(a) Except as otherwise provided in the City Charter, the City shall not make any contract or give any order involving the expenditure of money unless there is attached thereto a certificate of the Finance Director that the amount required to meet the obligation or, in case of a continuing contract to be performed in whole or in part in an ensuing calendar year, the amount required to meet the obligation in the calendar year in which the contract is made, has been lawfully appropriated for such purpose and is in the treasury or in the process of collection to the credit of an appropriate fund free from any previous encumbrances. This certificate need be signed only by the Finance Director. Every such contract made without such a certificate shall be void, and no warrant shall be issued in payment of any amount due thereon. If no certificate is furnished as required, upon receipt by the City Commission of a certificate of the Finance Director stating that there was at the time of the making of such contract or order and at the time of the execution of such certificate a sufficient sum appropriated for the purpose of such contract in the treasury or in the process of collection to the credit of an appropriate fund free from any previous encumbrances, the City Commission may authorize the drawing of a warrant in the payment of amounts due upon such contract; provided, that if the amount involved is less then $100.00, the Finance Director may authorize it to be paid without such affirmation of the City Commission, if such expenditure is otherwise valid.
(b) Upon certification by the Finance Director that a certain sum of money, not in excess of the limit established in Section 42 of the City's Charter, has been lawfully appropriated, authorized, or directed for a certain purpose and is in the treasury or in the process of collection to the credit of a specific line-item appropriation account in a certain fund free from previous and then outstanding obligations or certifications, then for such purpose and from such line-item appropriation account in such fund, over a period not exceeding twelve (12) months and not extending beyond the thirty-first (31st) day of the January immediately following the end of the fiscal year in which the certification is made, expenditures may be made, orders for payments issued, and contracts or obligations calling for or requiring the payment of money made and assumed; provided, that the aggregate sum of money included in and called for by such expenditures, orders, contracts, and obligations shall not exceed the sum so certified. Such certification need be signed only by the Finance Director, but need not be limited to a specific vendor. An itemized statement of obligations incurred and expenditures made under such certificate shall be rendered to the Finance Director before another such certificate may be issued, and not more than one such certificate shall be outstanding at a time.
(c) In any case in which a contract is entered into upon a per unit basis, the head of the department, for which the contract is made, shall make an estimate of the total amount to become due upon such contract, which estimate shall be certified in writing to the Finance Director. Such contract may be entered into if the appropriation covers such estimate, or so much thereof as may be due during the current calendar year. In such a case, the certificate of the Finance Director based upon the estimate shall be in sufficient compliance with the law requiring a certificate.
(d) Any certificate of the Finance Director attached to a contract shall be binding upon the City as to the facts set forth therein. Upon request of any person receiving an order or entering into a contract with the City, the certificate of the Finance Director shall be attached to such order or contract. "Contract" as used in this section excludes obligations for the compensation of persons employed by the City.
(e) Taxes and other revenue in process of collection or the proceeds to be derived from authorized bonds, notes, or certificates of indebtedness sold and in process of delivery, shall, for the purpose of this section, be deemed in the treasury or in process of collection and in the appropriate fund. This section applies neither to the investment of sinking funds by the trustees of such funds, nor to investments made under sections 731.56 to 731.59 of the Ohio Revised Code.
(Ord. 91-433. Passed 11-5-91.)