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All money paid into the City Treasury shall be credited to and kept in separate funds in accordance with the provisions of the Charter, ordinance or other applicable law. In addition to funds established elsewhere in the Charter for departments controlling their own funds, the following funds are hereby established: General Fund, Reserve Fund, and bond funds, interest funds, sinking funds, trust funds and other funds as may be required by law or ordinance.
(a) The General Fund is established as a medium of control of and accounting for municipal activities other than activities authorized or contemplated by special funds. All revenues and receipts which are not by law or Charter pledged or encumbered for special purposes shall be credited to the General Fund.
(b) The Reserve Fund shall include funding for unanticipated expenditures and revenue shortfalls in the City's General Fund. It shall include two accounts within the fund, the Contingency Reserve Account and the Emergency Reserve Account.
(1) Contingency Reserve Account: The Contingency Reserve Account shall include all monies in the Reserve Fund over and above the amount required to be allocated to the Emergency Reserve Account pursuant to subsection (b)(2) of this Section.
(2) Emergency Reserve Account Allocation: The City Council shall annually allocate an amount to the Emergency Reserve Account of the Reserve Fund that shall bring the balance in that account to not less than two and three-fourths (2 3/4) percent of all General Fund receipts anticipated for that fiscal year in the adopted budget.
(3) Accessing Reserve Fund:
(i) The Contingency Reserve Account will be the source of additional funding needed as a result of unanticipated expenditures and revenue shortfalls. The City Council shall, by ordinance, establish policies for the use of the Contingency Reserve Account.
(ii) Transfers from the Emergency Reserve Account of the Reserve Fund shall require approval by a two-thirds vote of the City Council with the concurrence of the Mayor, or, in the event of a Mayoral veto, by a three-fourths vote of the City Council. Concurrent with the transfer, the City Council shall make a finding of urgent economic necessity. The basis on which a finding of urgent economic necessity may be made includes, but shall not be limited to, a significant economic downturn after the budget is adopted, a natural disaster, such as an earthquake, civil unrest, or other significant unanticipated events requiring the expenditure of General Fund resources.
(4) Restoration of Emergency Reserve Account: Except as provided in subsection (b)(5), whenever the City utilizes monies in the Emergency Reserve Account pursuant to subsection (b)(3)(ii) of this Section, the City shall, in the subsequent fiscal year, restore to the Emergency Reserve Account the amount expended therefrom as part of the annual allocation required by this Section to bring the balance in that account to not less than two and three-fourths (2 3/4) percent of all General Fund receipts anticipated for that fiscal year in the adopted budget.
(5) Suspension of Emergency Reserve Account Restoration: In the event of a catastrophic event which requires use of the Emergency Reserve Account spanning more than one fiscal year, the City Council may, by a two-thirds vote with the concurrence of the Mayor or, in the event of a Mayoral veto, by a three-quarters vote, temporarily suspend the requirements of subsection (b)(4) herein; provided, however, that concurrent with the action of the City Council to suspend the requirement, the City Council adopts findings detailing the necessity for continued access to the Emergency Reserve Account and setting forth a date on which the requirements of Section (b)(4) shall be reinstated. Transfers of funds from the Emergency Reserve Account during the time to which the suspension of the requirement to restore such monies applies shall not be required to be restored.
(6) Temporary Transfers: Nothing herein shall prohibit temporary transfers of funds from the Contingency Reserve Account or Emergency Reserve Account as otherwise authorized by City Charter Section 340.
(7) Nothing herein shall be construed as applying to, or limiting, the provisions of Charter Section 231(i) or any other provisions of this Charter, State statute or City ordinance relative to Emergency Declarations.
(c) A Budget Stabilization Fund shall be established by ordinance within the City Treasury. Requirements for funding and transfers or expenditures to be made therefrom shall be established by ordinance.
SECTION HISTORY
Amended by: Charter Amendment P § 1, approved March 8, 2011, effective April 8, 2011.
(a) The Treasurer may deposit the money held in the Treasury in the institutions and upon terms provided by law.
