agent at his last known address a bill or account
of the amount of real and personal property with which the taxpayer
is assessed, the rate of taxation, the amount of taxes due, and the
date on which the taxes will bear interest. Failure to give or receive
any notice required by this section shall not relieve any taxpayer
of the responsibility to pay on the dates established by the Charter
all taxes levied on his property.
A.
The taxes provided for in § C-49 shall be
due and payable in accordance with applicable law. All ad valorem
taxes due and owing for owner-occupied residential property owners
may be paid in semiannual installments or in one annual installment
in accordance with the property owner's election. Such ad valorem
taxes for owner-occupied residential property, if paid in one annual
installment, shall be due and owing on the first day of July in the
year in which they are levied and shall become overdue and in arrears
on the first day of the following October. Such ad valorem taxes for
owner-occupied residential property, if paid in semiannual installments,
shall be due and owing for the first installment on the first day
of July in the year in which they are levied, and the first installment
shall become overdue and in arrears on the first day of the following
October and shall be due and owing for the second installment on the
first day of January and the second installment shall become overdue
and in arrears on the first day of the following February.
B.
Any and all other taxes shall be due and payable in
accordance with applicable law, or on the first day of July in the
year for which they are levied and shall be overdue and in arrears
on the first day of the following October.
C.
Any and all installments in arrears shall bear interest
while in arrears at the rate of 1 1/2% for each month or fraction
of a month until paid. All taxes not paid and in arrears after the
first day of the following February shall be collected as provided
in § C-52. Taxes paid in full in one annual installment
prior to the first day of August in the year for which the taxes are
levied shall be entitled to a two-percent discount.
[Amended 6-11-2007 by Res. No. 2007-01]
A list of all property on which the Town taxes
have not been paid and which are in arrears as provided by § C-51
of this Charter shall be turned over by the Treasurer to the official
of Carroll County responsible for the sale of tax delinquent property
as provided in state law. All property listed thereon shall if necessary
be sold for taxes by the county official, in the manner prescribed
by state law.
All fees received by an officer or employee
of the Town government in his official capacity shall belong to the
Town government and be accounted for to the Town.
The financial books and accounts of the Town
shall be audited annually in a manner determined by the Mayor and
Council.
During the first six months of any fiscal year,
the Town shall have the power to borrow in anticipation of the collection
of the property tax levied for that fiscal year, and to issue tax
anticipation notes or other evidences of indebtedness as evidence
of such borrowing. Such tax anticipation notes or other evidences
of indebtedness shall be a first lien upon the proceeds of such tax
and shall mature and be paid not later than six months after the beginning
of the fiscal year in which they are issued. No tax anticipation notes
or other evidences of indebtedness shall be issued which will cause
the total tax anticipation indebtedness of the Town to exceed 50%
of the property tax levy for the fiscal year in which such notes or
other evidences of indebtedness are issued. All tax anticipation notes
or other evidences of indebtedness shall be authorized by ordinance
before being issued. The Council shall have the power to regulate
all matters concerning the issuance and sale of tax anticipation notes.
The Town shall have the power to borrow money
for any proper public purpose and to evidence such borrowing by the
issue and sale of its general obligation bonds, notes, or other certificates
of indebtedness in the manner prescribed in §§ 31 to
39, both inclusive, of Article 23A of the Annotated Code of Maryland,
as may be amended from time to time, with the following exceptions:
A.
No bonds may be issued for longer than a forty-year
period; provided, however, that any unpaid balance remaining at the
expiration date of a bond issue may be refunded.
B.
The requirement for competitive bidding contained
in § 34(4) of Article 23A shall not apply to the Town, but
the Council shall have the option, in each instance, to determine
whether such bonds, notes, or other evidences of indebtedness shall
be sold at public sale as prescribed by § 34(4) or shall
be sold by negotiation at private sale without solicitation or competitive
bids; provided, however, that the total amount of such bonds, notes,
or other certificates of indebtedness outstanding at any time shall
not exceed 10% of the assessed value of all real and personal property
in the Town as appears on the assessment records of Carroll County.
