(A) Except where specifically permitted by state statute, departments shall not request and the Auditor shall not approve claims from the County Treasury without prior approval of the County Council.
(B) Departments shall not request and the Auditor shall not permit an item of appropriation to be overdrawn or to be drawn on for a purpose other than the purpose for which it was appropriated by the County Council.
(C) The Auditor shall keep a separate account for each item of appropriation made by the County Council, and shall specifically indicate which item of appropriation the warrant or claim is drawn against.
(D) All departments, without exception, must submit items for payment on a prompt basis. At year end, all departments must encumber funds when appropriate. If no funds are encumbered, and if the claim has not been submitted timely (i.e., the item or service provided occurred in November of the prior year, or earlier), then the department head, Auditor and Board of Commission are hereby required to submit the item for action deemed appropriate by the County Council before submitted to Auditor for payment.
(E) Unless specifically authorized to do so by the County Council, the Auditor shall not leave items of appropriation which were approved in a prior fiscal year unpaid and then cause a warrant or claim to be drawn from funds appropriated for the next fiscal year.
(F) Nothing contained herein prohibits the County Auditor from encumbering funds from a line item in the budget of the prior fiscal year, however, the Auditor shall only encumber funds for the amount of the invoice incurred in the prior fiscal year and only if there are sufficient funds in the line item from the budget of the prior fiscal year to cover the amount of the invoice.
(Council Ord. 2009-, passed - -2009)