[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of
the City of New Carrollton 4-16-1975 as Ch. 1, Arts. I through V and VII through XIV, of the
1975 Code. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Added 12-19-2018 by Ord.
No. 19-06]
The City Treasurer shall be the head of the Department of Finance
and Accounting and may also be referred to as the Director of the
Department of Finance and Accounting.
A.
No later than the first day of April in each year,
the Mayor shall submit to the Council a budget for the following fiscal
year.
B.
Format
and content.
[Amended 4-2-1997 by Ord.
No. 97-01; 5-20-2015 by Ord. No. 15-12]
(1)
The budget submitted by the Mayor shall conform in all aspects to
the requirements of § C-14.B of the City Charter and shall
be compatible with the standard accounts developed for uniform financial
reporting by the State of Maryland. The budget shall include a comparison
between proposed items of both income and expense, with estimates
of those same items for the current fiscal year, and with actual figures
for said items of income and expense for at least one year prior to
the current fiscal year. The budget shall classify items of expense
as "personnel," "operating" or "capital" expenditures and shall also
classify each expenditure into one or more of the following program
categories:
[Amended 3-20-2019 by Ord. No. 19-12]
(2)
The budget shall be a line-item budget, listing expenditures by object
classification in such detail as the Council deems necessary to allow
its proper evaluation of the proposed expenditures.
C.
After presentation to the Council by the Mayor, the
proposed budget shall be a public record, open to public inspection
during normal business hours at City Hall.
Before adopting the budget, the Council shall
conduct at least one (1) public hearing thereon, after publishing
notice of said public hearing in at least one (1) newspaper having
general circulation within the city, said notice to be published at
least five (5) days prior to the date of the hearing. At the option
of the Council, additional public hearings on the budget may be held.
A.
The Council may insert new items and increase or decrease
the items in the budget. If total expenditures are increased, then
revenues must be increased in an equal amount.
B.
The budget shall be prepared and adopted as an ordinance
and shall require the affirmative vote of at least a majority of the
total Council for adoption.
C.
It is recommended that the budget be adopted in sufficient
time for it to become effective on the first day of the fiscal year.
If this is not done, the Council may adopt a resolution to authorize
continuing expenditures for city services at a rate not to exceed
such expenditures for the previous fiscal year until the new budget
becomes effective.
[Amended 1-21-1998 by Ord. No. 97-10; 11-20-2007 by Ord. No.
07-17]
Any changes to the annual budget, after it has
been adopted by the Council, shall be made by means of a budget amendment.
All such budget amendments shall require the affirmative vote of a
two-thirds majority [four (4) votes] of the total Council for passage.
A.
Each annual budget shall include, as part of the total
expenditure appropriations, an operating reserve which shall be in
the amount of not less than one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000.).
[Amended 4-2-1997 by Ord. No. 97-01]
B.
No funds may be transferred or appropriated for any
purpose whatsoever from the operating reserve during the first nine
(9) months of the fiscal year. During the last three (3) months of
the fiscal year, any portion or all of the operating reserve may be
appropriated by at least a two-thirds vote of the total Council for
any use deemed by the Council to require the expenditure of said reserve
funds.
[Amended 4-2-1997 by Ord.
No. 97-01; 2-21-2001 by Ord. No. 01-01; 1-17-2007 by Ord. No. 07-02; 12-19-2012 by Ord. No. 13-06; 12-19-2018 by Ord. No. 19-06]
A.
The
Director of Finance and Accounting/Treasurer ("Director") is authorized
to pay city obligations by way of automated clearing house, when appropriate,
in accordance with procedures established by the Director. The procedures
shall require the Director and the Mayor to approve the payment of
invoices or bills by signing an internal authorization sheet. In the
absence of the Director, the alternate Treasurer shall be authorized
to sign the internal authorization sheet, and in the absence of the
Mayor the Mayor Pro Tem shall be authorized to sign the sheet.
B.
All
checks issued in payment of obligations of the city, other than the
salaries of employees, whether issued manually or electronically,
shall be signed by the City Director of Finance and Accounting/Treasurer
and countersigned by the Mayor.
C.
The
Alternate Treasurer shall be authorized to sign checks in the absence
of the Director of Finance and Accounting/Treasurer, and the Mayor
Pro Tem shall be authorized to countersign checks in the absence of
the Mayor.
D.
All
direct deposits made in payment of employees' salaries and checks
issued in payment of employee salaries, whether issued manually or
electronically, shall be drawn upon a separate payroll checking account
in which the unexpended balance may not exceed two hundred thousand
dollars ($200,000.00). The Administrative Officer shall be authorized
to approve direct deposits and sign salary checks drawn upon the payroll
account, and the Mayor or Mayor pro tem shall be authorized to approve
direct deposits and sign such checks in the absence of the Administrative
Officer.
E.
The
Mayor shall keep an updated list of current city bank accounts. The
Mayor and Administrative Officer shall be authorized to transfer funds
only between city accounts. No transfer of funds shall be authorized
except between the official list of bank accounts prepared by the
Mayor. Each year the Mayor shall update this list and provide notice
to each financial business holding city accounts that transfers may
only be made between specified bank accounts.
F.
