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City of Boston Municipal Code
CITY OF BOSTON CODE OF ORDINANCES
THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF BOSTON
CHAPTER I: GENERAL PROVISIONS
CHAPTER II: FORM OF GOVERNMENT
CHAPTER III: ACQUISITION AND DISPOSITION OF PROPERTY
CHAPTER IV: CONTRACTS
CHAPTER V: ADMINISTRATION
CHAPTER VI: GENERAL SERVICES
CHAPTER VII: ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
CHAPTER VIII: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER IX: BUILDING REGULATIONS
CHAPTER X: HOUSING SERVICES
CHAPTER XI: PUBLIC SERVICES
CHAPTER XII: PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE
CHAPTER XIII: NATURAL GAS
CHAPTER XIV: LICENSING AND CONSUMER BOARDS, COMMITTEES AND OFFICERS
CHAPTER XV: DIVISIONS OF THE MAYOR’S OFFICE
CHAPTER XVI: PROHIBITIONS, PENALTIES AND PERMITS
CHAPTER XVII: LICENSES AND REGULATIONS AFFECTING CERTAIN TRADES
CHAPTER XVIII: FEES AND CHARGES
CHAPTER XIX: SCHOOLS
CHAPTER XX: CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS
CHAPTER XXI: MISCELLANEOUS PUBLIC BUILDINGS
CHAPTER XXII: SUFFOLK COUNTY
CHAPTER XXIII: TRASH AND REFUSE DISPOSAL
CHAPTER XXIV: BOSTON JOBS, LIVING WAGE AND PREVAILING WAGE ORDINANCE
PARALLEL REFERENCES
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SECTION 45.   Investigation of Pay Rolls, Bills, etc.
   Whenever any pay roll, bill, or other claim against the city is presented to the mayor, city auditor, or the city treasurer, he shall, if the same seems to him to be of doubtful validity, excessive in amount, or otherwise contrary to the city’s interest, refer it to the finance commission, which shall immediately investigate the facts and report thereon; and pending said report payment shall be withheld.
[Acts of 1909, c. 486, s. 19]
SECTION 46.   Employment of Experts.
   The said commission is authorized to employ such experts, counsel, and other assistants, and to incur such other expenses as it may deem necessary, and the same shall be paid by said city upon requisition by the commission, not exceeding in the aggregate in any year the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars, or such additional sums as may be appropriated for the purpose by the city council, and approved by the mayor. A sum sufficient to cover the salary of the chairman of the commission and the further sum of at least twenty-five thousand dollars to meet the expenses as aforesaid shall be appropriated each year by said city. The commission shall have the same right to incur expenses in anticipation of its appropriation as if it were a regular department of said city.
[Acts of 1909, c. 486, s. 20]
SECTION 47.   Powers of the Finance Commission.
   For the purpose of enabling the said commission to perform the duties and carry out the objects herein contemplated, and to enable the mayor, the city council, the governor or the general court to receive the reports and findings of said commission as a basis for such laws, ordinances, or administrative orders as may be deemed met, the commission shall have all the powers and duties enumerated in chapter five hundred and sixty-two of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and eight and therein conferred upon the commission designated in said act; but counsel for any witness at any public hearing may ask him any pertinent question and may offer pertinent evidence through other witnesses subject to cross-examination by the commission and its counsel.
[Acts of 1909, c. 486, s. 21]
Editor’s note:
   St. 1908, c. 562, s. 1: “... to examine into all matters pertaining to the finances of the said city, including appropriations, debt, loans, taxation, expenditures, bookkeeping, administration and other matters ... is hereby given authority to prosecute the said investigation, to inquire into the management of the business of said city, and to inform itself as to the manner and methods in which the same is or has been conducted.” St. 1908, c. 562, s. 2: “... the commission shall have the power to require the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of all books, papers, contracts and documents relating to any matter within the scope of the said investigations, or which may be material in the performance of [its] duties ... the chairman may administer oaths.” St. 1908, c. 562, s. 3: “... [apply to] a justice of the supreme judicial court or of the superior court [to] issue an order requiring such person to appear. Any failure to obey such order of the court may be punished by such court as a contempt thereof.” St. 1908, c. 562, s. 4: for refusal, the commission may impose a fine not exceeding fifty dollars or by imprisonment for not more than thirty days or both.
PUBLIC SPENDING.
SECTION 48.   Creation and Approval of the Municipal Budget.
