(a) ANNUAL ESTIMATE.
The fiscal year of this Municipality shall, unless Council by proper action shall adopt a different date, be the same as that established from time to time for cities by the general law of Ohio. At the time provided by general law, the Mayor, with the assistance of the Director of Finance, shall prepare and submit to the Council an estimate of the revenues and expenditure of the Municipality for the next succeeding fiscal year. The estimate shall be compiled from information which shall be furnished by the head of each department, division, board, or commission in such form and detail as the Mayor may reasonably require. The estimate shall give the following information:
(1) An estimate of the anticipated revenue from each source during the next succeeding fiscal year, with a comparative statement of the amount received from such source during the preceding one (1) or two (2) years and the current year plus an estimate of such amounts for the remainder of the current year, which estimate he shall receive from the Director of Finance and such other information as may be required by Council.
(2) An estimate of the expense of conducting each department and activity of the Municipality for the next succeeding fiscal year, together with comparative statements as provided in the next preceding paragraph, with reasons for increases or decreases.
(3) The amount of the total and net debt of the Municipality, together with a schedule of maturities of outstanding bonds and notes, which he shall receive from the Director of Finance.
(4) An estimate of the value of supplies and materials on hand at the date of preparation of the estimate.
(5) A statement of the unencumbered balance in each bond and improvement fund, which he shall receive from the Director of Finance.
(b) APPROPRIATION ORDINANCE.
The Director of Finance shall furnish to the Council, with the estimate above-mentioned, an ordinance making appropriations for the expenditures of the Municipality during the year covered by said estimate, but proposed appropriations shall not be made in excess of the estimated anticipated revenues of the Municipality. The Council shall adopt such ordinance in its original form or with such revision as it may find proper within such time as is fixed by general law. Such appropriations ordinance shall be in such form and detail as may be required by the general laws of Ohio, and may be amended or supplemented by the Council after its passage, but appropriations shall not be made in excess of the estimated anticipated revenues of the Municipality. The Council may make preliminary appropriation for current expenses sufficient in amount to meet the current needs until the annual appropriation ordinance has been enacted and is in effect. The passage of any ordinance authorizing the issue or sale of bonds or notes of the Municipality shall constitute an appropriation of the proceeds thereof to the purposes for which said bonds or notes are issued. (11-4-97)
(c) TRANSFERS AND BALANCES.
The Council may transfer any part of an unencumbered balance of an appropriation of any fund, to any purpose or object for which the appropriation for the current year has proved insufficient, or may authorize a transfer of moneys to be made between items appropriated to the same office or department, except as follows:
(1) No transfer shall be made from any bond or note fund, except that the unexpended balance of such fund no longer needed for the purpose for which said fund was created shall be transferred to the fund from which said bonds or notes are to be paid.
(2) No transfer shall be made of moneys raised or appropriated for the payment of any bond or note of the Municipality, until all indebtedness, interest and other obligations which can lawfully be paid from such moneys have been paid. At the close of each fiscal year the unencumbered balance of each appropriation, except appropriations to bond or note funds or any other trust or special fund which the Council by law or this Charter shall be authorized to create, shall revert to the fund from which it was appropriated, and shall be subject to future appropriation.
(d) PAYMENT OF CLAIMS.
No money shall be drawn from the Treasury nor shall any obligation for the expenditure of money be incurred, except pursuant to appropriations made by the Council. No warrant for the payment of any claim shall be issued until such claim shall have been approved in writing by the head of the department or commission for which the obligation was incurred and approved by a majority of the members elected to Council. Each head of a department and his or her surety shall be liable to the Municipality for all loss and damage sustained by the Municipality by reason of the unfaithful approval of any claim against the Municipality in his or her department. The Director of Finance shall have power to require evidence that the amount of the claim is justly due and is in conformity to law and ordinance, and for that purpose he or she may summon before him or her any officer, agent or employee of any department of this Municipality, and examine him or her upon oath or affirmation relative thereto. (11-4-97)
(e) CUSTODY AND DEPOSIT OF FUNDS.
The Council shall by ordinance provide for the custody of all funds of the Municipality and for the deposit of funds in a bank or banks. All funds received on behalf of the Municipality by any officer, employee or agent thereof shall be promptly paid over to the Director of Finance and by him or her promptly placed in a depository bank and reported in writing by authorized duplicate deposit slip to the Director of Finance, but the Council may authorize such sums as it deems proper to be kept in cash for the daily operation of any department or office. (11-4-97)
(f) INVESTMENT OF MONEYS.
The Director of Finance with the approval of a majority of the members elected to Council may invest moneys of the Municipality in bonds or notes of this Municipality, or, with confirmation by Council, any other investment permitted by law in such manner as is now or hereafter authorized by general law for such investment by treasurers of cities.
(g) CERTIFICATION OF EXPENDITURES.
No contract, agreement or other obligation involving the expenditures of moneys shall be entered into, nor shall any ordinance, resolution or order for the expenditure of moneys be passed or issued by the Council, or be authorized by any officer of the Municipality, unless the Director of Finance shall have first certified in writing to the Council, or to the proper officer, as the case may be, that the money required for such contract, agreement, obligation or expenditure is in the treasury to the credit of the fund from which it is to be drawn and not appropriated for any other purpose. The provisions of this section shall not be construed to prevent the making of contracts for a period extending beyond a single fiscal year when such contracts are otherwise authorized by this Charter or by general law. All moneys actually in the treasury to the credit of the fund from which they are to be drawn, and all moneys applicable to the payment of the obligation or appropriation involved, that are anticipated to come into the treasury before the maturity of such contract, agreement or obligation from taxes, assessments, license fees, or from sales of service, products, or by-products of any municipal undertaking, and moneys to be derived from lawfully authorized bonds or notes, shall, for the purpose of such certificate, be deemed to be in the treasury to the credit of the appropriate fund, and shall be subject to such certification.
(h) PUBLIC BIDDING.
The Council may authorize, in specific cases, expenditures of the funds of the Municipality without public biddings, for the acquisition of real estate, for the discharge of noncontractual claims against the Municipality, for personal services, for the joint use of facilities or exercise of power with other political subdivisions, or for the product or services of public utilities (including those Municipally operated) but no other expenditures in excess of the amount allowed by Section 733.22, 735.05 and 737.03 and other pertinent sections of the Ohio Revised Code shall be made except pursuant to contracts made with the lowest and best bidder after public advertising and receipt of bids in the manner provided by ordinance. Nothing herein shall be construed to require Council to accept any bid.
(6-3-80)
(i) PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS.
Public improvements of all kinds may be made by the appropriate department either by the direct employment of the necessary labor and purchase of supplies and materials in the manner herein provided with a separate account as to each improvement so made, or by contract let as provided in the next preceding section either for a closed price or upon a unit basis.