Section 7.01. COUNCIL TO CONTROL FINANCES. The council shall have full authority over the financial affairs of the City. It shall provide for the collection of all revenues and other assets, settlement of accounts, and the safekeeping and disbursement of public monies. The council shall provide for an annual certified audit of the City’s accounts.
Section 7.03. SYSTEM OF TAXATION. Subject to the state constitution, and except as forbidden by it or by state law, the council shall have full power to provide by ordinance for a system of local taxation. This authority includes the power by ordinance to assess, levy, and collect taxes on all subjects or objects of taxation except as limited or prohibited by the state constitution, by this Charter or by laws imposing restrictions upon the City irrespective of Charter provisions.
Section 7.04. SUBMISSION OF BUDGET. Annually the city administrator shall recommend and submit to the council a budget in accordance with a budget calendar to be established by ordinance or, in the absence of ordinance, by September 1. The budget shall provide a complete financial plan for all City funds and activities for the ensuing fiscal year and, except as required by law or charter, shall be in such form as the city administrator deems desirable or the council may require. It shall include a summary and show in detail all estimated income and all proposed expenditures, including debt service and comparative figures for the current fiscal year, actual and estimated, and the preceding fiscal year. In addition to showing proposed expenditures for current operations, it shall show proposed capital expenditures to be made during the year and the proposed method of financing each such capital expenditure. The total proposed operating budget to be provided from the property tax shall not exceed the amounts authorized by law and this Charter. Consistent with these provisions, the budget shall contain such information and be in the form prescribed by ordinance and by law.
Section 7.05. CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM. The city administrator shall prepare and submit to the council a recommended five-year capital improvement program no later than August 1 each year. The capital improvement program shall include a list of all capital improvements proposed to be undertaken during the next five fiscal years, with appropriate supporting information as to the necessity for such improvements; cost estimates, method of financing and recommended time schedules for each such improvement; and the estimated annual cost of operating and maintaining the facilities to be constructed or acquired. This information shall be revised and extended each year for capital improvement still pending or in process.
(Ord. 16-758, passed 6-28-2016)
Section 7.06. COUNCIL ACTION ON BUDGET. The budget shall be considered by the second regular monthly meeting of the council in September and at subsequent meetings until a budget is adopted for the ensuing year. The meetings shall be so conducted as to give interested citizens a reasonable opportunity to be heard. The council may revise the proposed budget but no amendment to the budget shall increase the authorized expenditures to an amount greater than the estimated income. The council shall adopt the budget by a resolution which shall set forth the total for each budgeted fund and each department with such segregation as to objects and purposes of expenditures as the council deems necessary for purposes of budget control. The council shall also adopt a resolution levying the amount of taxes provided in the budget and the city administrator shall certify the tax resolution to the county auditor in accordance with law. Adoption of the budget resolution shall constitute appropriations at the beginning of the fiscal year of the sums fixed in the resolution for the several purposes named.
(Ord. 16-758, passed 6-28-2016)
Section 7.07. ENFORCEMENT OF THE BUDGET. The City administrator shall enforce strictly the provisions of the budget, and shall not authorize any payment or the incurring of any obligation by the City unless an appropriation has been made in the budget resolution and there is a sufficient unexpended balance left after deducting the total past expenditures and encumbrances against the appropriation; provided, however, that the city administrator is authorized to approve a transfer of funds from one appropriation to another within the budget of any department of the City. Department means any City function organized under the direct control of a single department head, and does not include Hutchinson Utilities Commission. Approval by the city administrator of such transfer shall be made by written memorandum setting forth the reasons therefor. No officer or employee of the City shall place any order or make any purchase except for a purpose and to the amount authorized in the budget resolution, or as authorized by the city administrator as described herein. Any obligation incurred by any person in the employ of the City for any purpose not authorized in the budget resolution, or not authorized by the city administrator as described herein, or for any amount in excess of the amount authorized shall be a personal obligation upon the person incurring the obligation. No check shall be issued or transfer made to any account other than one owned by the City until the claim to which it relates has been supported by an itemized bill, payroll, or time-sheet or other document approved and signed by the responsible City officer who vouches for its correctness and reasonableness.
Section 7.08. ALTERATIONS IN THE BUDGET. After the budget resolution has been adopted, the council shall not increase the amounts fixed in the resolution beyond the estimated receipts except to the extent that actual receipts exceed the estimate. At any time the council may, by resolution approved by a majority of its members, reduce the sums appropriated for any purpose by the budget resolution or authorize the transfer of sums from unencumbered balances of appropriations in the budget resolution to other purposes.
Section 7.09. EMERGENCY DEBT CERTIFICATES. If in any year the receipts from taxes or other sources should from some unforeseen cause become insufficient for the ordinary expenses of the City, or if any calamity or other public emergency necessitates the making of extraordinary expenditures, the council may by ordinance issue on such terms and in such manner as the council determines emergency debt certificates to run not to exceed three years. A tax sufficient to pay principal and interest on such certificates with the margin required by law shall be levied as required by law. The ordinance authorizing an issue of such emergency debt certificate shall state the nature of the emergency and be approved by at least four members of the council. It may be passed as an emergency ordinance.
Section 7.10. FUNDS. There shall be maintained in the City treasury a general fund and such other funds as may be required by statute, ordinance, or resolution. The council may, by ordinance or resolution, make inter-fund loans, except from trust and agency funds, as it may deem necessary and appropriate.
Section 7.11. CITY INDEBTEDNESS. Except as provided in Section 7.09, no obligations shall be issued to pay current expenses, but the council may issue and sell obligations for any other municipal purpose in accordance with law and within the limitations prescribed by law. Except in the case of obligations for which an election is not required by this Charter or by law, no such obligations shall be issued and sold without the approval of the majority of voters voting on the question at a general or special election.