Whenever
this section requires a signature for a check, an electronic signature
shall suffice, provided that (1) the signature kept on file is approved
by the person whose signature is required to be used for purposes
of issuing checks, and (2) the City Administrative Officer and the
Mayor have approved the payment of the invoice or bill to be paid
by signing an internal authorization sheet authorizing the use of
their electronic signatures for the payment of the invoice or bill.
[Amended 12-16-1981; 12-19-2012 by Ord. No. 13-06; 12-19-2018 by Ord. No. 19-06]
A petty cash fund shall be established in the amount of five
hundred dollars ($500.), which shall be in the custody of the City
Director of Finance and Accounting/Treasurer. The Director of Finance
and Accounting/Treasurer shall be authorized to make incidental cash
purchases from this petty cash fund, not to exceed fifty dollars ($50.)
for any single purchase, and it shall be the responsibility of the
Director of Finance and Accounting/Treasurer to keep an accurate accounting
of all petty cash transactions and a reconciliation of the balance
therein at all times.
Any and all moneys and fees received by an officer
or employee of the city government in his or her official capacity
shall belong to the city and shall be accounted for to the city.
[Amended 4-2-1997 by Ord. No. 97-01]
All books and accounts of the city shall be
audited yearly on or before November 1. Upon completion of the annual
audit of the books and accounts of the city, the auditor shall report
his or her findings, including any recommendations for revisions or
modifications of the city's fiscal practices, directly to the Council.
The Council shall distribute copies of the report to the Treasurer
and the Mayor, who will keep one (1) copy available for public inspection
during normal business hours at the City Hall.
A.
During the first three (3) months of any fiscal year,
the city 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 evidence of indebtedness as evidence of such borrowing,
subject to voter approval as required by the City Charter. 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 (6) months after the respective date of issue.
B.
No tax anticipation notes or other evidences of indebtedness
shall be issued which will cause the total tax anticipation indebtedness
of the city to exceed twenty-five percentum (25%) 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.
[Amended 4-2-1997 by Ord. No. 97-01]
In addition to the statement of financial condition,
income and expenditures required to be made available for public inspection
prior to elections, the Mayor shall also provide for public inspection,
at least thirty (30) days before each election, a listing of any proposed
transfers of funds to avoid over-expenditures, as well as a compilation
of all amendments which have been made to the current year's budget
since its original adoption by the Council.
The Council shall adopt a purchasing policy,
governing the use of competitive bidding and other aspects of the
city's purchasing procedures, which shall be administered by the Mayor.
[Amended 4-2-1997 by Ord. No. 97-01; 12-19-2012 by Ord. No. 13-06; 12-19-2018 by Ord. No. 19-06]
The City shall maintain a personal bond on the Mayor, Director
of Finance and Accounting/Treasurer and the Administrative Officer
in the amount of one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000.00)
and a blanket position bond on all other officers and employees in
an amount of no less than fifty thousand dollars ($50,000.) to insure
against loss sustained through any fraudulent or dishonest act or
through the failure of such officer or employee to properly and faithfully
perform the duties of his or her position.
[Added 1-6-1999 by Ord. No. 98-10; amended 6-5-2019 by Ord. No. 19-19]
A.
It
is the intent of the City of New Carrollton to establish a tax credit
program for nonprofit swimming pools located in the City, in accordance
with the provisions of § 9-244 of the Tax-Property Article,
Annotated Code of Maryland. Accordingly, the City hereby creates a
tax credit against the City tax imposed on a nonprofit swim club that
uses its facility exclusively to provide a recreational outlet for
residents of the City. To participate in the tax credit program, the
pool must be open for membership to all residents of the City and
must not discriminate based upon race, color, religion, national origin,
sex, age, marital status, or physical or mental handicap.
B.
The
amount of the tax credit shall be the full amount of any property
tax that the City is authorized to impose pursuant to § 6-203
of the Tax-Property Article, Annotated Code of Maryland. It is acknowledged
that the Prince George's County Director of Finance collects
both state and municipal real property taxes for properties located
within the City of New Carrollton. Therefore, to effectuate the tax
credit, for each fiscal year, the City Director of Finance/Treasurer
shall provide the Prince George's County Director of Finance
an appropriate code for all properties for which the City has approved
applications for the tax credit. The County Director of Finance shall
then apply the code to the property owner's tax bill so that
it will reflect that no tax is due and owing the City for the then-current
fiscal year. If it is determined that the Prince George's County
Director of Finance cannot accommodate the City's tax credit
program in this manner, then, to give effect to any tax credits granted
hereunder, the City will refund to the property owners an amount equal
to the tax credit.
C.
Tax credits shall be available on an annual tax year basis. An application
for the tax credit shall be submitted to the Director of Finance/Treasurer
no later than April 1 prior to the tax year for which the credit is
being requested. The Director of Finance/Treasurer shall determine
the amount of the tax credit and place a credit on the appropriate
account.
D.
The Director of Finance/Treasurer is authorized to develop an application
form and establish procedures to administer the tax credit established
in this section.
E.
An owner of real property who has applied for the tax credit established
in this section may appeal to the Maryland Tax Court the denial of
the tax credit if notice of the appeal is made on or before thirty
(30) days from the date that the Director of Finance/Treasurer mails
the notice of the determination.
