(A) For the purpose of this section, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
PROPRIETARY FUNCTION. A water supply or distribution utility, a wastewater collection or treatment utility, an electric generation, transmission, or distribution utility, a gas supply, transmission, or distribution utility, an integrated solid waste management collection, disposal, or handling utility, or a hospital or a nursing home owned by the city.
(Neb. Rev. Stat. 18-2803)
SUBSIDIZATION. The costs of operation of a proprietary function are regularly financed by appropriations from the city’s General Fund in excess of the amount paid by the city to the proprietary function for actual service or services received.
(Neb. Rev. Stat. 18-2804)
(B) The City Council may establish a separate fiscal year for each proprietary function, except that any proprietary function which is subsidized by appropriations from the city’s General Fund shall have the same fiscal year as the city.
(C) (1) At least 30 days prior to the start of the fiscal year of each proprietary function, a proposed proprietary budget statement shall be prepared in writing and filed with the City Clerk containing the following information:
(a) For the immediately preceding fiscal year, the revenue from all sources, the unencumbered cash balance at the beginning and end of the year, the amount received by taxation, and the amount of actual expenditure;
(b) For the current fiscal year, actual and estimated revenue from all sources separately stated as to each such source, the actual unencumbered cash balance available at the beginning of the year, the amount received from taxation, and the amount of actual and estimated expenditure, whichever is applicable;
(c) For the immediately ensuing fiscal year, an estimate of revenue from all sources separately stated as to each such source, the actual or estimated unencumbered cash balance, whichever is applicable, to be available at the beginning of the year, the amounts proposed to be expended during the fiscal year, and the amount of cash reserve based on actual experience of prior years; and
(d) A uniform summary of the proposed budget statement which shall include a total of all funds maintained for the proprietary function.
(2) The statement shall contain the estimated cash reserve for each fiscal year and shall note whether or not the reserve is encumbered. The cash reserve projections shall be based upon the actual experience of prior years.
(3) Each proprietary budget statement shall be filed on forms prescribed and furnished by the Auditor of Public Accounts following consultation with representatives of such governing bodies as operate proprietary functions subject to the provisions of the Municipal Proprietary Function Act.
(Neb. Rev. Stat. 18-2805)
(D) (1) After a proposed proprietary budget statement is filed with the City Clerk, the City Council shall conduct a public hearing on the statement. Notice of the time and place of the hearing, a summary of the proposed proprietary budget statement, and notice that the full proposed proprietary budget statement is available for public review with the City Clerk during normal business hours shall be published one time at least five days prior to the hearing in a legal newspaper in or of general circulation within the City Council’s jurisdiction or by mailing to each resident within the City Council’s jurisdiction.
(2) After the hearing, the proposed proprietary budget statement shall be adopted or amended and adopted as amended, and a written record shall be kept of the hearing. If the adopted proprietary budget statement reflects a change from the proposed proprietary statement presented at the hearing, a copy of the adopted proprietary budget statement shall be filed with the City Clerk within 20 days after its adoption and published in a legal newspaper in or of general circulation within the City Council’s jurisdiction or by mailing to each resident within the City Council’s jurisdiction.
(Neb. Rev. Stat. 18-2806)
(E) If the actual expenditures for a proprietary function exceed the estimated expenditures in the proprietary budget statement during its fiscal year, the City Council shall adopt a proprietary function reconciliation statement within 90 days after the end of the fiscal year which reflects any difference between the adopted proprietary budget statement for the previous fiscal year and the actual expenditures and revenue for that fiscal year. After the adoption of a proprietary function reconciliation statement, it shall be filed with the City Clerk and published in a legal newspaper in or of general circulation within the City Council’s jurisdiction or by mailing to each resident within the City Council’s jurisdiction. If the difference between the adopted proprietary budget for the previous fiscal year and the actual expenditures and revenues for that fiscal year is greater than 10%, the proprietary function reconciliation statement shall only be adopted following a public hearing.
(Neb. Rev. Stat. 18-2807)
(F) If the budget of a proprietary function is included in the city budget statement created pursuant to the state’s Budget Act, the Municipal Proprietary Function Act need not be followed for that proprietary function. Any income from a proprietary function which is transferred to the General Fund of the city shall be shown as a source of revenue in the city budget statement created pursuant to the state’s Budget Act.
(Neb. Rev. Stat. 18-2808)