(A) Every ordinance, resolution, consent item, contract approval, or amendment thereto, (“a measure”) the purpose of which is to expend any city funds, increase or decrease the revenue of the city, or to require the expenditure of its funds, either directly or indirectly, shall have prepared for it, prior to the first reading or adoption of the same, a brief explanatory statement or note (fiscal note) which shall include a reliable estimation of the fiscal impact of such measure upon the city’s finances and no such measure shall be adopted until a fiscal note has been prepared and published as provided herein.
(B) The fiscal note shall be prepared by the responsible director and verified for accuracy by the city’s Finance Director or his or her designee and shall be a public record published as an addendum to the agenda of the meeting at which a measure to which it relates will be considered.
(C) Fiscal notes shall include a brief analysis of the impact of the measure on the city budget including any changes in expenditures or revenue and the source of funds to be utilized. With respect to an ordinance authorizing capital expenditures or appropriating funds for capital expenditures, the fiscal note shall specify, by year, the principal and interest payments required to fund such expenditure and increased operating costs, by year, shall be specified.
(D) The fiscal note shall be factual in nature, as brief and concise as it may be, and shall provide as reliable an estimate, in dollars, as is possible under the circumstances. The fiscal note shall include both the immediate effect, and if determinable or reasonably foreseeable, the long-range effect of the measure.
(E) If, after careful investigation it is determined that no dollar estimate is possible, the fiscal note shall contain a statement to that effect, setting forth the reasons why no such estimate can be given.
(F) No comment or opinion shall be included in the fiscal note with regard to the merits of the measure for which the fiscal note is prepared; however, technical or mechanical defects may be noted.
(G) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, a measure may be considered and adopted in the absence of a fiscal note if an emergency requiring waiver of the fiscal note requirement is declared by vote of two-thirds or more of the members of the Board of Commissioners present and voting.
(Ord. 20-2019, passed 3-14-19)