[Amended 12-10-2001 by Res. No. 2001-02, effective 1-29-2002]
The power and obligation of the Town to pay
any and all bonds, notes, or other evidences of indebtedness issued
by it under the authority of this Charter shall be unlimited and the
Town shall levy ad valorem taxes upon all the taxable property of
the Town for the payment of such bonds, notes, or other evidences
of indebtedness and interest thereon, without limitation of amount.
The faith and credit of the Town is hereby pledged for the payment
of the principal of and the interest on all bonds, notes, or other
evidences of indebtedness, hereafter issued under the authority of
this Charter, whether or not such pledge be stated in the bonds, notes,
or other evidences of indebtedness, or in the ordinance authorizing
their issuance.
All bonds, notes, or other evidences of indebtedness
validly issued by the Town prior to the effective date of this Charter
and all ordinances passed concerning them are hereby declared to be
valid, legal, and binding and of full force and effect as if herein
fully set forth.
The Council shall have the power as authorized
by the laws of the State of Maryland to levy a tax on gas companies,
electric light companies, cable television franchises, and to levy
a license on telephone and telegraph companies, and cable television
companies for each pole, pedestal, underground cable, or other structure
erected or located within the corporate limits of the Town by any
telephone, telegraph and cable television companies. Any such tax
or license levied under the provisions of this section shall be in
the form of an ordinance.
Annually, the Town shall receive from the Commissioners
of Carroll County as authorized by the laws of the State of Maryland,
as may be in effect from time to time, 1/2 of the amount of county
road tax levied upon the assessable property within the Town limits
or so much thereof as may be authorized or appropriated from time
to time by law. Any such funds received by the Town shall be exclusively
used for the improvement of public ways within the Town limits.
A.
Under $10,000. Purchases and contracts under $10,000
may be made by the Mayor and/or the Town Manager, provided the funds
have been appropriated in the budget for the use intended. The Council
may regulate by ordinance or resolution (a) the purchasing policy
of the Town; (b) rules, regulations and procedures regarding the use
of bids; and (c) rules, regulations and procedures regarding written
contracts.
[Amended 12-10-2001 by Res. No. 2001-02, effective 1-29-2002]
B.
Over $10,000. All expenditures for supplies, materials,
equipment, construction of public improvements, or contractual service
involving more than $10,000 shall be made on written contract. All
written contracts shall be approved by the Council before becoming
effective. All such written contracts involving more than $10,000
shall be awarded by sealed bids. The Town Manager shall be required
to advertise for sealed bids for all such written contracts that require
sealed bids. Such written contracts shall be awarded to the bidder
who offers the lowest or best bid, quality of goods and work, time
of delivery or completion, and responsibility of bidders being considered.
The Council shall have the right to reject all bids and readvertise.
The Town at any time in its discretion may employ its own forces for
the construction or reconstruction of public improvements without
advertising for (or readvertising for) or receiving bids. All written
contracts may be protected by such bonds, penalties and conditions
as the Council may require.
[Amended 12-10-2001 by Res. No. 2001-02, effective 1-29-2002; 6-11-2007 by Res. No. 2007-01]
C.
Negotiated contracts. Notwithstanding Subsection B, all contracts involving professional services such as accounting, architecture, auditing, consulting, computer maintenance and support services, engineering, law, planning, and surveying shall not be subject to competitive bidding, but shall be negotiated by the Mayor with the approval of the Council.
D.
Cooperative procurement authorized.
[Added 8-8-2005 by Res. No. 2005-1, effective 9-24-05]
(1)
The Town may contract with any contractor who offers
goods, services, insurance, or construction on the same terms as provided
to (i) the State of Maryland; (ii) any other state of the United States
of America; (iii) any county or local governments or agencies of the
State of Maryland or any other state of the United States of America
(the entities listed in i, ii and iii shall collectively be referred
to as “governmental entities”), which governmental entities
have arrived at those terms through a competitive procurement procedure
requiring bids, proposals from bidders, and analysis of responsive
bids in accordance with the applicable laws of such governmental entities.
(2)
The effective date for authorization of the cooperative
procurement pursuant to § C-61D(1) shall be retroactive
to January 3, 2005.
