The fiscal year of the City shall begin on the first day of
July and shall end on the last day of June, unless another period
is required by general law.
(a)
Public hearing. At least 21 days before the meeting at which the
School Committee is scheduled to vote on its final budget request,
the School Committee shall cause to be published in a local newspaper
a general summary of its proposed budget. The summary shall specifically
indicate any major variations from the current budget and the reasons
for such changes. The notice shall further indicate the times and
places at which complete copies of the proposed budget are available
for examination by the public, and it shall indicate the date, time
and place (not less than seven nor more than 14 days following such
publication), when a public hearing will be held by the School Committee
on the proposed budget. The School Committee shall not take its final
vote on its proposed budget until all persons who desire to be heard
concerning the budget proposal have had a reasonable opportunity to
be heard.
(b)
Submission to Mayor. The proposed budget adopted by the School Committee
shall be submitted to the Mayor at least 21 days before the date the
Mayor is required to submit a proposed City budget to the City Council,
to allow the Mayor sufficient time within which to consider the effect
the School Department's requested appropriation will have upon
the total City operating budget the Mayor is required to submit to
the City Council under this article.
The action of the School Committee in adopting the proposed
budget, following the public hearing, shall be summarized and the
results of a roll call vote taken on each amendment to the proposed
budget as may be offered shall be recorded.
Not later than 90 days before the start of the City's fiscal
year, the Mayor shall submit to the City Council a proposed operating
budget for the ensuing fiscal year with an accompanying budget message
and supporting documents. The Mayor shall simultaneously provide for
the publication in a local newspaper of a notice and a general summary
of the proposed budget. The summary shall specifically indicate any
major variations from the current operating budget and the reason
for such changes. The notice shall further indicate the times and
places at which complete copies of the proposed operating budget for
the City are available for examination by the public.
The budget message of the Mayor shall explain the budget for
all City agencies both in fiscal terms and in terms of work programs.
It shall outline proposed financial policies of the City for the ensuing
fiscal year, describe important features of the budget, indicate any
major variations from the current fiscal year in financial policies,
expenditures and revenues together with the reasons for such changes,
summarize the City's debt position and include other material
as the Mayor deems desirable, or as may be required by the provisions
of a City ordinance.
The proposed operating budget shall provide a complete financial
plan for all City funds and City activities for the ensuing fiscal
year. Except as may otherwise be required by general law, or this
Charter, it shall be in the form which the Mayor deems desirable or
as a City ordinance may require. In the presentation of the budget,
the Mayor shall utilize modern concepts of fiscal presentation so
as to furnish an optimum level of information and the best financial
control. The budget shall show in detail all estimated income from
the proposed property tax levy and from all other sources and all
proposed expenditures, including debt service, for the fiscal year.
The budget shall be arranged to show the actual and estimated income
and expenditures for the previous, current and ensuing fiscal years
and shall indicate in separate sections:
1.
Proposed expenditures for current operations during the ensuing fiscal
year, detailed by City agency and position, in terms of work programs,
and the method of financing such expenditures;
2.
Proposed capital expenditures during the ensuing fiscal year, detailed
by City agency, and the proposed method of financing each such capital
expenditure;
3.
The relationship of each proposed capital expenditure to the capital improvement program required to be submitted under Section 5-10; and
4.
Estimated surplus revenue and free cash at the end of the current
fiscal year, including estimated balances in any special accounts
established for specific purposes.
(a)
Review. The City Council shall consider, in open public meetings,
the detailed expenditures proposed for each City agency and may confer
with representatives of each such agency in connection with its review
and consideration. The City Council may require the Mayor or any other
City agency to furnish it with such additional information as it may
deem necessary to assist it in its review and consideration of the
proposed operating budget.
(b)
Public hearing. Not less than five days before it is scheduled to
vote on its final budget request, the City Council shall publish a
summary of the proposed budget stating the time and place in which
a public hearing on the proposed operating budget as submitted by
the Mayor will be held.
(c)
Action by City Council. The City Council shall adopt the budget,
with or without amendments, within 60 days after it receives the proposed
budget. In amending the budget, the City Council may increase or decrease
amounts and expenditures as allowed under Section 32 of Chapter 44
of the General Laws. If the City Council fails to take any action
with respect to any item in the proposed budget within 60 days after
it receives the proposed budget, such amount shall, without any action
by the City Council, become a part of the appropriations for the ensuing
fiscal year and shall be available for the purposes specified.
(a)
Intradepartmental transfers. With the approval of the Mayor, funds
appropriated for one line item within the appropriation made for a
particular municipal agency may be transferred to another line item
within the same municipal agency. Whenever such a transfer is by the
Mayor, notice of the transfer and the circumstances under which such
transfer was deemed advisable shall be filed with the Clerk of the
City Council.
(b)
Interdepartmental transfers. With the approval of the City Council,
funds appropriated to the use of one municipal agency may be transferred
to the use of another municipal agency as provided in this section.
