(a) All City departments, the office of the Mayor, Clerk, Common Council, and City Judge may encumber funds in the absence of a written contractual obligation from one budget year to a subsequent budget year, only in conformance with this section.
(b) In the event that a department seeks to carry forward such an encumbrance to a subsequent budget year, that department must submit a memorandum to the Common Council, prior to the adoption of the City budget by the Common Council, listing any such encumbrance.
(1) The failure to provide such a memorandum will result in the automatic cancellation of such encumbrance and the automatic return of the encumbered funds to their originating fund on the first day of the following budget year;
(2) The only exception will be invoices which remain in "dispute" or "inquiry" status, or invoices received after the last annual Council meeting; and,
(3) Any encumbrances specified in such a memorandum shall, subject to any modifications or conditions adopted by the Common Council through a resolution, automatically be renewed in the subsequent budget year.
(c) All capital fund projects (Cum Cap Development, Cum Cap Improvement, and Cum Cap Sewer) as well as Local Road and Street Fund projects that have been encumbered may not be used for any project or purpose different than that established by the original encumbrance, and such project or purpose must proceed in the budget year in which the funds are encumbered. If it is deemed necessary to change the scope of the encumbrance, a resolution must be presented to and approved by the Common Council. This resolution shall list the detailed justification for the change request.
(Ord. D-1911-08, As Amended, 9-2- 08; Ord. D-2067-11, 11-7-11; Ord. D-2083-12, As Amended, 4-24-12; Ord. D-2505-19, 12-16-19)