(b) Notwithstanding other provisions of the Charter, the boards of the Proprietary Departments, and of the Departments of Recreation and Parks and Library may grant to the Treasurer the authority to combine money in funds under their respective control with other City money for the purpose of investment. Earnings from the investment of the money of these departments shall be paid by the Treasurer to the department fund from which the money was derived in proportion to the share of the total investment supplied by that fund. The computation of the proportionate shares shall be by a method proposed by the Treasurer, subject to the approval of each of the above boards.
(a) At the time the Mayor prescribes, but not later than January 1 of each year, each board or officer at the head of any department or office, or other City governmental activity, other than those departments having control of their own funds, shall submit to the Mayor, with copies to the Council and the City Administrative Officer, on forms and in the manner prescribed by the Mayor, a detailed estimate of the money required for the next fiscal year for the proper operation of their departments and offices. These estimates shall contain uniform budget classifications and shall clearly set forth the functions performed and the items and services required for such performance. Summaries, schedules and supporting data shall be attached to the estimates. Any department head or officer requesting an increase over the prior year’s appropriation shall indicate which classifications need the increase and rank the order of immediate need for each classification. After consultation with an officer or head of a department, the Mayor may refer the estimate back with instructions to prepare a revised estimate on the basis of a maximum sum for the department, office or activity, that maximum sum to be fixed by the Mayor, or with further qualification as the Mayor shall determine. The officer or head of department shall present the revised estimate to the Mayor, with a duplicate to the Council and to the City Administrative Officer, at a date fixed by the Mayor.
(b) On or before February 1, the Mayor shall publish his or her budget priorities for the next fiscal year in order to facilitate public comment.
(c) On or before March 1 of each year the Controller shall submit to the Mayor, with a duplicate to the Council and to the City Administrative Officer, a detailed statement of the money that the Controller estimates will be required for the interest and sinking funds and for all outstanding bonded indebtedness and other lawful obligations of the City or of special districts and an estimate of the revenue to be derived from fines, licenses and other sources.
SECTION HISTORY
Amended by: Subsecs. (a) and (c), Charter Amendment II, approved November 5, 2024, effective January 8, 2025.
On or before April 20 of each year, the Mayor shall submit to the Council a budget for the next ensuing fiscal year setting forth in summary and in detail:
(a) estimates of the expenditures and appropriations necessary for the support of the required work programs of the City government for the ensuing fiscal year, including interest and sinking funds or payments of principal on the bonded indebtedness of the City and of special districts;
(b) detailed estimates of the receipts of the City during the ensuing fiscal year, under laws existing at the time the budget is transmitted, and also under the revenue proposals, if any, contained in the budget;
(c) the expenditures and receipts of the City government during the last completed fiscal year;
(d) estimates of the expenditures and receipts of the City government during the fiscal year in progress;
(e) the amount of annual, permanent or other appropriations, including balances of appropriations for prior fiscal years, available for expenditure during the fiscal year in progress, as of June 30 of such year;
(f) balanced statements of:
(1) the condition of the Treasury at the end of the last completed fiscal year;
(2) the estimated condition of the Treasury at the end of the fiscal year in progress; and
(3) the estimated condition of the Treasury at the end of the ensuing fiscal year in case the financial proposals contained in the budget are adopted.
(g) all essential facts regarding the bonds, notes and other lawful obligations of the City;
(h) other financial statements and data necessary or desirable in order to make known in all practical detail the financial condition of the City government;
(i) an Unappropriated Balance, which shall be available for appropriations later in the ensuing fiscal year to meet contingencies as they arise; and
(j) a statement of resources of the Reserve Fund which shall be carried over to the next ensuing fiscal year to meet the cash requirements of the City for the portion of the next ensuing fiscal year prior to the receipt of taxes, or for appropriations to the Unappropriated Balance as provided in the Charter.
After receiving the budget submitted by the Mayor, and prior to taking action on the budget, the Council shall hold a noticed public hearing. On or before June 1, the Council shall:
(a) approve the budget as submitted by the Mayor; or
(b) modify the budget by disapproving in whole or in part any items, or by increasing or decreasing any item, or by adding new items, and return the budget as modified by the Council to the Mayor. Any action taken by the Council under this section shall be taken by a majority vote of its members.
Upon failure of the Council to return the budget to the Mayor as provided in this section, the budget as submitted by the Mayor to the Council shall be signed by the City Clerk and thereupon become the general City budget for the ensuing fiscal year.
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