The fiscal and budget year of the city shall begin on the 1st day of July and shall end on the 30th day of June of each calendar year. The budget for each succeeding fiscal year submitted and amended as provided in this section, shall be adopted by the council not later than the 28th day of March of the then current fiscal year.
Not later than the 1st day of March of each year, the city manager shall submit to the council a budget for the next fiscal year, together with a budget message which shall contain an outline of the proposed financial operation of the city for the coming year, shall describe the important features of the budget plan, and shall set forth the reasons for the salient changes from the previous year in cost and revenue items. The budget prepared by the city manager shall not cover the financial operations of the water department. In respect to proposed appropriations for capital improvements, there shall be included in the budget message, or attached thereto, a program and schedule of capital projects recommended by the city planning commission for the next five fiscal years. A copy of the budget and budget message, and all supporting documents, shall at the same time the budget is submitted to the council be filed with the city clerk as a public record, and shall be available for inspection by any interested person.
The budget shall provide a complete financial plan for the budget year, including any estimate of any anticipated surplus at the beginning of the year, an estimate of anticipated revenues from all sources during the year, and a detailed estimate of proposed appropriations for expenditure during the year by each office, department, and agency of the city. The total of appropriations of the budget as submitted by the manager or as adopted by the council shall not exceed the sum of estimated revenues and surplus.
At a regular or special meeting of council between the 7th and 28th days of March of each year, there shall be a public hearing on the proposed budget, at which time all interested persons shall be given an opportunity to be heard for or against any estimate of revenue or any item of appropriation contained therein. At said meeting, council shall ascertain the fiscal condition of the corporation, and make an itemized statement setting forth:
(1) The amount due and the amount that will become due and collectible from every source during the current fiscal year except from the levy of taxes to be made for the year;
(2) The interest, sinking fund and amortization requirements for the fiscal year of bonded indebtedness, legally incurred upon a vote of the people as provided by law, prior to the adoption of the tax limitation amendment;
(3) Other contractual indebtedness, not bonded, legally incurred prior to the adoption of the tax limitation amendment, owing by the municipality;
(4) All other expenditures to be paid out of the receipts of the municipality for the current fiscal year with proper allowance for delinquent taxes, exonerations, and contingencies;
(5) The total amount necessary to be raised by the levy of taxes for the current fiscal year;
(6) The proposed rate of levy in cents on each one hundred dollars assessed valuation of each class of property; and
(7) The separate and aggregate assessed valuations of real, personal and public utility property in each class in the municipality.
The recording officer of the municipality shall forward immediately a certified copy of the statement to the tax commissioner, and shall publish the statement forthwith. The session shall then stand adjourned until the 3rd Tuesday in April, at which time it shall reconvene.
The council shall, when it reconvenes upon the 3rd Tuesday in April, hear and consider any objections made orally or in writing by the city attorney, by the tax commissioner or his representative, or by any taxpayer of the city, for the estimate and proposed levy, or to any item thereof. Council shall enter of record any objections so made and the reasons and grounds therefor. The council, after hearing objections, shall reconsider the proposed original estimate and proposed rates of levy, and if the objections are well taken, shall correct the estimate and levy. No such estimate and levy, however, shall be entered until the same shall have first been approved, in writing, by the tax commissioner. When the same shall have been approved by the tax commissioner, the clerk shall then enter the estimate and levy, together with the order of the council approving them and the written approval of the tax commissioner thereof, in the proper record book.
In addition to the provisions set forth herein, council shall be subject to the requirements contained in Chapter 11, Article 8, Section 1, et seq. of the West Virginia Code, as amended, as the same may apply to municipal corporations.
After the beginning of the fiscal year, the council shall make only such changes in the budget as may be required because of action taken by the state tax commissioner in respect to the proposed tax levy of the city or as may be permitted or required by general law. Thereafter, the council shall make no other changes in the budget unless permitted or required to do so by general law. After the final adoption of the budget, the several amounts stated therein as proposed appropriation shall be appropriated to the specified objects and purposes. Except as otherwise provided by general law, the city manager may at any time transfer any unencumbered appropriation balance of an appropriated line item from that line item to another line item with the same account category established by the state tax commissioner, subject to the approval of city council. No transfers from one account category to another may be made without revision of the budget and approval by the tax commissioner pursuant to Chapter 11, Article 8, Section 1, et seq.
For the purposes of accounting for the budget, the modified accrual basis of accounting will be used, or any other basis of accounting required by the state tax commissioner. The ending unencumbered balance at the end of the fiscal year shall be the starting unencumbered balance for the new fiscal year.
In addition to the foregoing, council and the city manager shall comply with all applicable federal and state laws which in any way relate to the governing of the financial affairs of a municipal corporation.
(Amended 6-1-93)