Loading...
SECTION 54.   Statement of Unexpended Balances to be Furnished.
   The auditor shall furnish monthly to each head of department a statement of the unexpended balance of the appropriation for that department, and he shall furnish to the mayor and city council a statement of the unexpended balances of all the departments. He shall furnish quarterly to the city council an itemized statement showing the amount of money expended by the mayor and the city council for contingent expenses.
[Acts of 1909, c. 486, s. 25]
SECTION 55.   Appointment of Audit Committee.
   There shall be appointed by the mayor subject to confirmation by the city council, an audit committee of five members, all residents of the city of Boston, whose members shall serve for five years Members shall serve without compensation but may be reimbursed for expenses necessarily incurred, and shall be deemed special municipal employees for the purposes of chapter two hundred and sixty-eight A of the General Laws.
   The city shall retain the services of an independent, certified public accounting firm which shall annually audit the accounts of the city. The audit committee shall monitor the progress of such audit and shall meet with the accounting firm at least quarterly. The said committee shall review the recommendations of the firm and shall present to the mayor and city council such recommendations as it may have.
[Acts of 1982, c. 190, s. 14]
FISCAL RESPONSIBILITIES.
SECTION 56.   Establishment of Reserve Fund.
   To provide for extraordinary and unforeseen expenditures, the city of Boston shall, prior to the date when the tax rate for a fiscal year is fixed, include in the appropriations for such fiscal year as a segregated reserve fund a sum not less than 2.5% of the preceding year’s appropriations for city and county departments, excepting the school department; provided, however, that the amount required to be appropriated for such reserve fund in any fiscal year may be reduced by the amount, if any, remaining in the reserve fund established for the preceding fiscal year after all transfers have been made therefrom as hereinafter authorized and such remaining amount shall be retained in the reserve fund provided for such fiscal year. The Mayor, with the approval of the city council, may make direct drafts or transfers against such fund before the close of the fiscal year, provided that no such drafts or transfers may be made before June 1st in any fiscal year.
   Each transfer recommended by the Mayor to the city council shall be accompanied by written documentation detailing the amount of such transfer and an explanation of the reason for the transfer. If the reserve fund for a fiscal year beginning on or after July 1, 1986 is exhausted through transfer and the city incurs an appropriation or revenue deficit in such fiscal year, the reserve fund appropriation requirement shall increase by 50% for the fiscal year following such fiscal year.
   Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, in the city of Boston, the segregated reserve fund established by this section shall be deemed to satisfy the requirement of section fourteen of chapter sixty-four J of the General Laws that a city accepting said chapter sixty-four J shall establish a segregated reserve fund. The reserve fund established pursuant to this section shall become effective for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1986.
[Acts of 1982, c. 190, s. 17A, amended by Acts of 1986, c. 701, s. 7 and further amended by Acts of 2016, c.166, s.1]
SECTION 57.   Requirement of Allotment Schedule from Departments.
   On or before August first of each year, or within ten 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 or county officials in charge of departments or agencies, including the superintendent of schools for the school department, shall submit to the city auditor, with a copy to the city clerk, in such form as the city auditor may prescribe, an allotment schedule of the appropriations of all personnel categories included in said budget, indicating the amounts to be expended by the department or agency for such purposes during each of the fiscal quarters of said fiscal year.
   The allotment specified by the school department for the first fiscal quarter in each fiscal year may not exceed twenty per cent of the total appropriations of all personnel categories for said fiscal year, and the allotment specified for any one of the remaining three quarters may not exceed in such quarter thirty percent of the total appropriation.
   The allotment specified for each of the departments and agencies, except for the school department, for either the first or second fiscal quarter in each fiscal year may not exceed thirty per cent of the total appropriations of all personnel categories in said fiscal year, and the allotment specified for each of the departments and agencies, except for the school department, for both the third and fourth fiscal quarter in each fiscal year may not be less than twenty-one per cent of the total appropriations of all personnel categories in said fiscal year.
   Whenever the city auditor determines that any department or agency, including the school department, will exhaust or has exhausted its quarterly allotment and any amounts unexpended in previous quarters, he shall give notice in writing to such effect to the department head, the mayor and the city clerk, who shall transmit the same to city council.
   The mayor, within seven days after receiving such notice, shall determine whether to waive or enforce such allotment. If the allotment for such quarter is waived or not enforced by the mayor, as provided above, the department or agency head shall reduce the subsequent quarter’s allotments appropriately and the director of administrative services, within seven days, shall state in writing to the city council and the city clerk what reductions in each subsequent quarter’s allotment will be taken or what reallocations or transfers will be made to support the spending level in each subsequent quarter’s allotment. If the allotment for such quarter is enforced or not waived, thereafter the department shall terminate all personnel expenses for the remainder of the quarter. All actions taken pursuant to this section shall be reported to the city council and the city clerk. All reports provided for in this section shall be transmitted to the city council and the city clerk within seven days.
   No personnel expenses earned or accrued, within any department, shall be charged to or paid from such department’s or agency’s allotment of a subsequent quarter without approval by the mayor, except for subsequently determined retroactive compensation adjustments. Approval of a payroll for payment of wages, or salaries or other personnel expenses which would result in an expenditure in excess of the allotment shall be a violation by the department or agency head, including the superintendent of schools and the school committee of section sixteen of chapter four hundred and eighty-six of the acts of nineteen hundred and nine. If the continuation of operations is not approved in a quarter where a department has exhausted the quarterly allotment or allotments as specified above, or, in any event, if a department has exceeded its entire appropriation for a fiscal year, the city shall have no obligation to pay any personnel cost or expense arising after such allotment or appropriation has been exhausted. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, every collective-bargaining agreement entered into by the city, the school department, or the county shall be subject to and shall expressly incorporate the provisions of this section.
   To insure that the overall city and county spending program remains in balance, the mayor may reallocate no more than three million dollars of nonpersonnel appropriations other than school appropriations during a fiscal year to other departmental purposes provided that in no department from which appropriations have been reallocated in accordance with this section shall any transfers be made under section three B of chapter four hundred and eighty-six of the acts of nineteen hundred and nine from personal services to non-personal services, except with the approval of a two-thirds vote of the city council, if such transfer would require the layoff of departmental personnel, who have been permanently appointed to a position in the department under the provisions of chapter thirty-one of the General Laws. No reallocation may be made under this section after April fifteenth in any fiscal year. A list of each reallocation made by the mayor shall be transmitted to the city council and the city clerk by the city auditor by April thirtieth in any fiscal year. In each case the report shall state the accounts from which the transferred funds were taken and the accounts to which the funds were reallocated, and the reasons therefor.
[Acts of 1982, c. 190, s. 18, amended by Acts of 1986, c. 701, ss. 8, 9]
Loading...