A. Operating Budget. The City Manager shall prepare and submit to Council, on or before the 1st day of November, an estimated Operating Budget for the ensuing fiscal year. The estimated Operating Budget shall begin with a clear general summary of its contents; shall show in detail all estimated income, indicating the proposed property tax levy, and all proposed expenditures, including debt service, for the ensuing fiscal years; and shall be arranged to show comparative figures for actual and estimated income and expenditures of the current fiscal year and actual income and expenditures of the preceding fiscal year. It shall indicate in separate sections:
(1) The proposed goals and objectives and expenditures for current operations during the ensuing fiscal years, detailed for each fund by organization unit and program, purpose or activity, and the method of financing such expenditures;
(2) Proposed capital expenditures, as shown in the Capital Improvement Plan, during the ensuing fiscal years, detailed for each fund by organizational unit, and the proposed method of financing each capital expenditure;
(3) The anticipated income and expense and profit and loss for the ensuing years for each utility or other enterprise fund operated by the City; and
(4) For any fund, the total of proposed expenditures shall not exceed the total of estimated income plus carried-forward fund balances.
B. Capital Improvement Plan. The City Manager shall prepare and submit to Council at the same time as the Operating Budget, a Capital Improvement Plan. The Capital Improvement Plan shall include:
(1) A clear general summary of its contents;
(2) A list of all capital improvements and other capital expenditures which are proposed to be undertaken during the five (5) fiscal years next ensuing, with appropriate supporting information as to the necessity for each;
(3) Cost estimates and recommended time schedules for each improvement or other capital expenditure; and
(4) The method of financing, upon which each capital expenditure is to be reliant. The above shall be revised and extended each year with regard to capital improvements still pending or in process of construction or acquisition.
C. Action by City Council.
(1) On or before November 1st, the City Manager shall either publish the estimated Operating Budget and Capital Improvement Plan on the City’s website or shall publish, in one or more newspapers of general circulation within the City, that said documents are available for public inspection.
(2) At its first regular meeting in November, Council shall schedule and hold a time for public comment on the estimated Operating Budget and Capital Improvement Plan as presented.
(3) Within thirty (30) days of presentation of the Operating Budget and the Capital Improvement Plan to Council, the Council may approve the proposed estimated Operating Budget and Capital Improvement Plan, by administrative motion, or may amend the proposed Operating Budget and/or the Capital Improvement Plan by adding or increasing programs or amounts or by deleting or decreasing any programs or amounts, except expenditures required by law for debt service, provided that no amendment shall increase the authorized expenditures to an amount greater than total estimated income. If the Council takes no action within thirty (30) days, the proposed Operating Budget and the Capital Improvement Plan shall be deemed approved as presented.
D. Effect. The approved Operating Budget and Capital Improvement Plan shall be used as a foundation in the preparation of the Annual Appropriation Ordinance for the ensuing fiscal year.