      The mayor and city council of the City of Boston shall hold budgetary powers together, with the power to modify in whole or in part an appropriation order or an item within an appropriation order, amend the budget for Boston Public Schools consistent with the Acts of 1936, c. 224, s.2, amended by Acts of 1986, c. 701, s. 5, and further amended by Acts of 1987, c. 613, s. 2 [section 75] of this charter, clarify budgetary procedures and take such other actions as are necessary to amend, approve or disapprove the annual budget for the City, excepting the powers to originate an appropriation order, which shall be reserved for the mayor. To further public engagement and democratic involvement in city spending, the City of Boston shall create by City ordinance an independent Office of Participatory Budgeting with an external oversight board, to create and oversee an equitable and binding decision-making process open to all Boston residents by Fiscal Year 2024, consistent with G.L. c. 44, § 53. The mayor, not later than the second Wednesday in April of each year, shall submit to the city council the annual budget of the current expenses of the city and county for the forthcoming fiscal year, and the mayor may submit thereafter such supplementary appropriation orders as they may deem necessary. Not later than the second Wednesday in June, the city council shall take definite action on the annual budget, by adopting, amending or rejecting it, provided that the amended version shall not be for a higher total budget than originally proposed. In the event of their failure to act on a budget submitted by the mayor, the items and the appropriation orders in the budget as recommended by the mayor shall be in effect as if formally adopted by the city council and approved by the mayor. The mayor shall have seven days from the time of a budgetary vote of the council to approve or return said budget to the council, and in the event of the failure of the mayor to act on a budget approved by the council, the budget shall be in effect as approved by the council. The mayor may modify a budget approved by the council by returning it to said council with amendments to any line item provided that a vote of two-thirds of the council shall be sufficient to override any budgetary amendments, in whole or in part, or an overall budgetary veto by the mayor. It shall be the duty of the city and the county officials when requested by the mayor, to submit to the mayor forthwith in such detail as the mayor may require estimates for the next fiscal year of the expenditures of the department or office under their charge, which estimates shall be transmitted to the city council; provided, however, that the mayor shall neither submit, nor thereafter reduce, the appropriations for the city council at or to a level below that which existed for the previous fiscal year, nor shall the city council reduce the appropriations for the mayor’s office below that which existed for the previous fiscal year.
[Acts of 1909, c. 486, s. 3, amended by Acts of 1974, c. 276, s. 53, amended by Acts of 1982, c. 190, s. 15, and further amended by Acts of 1986, c. 701, s. 2, and as amended by binding ballot question 1 in November 2021]
SECTION 49.   Special Appropriations.
   In the period after the expiration of any fiscal year, and before the regular appropriations have been made by the city council and the school committee, city and county officers who are authorized to make expenditures, and the school committee, may incur liabilities in carrying on the work of the several departments and offices entrusted to them, and payments therefor shall be made from the treasury from any available funds therein and charged against the next annual appropriation, or special appropriation, if any is made; provided, that the liabilities incurred during such interval for regular employees do not exceed in any one month the average monthly expenditure of the last three months of the preceding fiscal year, and that the total liabilities incurred during said interval do not exceed in any one month the sums spent for similar purposes during any one month of the preceding fiscal year; and provided, further, that said officers who are authorized to make expenditures may expend in any one month for any new officer or board lawfully created an amount not exceeding one twelfth of the estimated cost for the current fiscal year; and provided, further, that until a regular or special appropriation has been made for snow removal, expenditures may be made for that purpose to an amount not exceeding the average of the annual expenditures for snow removal in the five preceding fiscal years. Notwithstanding the foregoing limitations upon the authority of city officers to incur liabilities during said interval, such officers may incur liabilities to such extent as may be necessary for the purpose of compensating first assistant assessors for their regular duties.
[Acts of 1909, c. 486, s. 3A, amended by Acts of 1941, c. 604, s. 1, and further amended by Acts of 1947, c.120]
SECTION 50.   Transfers of Appropriations.
   After an appropriation of money has been made by the city for any specific purpose, or for the needs and expenditures of any city department or county office, no transfer of any part of the money thus appropriated, between such department or office and another department or office, shall be made, except in accordance with and after the written recommendation of the mayor to the city council, approved by a yea or nay vote of two-thirds of all the members of the city council, provided that the city auditor, with the approval in each instance of the mayor, may make transfers, other than for personal service, from any item to any other item within the appropriations for a department, division of a department or county office. After the close of the fiscal year, the city auditor may, with the approval of the mayor in each instance, apply any income, taxes and funds not disposed of and make transfers from any appropriation to any other appropriation for the purpose only of closing the accounts of such fiscal year, provided further that the city auditor within seventy days after the close of the fiscal year, shall transmit to city council and the city clerk a report listing what income, taxes or funds were applied and what transfers were made and the reasons therefor.
[Acts of 1909, c. 486, s. 3, amended by Acts of 1982, c.190, s.23, and further amended by Acts of 1986, c. 701, s. 3]
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