The City Council may, by majority vote, on recommendation of
the Mayor, transfer within the last two months of a fiscal year or
during the first 15 days of a new fiscal year to apply to the previous
fiscal year, an amount appropriated for the use of any department;
provided, however, that no transfer shall be made at any other time
of any amount appropriated for the use of a City department to the
appropriation for any other department except by a two-thirds vote
of the City Council; and provided further, that the City Council shall,
by ordinance, provide a procedure governing such requests, which shall
include at least two readings and a public hearing by the City Council
and it shall specify the circumstances under which notice by publication
in a newspaper shall be required. A request for a transfer of funds
from one municipal agency to another shall be made by the Mayor, in
writing, to the City Council shall include a statement setting forth
the reason the additional funds are needed by the agency to which
it is proposed they be transferred. The request shall be accompanied
by a certificate, signed by the finance director, accountant and head
of the agency from which the appropriation is proposed to be taken,
that such transfer will not prevent that agency from performing its
vital functions.
The City Council shall hold a public hearing prior to its approval.
Notice of the hearing shall be posted or published at least five days
prior to the vote in accordance with the City ordinance governing
such requests.
(c)
Appropriation. Whenever the Mayor shall submit to the City Council
a request for a new appropriation of any sum of money, either a supplement
to some item in the annual operating budget or for an item, or items,
not included in the annual operating budget as adopted, the City Council
shall not act upon such request until it has (1) given public notice
of the request, and (2) held a public hearing concerning such request.
The City Council shall, by ordinance, determine the level of appropriation
request above which amount newspaper publication will be required
and below which amount posting on the City bulletin boards will be
sufficient.
(a)
On or before August first of each year, or within 10 days after the
approval of the City Council and the Mayor of the annual appropriation
order for such fiscal year, whichever shall occur later, the City
officials in charge of departments or agencies, including the Superintendent
of Schools for the School Department, shall submit to the Chief Financial
Officer, with a copy to the City Clerk, in such form as the Chief
Financial Officer may prescribe, an allotment schedule of the appropriations
of all categories included in said budget, indicating the amounts
to be expended by the department or agency for personnel and for every
other budget category during each of the fiscal quarters of said fiscal
year, or such shorter time periods as the Mayor or Chief Financial
Officer may prescribe.
(b)
Whenever said Chief Financial Officer determines that any department
or agency, including the School Department, will exhaust or has exhausted
its quarterly or shorter time period allotment and any amounts unexpended
in previous periods, he shall give notice in writing to such effect
to the department head, the Mayor, the City Attorney, and to the City
Clerk who shall forthwith transmit the same to the City Council. Upon
such a determination and notice thereof, said Chief Financial Officer
shall provide such officers additional reports on at least a monthly
basis indicating the status of such accounts.
(c)
The Mayor, within seven days after receiving such notice, shall determine
whether to waive or to enforce such allotment. If the allotment for
such period is waived or is not enforced, as provided above, the department
or agency head shall reduce the subsequent period allotments appropriately.
If the allotment for such period is enforced or not waived, thereafter
the department, on such a schedule to be approved by the Mayor and
Chief Financial Officer, shall so adjust expenditures to eliminate
the deficit. All actions, notices, and decisions provided for in this
section shall be transmitted to the City Council and the City Clerk
within seven days.
(d)
No expenses earned or accrued, within any department, shall be changed
to or paid for such department's or agency's allotment of
a subsequent period without approval by the Mayor, except for subsequently
determined retroactive compensation adjustments, approval of a payroll
for payment of wages, or salaried or other personnel expenses. If
the continued payment of wages, salaries or other personal expenses
is not approved in a period where a department head has exhausted
the period allotment or allotments as specified above, or, in any
event if a department has exceeded its appropriation for a fiscal
year, the City shall have no obligation to pay such personnel cost
or expense arising after such allotment or appropriation has been
exhausted.
(a)
No official of the City of Greenfield, except in the case of an emergency
involving the health and safety of the people or their property, shall
intentionally expend in any fiscal year any sum in excess of the appropriations
duly made in accordance with law, nor involve the City in any contract
for the future payment of money in excess of such appropriations.
It is the intention of this section that the provisions of MGL c.
44, § 31, shall be strictly enforced.
(b)
Any official who violates the provisions of this section shall be
personally liable to the City for any amounts so expended to the extent
the City does not recover such amounts from the person to whom such
sums were paid.
(a)
The Mayor shall submit a capital improvement program to the City
Council at least 120 days before the start of each fiscal year. The
capital improvement program shall be based on material prepared by
the Capital Improvement Program Committee established by ordinance.[1] It shall include:
1.
A clear
and concise general summary of its contents;
2.
A list
of all capital improvements proposed to be undertaken during the next
ensuing five years, with supporting information as to the need for
each capital improvement; cost estimates, methods of financing and
recommended time schedules for each improvement; and,
3.
The
estimated annual cost of operating and maintaining each facility and
piece of major equipment involved.
(b)
This information is to be annually revised by the Mayor with regard
to the capital improvements still pending or in the process of being
acquired, improved or constructed.
The City Council shall annually provide for an outside audit
of the books and accounts of the City to be made by a certified public
accountant, or a firm of certified public accountants, who have no
personal interest, direct or indirect, in the fiscal affairs of the
City or any of its officers. The Mayor shall annually provide to the
City Council a sum of money sufficient to satisfy the estimated cost
of conducting the audit as presented to the Mayor, in writing, by
the City Council. The award of a contract to audit shall be made by
the City Council, on or before September 15th of each year. The City
Council shall coordinate the work of the individual or firm selected
with the municipal officials. The report of the audit shall be filed
in final form with the City Council not later than March first in
the year following its award.
