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(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.
The budget as adopted by the Council shall not be held for reconsideration but shall be promptly transmitted by the City Clerk to the Mayor upon whose approval and signature it shall become effective. If the Mayor shall fail to act upon the budget within five days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, after its adoption by the Council, it shall be signed by the City Clerk and shall thereupon become effective. If the Mayor disapproves of any increase, decrease, omission or insertion of any item of the budget by the Council, the Mayor may veto, restore or otherwise change any item to the amount originally proposed by the Mayor or to any amount between that originally proposed by the Mayor and that adopted by the Council. The Mayor, however, shall have no power to change any description or limitation made applicable to an item by the Council, except to veto the change or to restore the description or limitation to the condition originally proposed by the Mayor. Upon completion of these changes, the Mayor shall within the five day period return the budget to the Council with a statement of action taken.
Upon receipt by the Council of the budget veto message from the Mayor, the Council shall have five days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, within which to overcome the action of the Mayor relative to any item or items of the budget. Any item or items of the budget which shall have been vetoed, or otherwise changed by the Mayor, and which shall not be, by a two-thirds vote of all of the members of the Council, either readopted notwithstanding the objections of the Mayor or changed to an amount between that as originally adopted by the Council and that as changed by the Mayor, shall remain as modified by the Mayor.
Where the Mayor has changed any description or limitation applicable to an item, the Council, in its action pursuant to this section, shall have no power to alter the description or limitation other than to restore it to the condition in which it was originally adopted by the Council.
Upon the expiration of the Council’s five day period, or sooner if the Council by majority vote so directs, the budget as returned by the Mayor, and to the extent modified thereafter by the Council, shall become the general City budget for the ensuing fiscal year and shall not be held for reconsideration but shall be promptly transmitted to the City Clerk, signed by the City Clerk and filed in the office of the Controller.
Each office and department provided for in the general City budget, and the Departments of Library and Recreation and Parks to the extent that they are assisted by appropriations from the General Fund, shall have authority to expend, in the manner provided by other provisions of the Charter, ordinance, and other applicable law, the funds appropriated for its support during the ensuing fiscal year, but only in accordance with a program of planned expenditures which shall be prepared, filed and modified from time to time, as provided by law. No department, bureau, or office of the City government shall make expenditures or incur liabilities in excess of the amount appropriated therefor.
SECTION HISTORY
Amended by: Charter Amendment II, approved November 5, 2024, effective January 8, 2025.
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