Borough of Hopatcong, NJ Chapter 9 Claims Approval

[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Hopatcong 12-19-2012 by Ord. No. 27-2012.[1] Amendments noted where applicable.]

GENERAL REFERENCES

Funds and accounts — See Ch. 20.

[1] Editor’s Note: This ordinance also superseded former Ch. 9, Claims Approval, adopted 11-2-1967 as Ch. 23 of the 1967 Code, as amended.

§ 9-1 Itemization and verification.

No bill or claim shall be paid unless it contains a detailed statement of the items or demand, specifying particularly how the item or demand is made up, and a certification of the party claiming payment that it is correct; nor shall any bill, claim or demand be paid unless the voucher on which it is presented carries a certification of the department head, having a personal knowledge of the facts that the goods have been received by, or the services performed to, the Borough.

§ 9-2 Review and validation.

A. The Borough Administrator shall review and validate each bill and claim and indicate his recommendation for payment by affixing his signature to each voucher. He shall prepare or cause to be prepared a resolution to be presented to the governing body with his certification that he has reviewed and validated each of the bills and claims presented for payment of his recommendation that payment be made.

B. The Borough Chief Financial Officer shall certify on the resolution that sufficient funds are available within the line item in the budget for payment of the bills and claims.

§ 9-3 Submission to governing body.

A. The resolution bearing the certification of the Borough Administrator and the Borough Chief Financial Officer shall be presented to the Mayor and Council at a regular meeting and shall be acted on by the Council as a whole. The Mayor and Council may:

(1) Approve the list in its entirety.

(2) Reject the list in its entirety.

(3) Reject any one or several of the items by a majority vote of the Council and approve the remainder of the items.

B. A roll call vote will be taken on the resolution, and each member of the Council and the Mayor shall sign the resolution.

§ 9-4 Approval and payment.

Upon approval by the Mayor and Council, checks in payment of same shall be made out by the Chief Financial Officer and signed by the Mayor and Clerk and countersigned by the Chief Financial Officer.

§ 9-5 Emergency approval.

In the event of circumstance where there is an emergency need to pay a bill to protect the health, safety, and welfare of Borough employees or the public is in jeopardy or where the integrity of the Borough's buildings or property is threatened and no meeting of the governing body can be scheduled to address the bill, the Administrator or CFO are authorized to sign a check with the approval of the Mayor, provided that the payment of the bill under emergency circumstance is placed on the next governing body agenda for review and ratification.