(A) Office created. There is created and established in and for the city the office of Budget Officer. The Budget Officer shall be appointed annually by the Mayor, with approval by the City Council.
(B) Oath and bond. The Budget Officer shall, within 5 days after appointment and notice thereof, take and subscribe the oath of office and shall enter into a bond payable to the city with sureties to be approved by the City Council. The bond shall be conditioned upon the faithful performance of the duties imposed by the ordinances of the city and the state statutes. The cost of the bond shall be borne by the city.
(C) Duties. The Budget Officer shall perform the duties which may from time to time be requested by law and by ordinance of the city. In addition, the Budget Officer shall coordinate and participate in the following activities.
(1) Permit, encourage and establish the use of efficient planning, budgeting, auditing, reporting, accounting and other fiscal management procedures in all municipal departments and boards.
(2) Compile the annual budget. The budget shall contain estimates of revenues available to the city for the fiscal year in which the budget is drafted, together with recommended expenditures of the city and the departments and boards. Revenue estimates and expenditure recommendations shall be presented in a manner which is in conformity with good fiscal management practices. Substantial conformity to a chart of accounts, now or in the future recommended by the National Committee on Governmental Accounting, or the Illinois Auditor of Public Accounts, or the Division of Local Governmental Affairs and Property Taxes of the Illinois Department of Revenue or successor agencies, shall be deemed proof of the conformity. The budget shall contain actual revenues and expenditures for the second and third years immediately preceding the year for which the budge is prepared and project/estimated revenues and expenditures for the current year. So far as possible, the fiscal data for the preceding fiscal years shall be itemized in a manner which is in conformity with the year’s chart of accounts approved above. Each budget shall show the specific fund from which each anticipated expenditure shall be made.
(3) Examine all books and records of all city departments and boards which relate to monies received by the city, departments and boards, debts and accounts receivable and amounts owned by or to the city, departments or boards.
(4) Obtain the additional information from the city, departments and boards as may be useful to the Budget Officer for purposes of compiling a municipal budget, the information to be furnished by the city, departments or boards in a form required by the Budget Officer. Any department or board which refuses to make the information as is requested of it available to the Budget Officer shall not be permitted to make expenditures under any subsequent budget for the city until the department or board shall comply in full with the request of the Budget Officer.
(5) Establish and maintain the procedures as shall insure that no expenditures are made by the city, departments or boards, except as authorized by the budget.
(D) Budget changes.
(1) The Budget Officer shall have the power to increase/decrease or establish new line item budgets within departments so long as there is no increase in total budget for the department. The Budget Officer shall consult with the department head before changes are made and shall notify the City Council in writing of the changes.
(2) The Budget Officer shall notify the City Council in writing of the need to increase a departments’ total budget. The increases shall require a vote of the City Council. As in compliance with the state statute, no revision of the budget shall be made increasing the budget in the event the funds are not available to effectuate the purpose of the revision.
(E) Capital improvement, repair or replacement fund. In the preparation by the Budget Officer of the annual budget, an amount not to exceed 3% of the equalized assessed value of property subject to taxation by the municipality may be accumulated in a separate fund for the purpose or purposes of specific capital improvements, repairs, and/or replacements of specific types of municipal equipment or other tangible property, both real and personal, to be designated as the “Capital Improvement, Repair or Replacement Fund.” Expenditures shall be budgeted in the fiscal year in which the capital improvement, repair or replacement will occur. Upon the completion or abandonment of any object or should any surplus monies remain after the completion or abandonment of any monies for which the fund was inaugurated, then the funds no longer necessary shall be transferred into the General Corporate Fund of the municipality on the first day of the fiscal year following the abandonment, completion or discovery of surplus funds.
(F) Contingencies. The annual budget may contain money set aside for contingency purposes not to exceed 10% of the total budget, less the amount set aside for contingency purposes, which monies may be expended for contingencies upon a majority vote of the City Council then holding office.
(G) Budget presentation. Before the close of each fiscal year the budget for the coming fiscal year shall be presented to the Mayor and City Council for approval, as required by ILCS Chapter 65, Act 5, § 8-2-9.1 and ILCS Chapter 65, Act 5, §§ 8-2-9.2 through 8-2-9.10.
(H) Public inspection, notice and hearing.
(1) The City Council authorities shall make the tentative annual budget conveniently available to public inspection for at least 10 days prior to the passage of the annual budget, by announcement at a regular meeting of the City Council.
(2) Not less than 1 week after the tentative annual budget is available to public inspection, and prior to the final action on the budget, the City Council shall hold at least 1 public hearing on the tentative annual budget, after which hearing or hearings the tentative budget may be further revised and passed without any further inspection, notice or hearing.
(3) Notice of the budget hearing shall be given by publication in a newspaper having a general circulation in the city at 1 week prior to the time of the hearing.
(I) Balanced budget. Each annual budget shall be balanced. Expenditures for a given fiscal year shall not exceed estimated revenues and reserves for that fiscal year less amounts devoted to the Operating Reserve.
(Ord. 022398C, passed 2-23-1998; Am. Ord. 042699A, passed 4-26-1999)