[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Bradford 6-11-1974
as Ord. No. 2937. Amendments noted where applicable.]
The city budget shall be submitted in accordance with Article V, Sections
517 and 518, of the Optional Third Class City Charter Law[2] and shall include a complete detail of all city operating funds
and a capital budget. On or before April 1 of each year, the City Council
or its authorized representative shall submit a proposed six-year capital
improvement program to the City Planning Commission for its study and recommendations.
On or before June 1 of each year, after receipt of the report of the Planning
Commission, the City Council or its authorized representative shall submit
the program to Council, incorporating any of the recommendations of the Planning
Commission which it deems advisable. The program submitted may be modified
by the affirmative vote of a majority of Council. Passage of the six-year
capital improvement program shall be subject to annual revision.
No moneys shall be paid out of the city treasury except upon appropriation
previously made by Council and upon warrant pursuant thereto, which warrant
shall explicitly state the purpose for which the money is to be drawn. No
work shall be hired to be done, no materials purchased, no contracts made
and no order issued for the payment of any moneys in any amount which will
cause the sums appropriated to specific purposes to be exceeded. The Council
may make supplemental appropriations for any lawful purpose from funds on
hand or estimated to be received during the fiscal year and not appropriated
to any other purpose. The City Council or its authorized representative shall
have the power to authorize the transfer of any unexpended balance of any
appropriation item or any portion thereof within any department or interdepartmentally,
but if the amount transferred exceeds the appropriation item by more than
one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500.), then the City Council or its
authorized representative shall not make such transfer without obtaining the
approval of a majority of Council.
The City Council or its authorized representative shall supervise the
administration of each annual budget. Immediately after the budget has been
enacted and after consultation with the directors, it shall establish quarterly
or such other periodic allotments of appropriations to each department. At
the beginning of each allotment period the amount specified shall become available
to each department for obligations during that period. Such allotments for
any department may be modified by the City Council or its authorized representative
upon request of the director. The City Council or its authorized representative
shall file with the Controller a copy of each allotment and modification thereof.
If at any time during the budget year the City Council or its authorized representative
shall ascertain the probability of a cash deficit, it shall reconsider the
work programs and allotments of the several officers, departments and agencies.
Upon such reconsideration, the City Council or its authorized representative
shall revise the allotments so as to forestall, as far as possible, the making
of commitments and expenditures in excess of the revenue to be realized during
the fiscal year.
The City Treasurer shall receive for deposit from the departments of
the city all city moneys collected by such departments. The Treasurer shall
disburse all such funds in accordance with warrants issued to him therefor
and duly signed by the City Controller and the head of the city department
or office listing said disbursement.
The City Treasurer shall deposit all city funds and all city taxes collected
by him in such banks or other financial depositories as are designated by
Council. All such deposits shall be made in the name of the city, and all
designated depositories shall be institutions having a main office within
the city.
The City Controller shall review all warrants for the expenditure of
city moneys and, if satisfied that such expenditure is within the budget allotment
pertaining thereto, shall sign said warrant before it is presented to the
City Treasurer for payment. In so doing he shall also preaudit all claims
and demands against the city prior to payment and shall approve warrants for
payment thereof only if satisfied that such payment is in accordance with
law. The City Controller shall be responsible for the control of an encumbrance
system of the city budget operation. He shall receive from the City Council
or its authorized representative and directors such information regarding
city properties and obligations and city income and expenditures as he deems
necessary.
A.
There is hereby established a Billing Office, and a Billing
Clerk shall be appointed whose duty it shall be to send out all bills and
to charge all bills to the City Treasurer for collection thirty (30) days
thereafter. The City Treasurer shall endeavor to collect all bills during
a period of thirty (30) days after the same shall have been billed.
(1)
On the first day of the month following the billing date,
the City Treasurer shall charge on all uncollected bills charged to him a
penalty of fifty cents ($0.50) on each service charge for each month or part
thereof that the same or any part of such bills are delinquent, from the date
when such bill should have been paid at the City Treasurer's office.
(2)
At the end of thirty (30) days, the City Treasurer shall
certify all unpaid bills to the City Solicitor's office for collection, and
the Solicitor shall make a like penalty charge as above set forth.
(3)
The city shall have the right to shut off water furnished
to any property for which water or sewerage billing is delinquent.
B.
All sewer and water billing shall be done on a monthly
basis, as of the first day of each month, except that metered water and sewage
billing shall be done on the first day of May and quarterly thereafter.
C.
All garbage billing shall be done on a monthly basis,
as of the first day of each month, except that commercial garbage billing
shall be done on the first day of April and quarterly thereafter.
D.
All water, sewer and garbage bills shall be charged against
the property owner. Failure to receive a bill shall not excuse payment.
E.
Partial payments of sewer, water and/or garbage bills
may be made at the office of the City Treasurer, in which case one-third (1/3)
of each partial payment shall be applied to each billing; the same method
shall be applied on all bills paid in installments at the City Solicitor's
office.
The City Solicitor shall be furnished by the directors of the various
departments with statements of claims which remain due and unpaid within thirty
(30) days from the date said claim became due and payable. The City Solicitor
shall enter such claim in the city lien docket. Upon payment of any claim
so entered, it shall be the duty of the City Solicitor to cause satisfaction
to be entered upon the proper record.
The City Council or its authorized representative and the City Treasurer
jointly shall have power to provide for the temporary investment of city funds
and for the disposal of such securities when the moneys may be needed. Such
investments shall be made in accordance with Section 1804.1 of the Third Class
City Code, as added by the Act of 1959, P.L. 306.[2]
