Source: https://ecode360.com/32394745
Timestamp: 2018-06-25 04:27:00
Document Index: 477048197

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 702', '§ 703', '§ 704', '§ 705', '§ 706', '§ 707', '§ 708', '§ 709', '§ 710', '§ 711', '§ 712', '§ 713', '§ 714', '§ 715', '§ 716', '§ 717', '§ 718', '§ 719', '§ 713']

Town of Wethersfield, CT Financial Provisions
Ch C Ch VII Financial Provisions
§ C-701 Fiscal year.
§ C-702 Department estimates.
§ C-703 Annual town budget.
§ C-704 School budget.
§ C-705 Budget hearing.
§ C-706 Council action on budget.
§ C-707 Effect of adoption of town budget.
§ C-708 Effect of appropriation.
§ C-709 Transfer of appropriations.
§ C-710 Lapse of appropriations.
§ C-711 Special appropriations.
§ C-712 Purchasing.
§ C-713 Purchasing procedure.
§ C-714 Contracts for public works.
§ C-715 Payment of claims.
§ C-716 Fees collected by town officers and employees.
§ C-717 Official bonds.
§ C-718 Penalties for violation of the provisions of this chapter.
§ C-719 Annual Audit.
Chapter VII: Financial Provisions
Chapter C: Charter Chapter VII Financial Provisions
§ 702 Department estimates.
§ 703 Annual town budget.
§ 704 School budget.
§ 705 Budget hearing.
§ 706 Council action on budget.
§ 707 Effect of adoption of town budget.
§ 708 Effect of appropriation.
§ 709 Transfer of appropriations.
§ 710 Lapse of appropriations.
§ 711 Special appropriations.
§ 712 Purchasing.
§ 713 Purchasing procedure.
§ 714 Contracts for public works.
§ 715 Payment of claims.
§ 716 Fees collected by town officers and employees.
§ 717 Official bonds.
§ 718 Penalties for violation of the provisions of this chapter.
§ 719 Annual Audit.
The fiscal year of the town shall begin the first day of July and end on the 30th day of June.
Not later than the first day of March, each department, office, board, commission and agency of the town, excepting the Board of Education, shall submit to the Manager, in such form as the Manager may prescribe, its estimates of receipts and expenditures for the ensuing fiscal year. Each such department, office, board, commission and agency shall be entitled to an opportunity to be heard by the Manager in respect of these estimates.
It shall be the duty of the Manager to present to the Council, not later than the first Monday in April in each year, the budget for the ensuing fiscal year. The budget shall contain:
An estimate of the unassigned fund balance, or the equivalent as defined by generally accepted accounting principles and the probable cash deficit or unencumbered cash surplus, as the case may be, at the end of the current fiscal year;
Estimates of the revenue cash receipts of the ensuing year; other than from property taxes;
Estimates of expenditures for the ensuing fiscal year;
An estimate of the sum necessary to be raised by taxation to balance the budget, taking into consideration the surplus or deficit for the current fiscal year, as provided in (a) above; and
The limitations or threshold pursuant to sections 309, 310, 311, 713 and 714. These limitations will be restated in the Adopted Budget using the adopted General Fund appropriation.
The estimates of receipts shall be detailed by sources and the estimates of expenditures by departments and the principal subdivisions thereof, offices, boards, commissions and agencies of the town, and shall show, for each such unit, the estimated expenditures, broken down by personal service, contractual service, materials and supplies, fixed charges and capital outlays. The budget shall also contain the receipts and expenditures for each item for the last completed fiscal year; the estimated receipts and expenditures for the current fiscal year; the estimated receipts and expenditures for the ensuing fiscal year, together with such other data as the Council may prescribe. Copies of the budget shall be available for public inspection at the office of the Town Manager, Town Clerk and Town Library. The budget shall be printed or otherwise reproduced in a sufficient number of copies to furnish one (1) to each citizen who shall request the same.
The school budget shall contain a detailed estimate of expenditures deemed by the Board of Education to be necessary for the proper conduct of the public schools, the anticipated receipts from sources other than the property tax and the amount required to be raised by taxation to balance the school budget. The budget shall also show an item by item comparison of the proposed budget with actual receipts and expenditures for the last completed fiscal year and the estimated receipts and expenditures for the current fiscal year. Not later than March 15, the Board of Education shall file its proposed budget for the ensuing year with the Town Clerk, and the Board of Education shall cause the same to be printed or otherwise reproduced. Copies of the budget shall be available for public inspection at the office of the Town Manager, Town Clerk and Town Library. The Council shall fix a time during the week following March 15 at which the Board of Education, or a committee thereof, shall bring before the Council, for discussion, its budget for the ensuing fiscal year. In acting upon the school budget, the Council shall have authority only to determine the total amount to be appropriated, and the Board of Education shall have authority, in its discretion, to expend the total sum appropriated to it.
There shall be a public hearing at 7:00 p.m. on the third Monday in April, at a place to be determined by the Council, at least five (5) days' notice of which shall be given by publication in at least one (1) newspaper which has a general circulation in the town or by other alternative means established by the Council by ordinance. The Town Clerk shall post in a conspicuous public place designated for the posting of public notices a copy of the notice, and shall make sufficient copies available to the general public. At such hearing, any resident or property owner who desires it shall be entitled to be heard by the Council on the town and school budgets, and the hearing shall be recessed from day to day until all such persons have been heard.
After the completion of the hearing and, in any event, by the 15th day in May, the Council shall complete its consideration of the town budget and adopt the same, with such modifications or amendments as it may deem necessary, and shall also determine the total appropriation for school purposes for the ensuing year, provided that the Council shall, in any event, fix the amount to be raised by taxes, for town and school purposes combined, so as to preserve a balanced relation between receipts and expenditures, including any surplus or deficit from the current fiscal year. The Council shall thereupon fix the rate of taxation on property at a point sufficient, in its judgment, to produce such amount.
The adoption of the town budget, as amended, shall be deemed to constitute the appropriation of each department or, when so indicated in the budget, a major subdivision thereof, office, board, commission and agency separately listed in the budget, of the sum estimated in the budget to be expended by each such unit, respectively.
No money shall be expended or obligation for such expenditure incurred by any department, office, board, commission or agency of the town, except in accordance with an appropriation by the Council. No contract, work order, purchase order or other authorization to spend money by any department, office, board, commission or agency, except the Board of Education, shall be valid until there has been attached thereto the certificate of the Director of Finance that there is an unexpended and unencumbered balance of an appropriation applicable thereto, sufficient to meet the estimated cost thereof, provided that the Board of Education shall set up its own system of budgetary control. It shall further be the duty of the Director of Finance, after signing such certificate, to immediately encumber the appropriation in question with such estimated cost.
The Council, on the recommendation of the Manager, may transfer the whole or any part of the unencumbered balance of any appropriation, except the appropriation to the Board of Education, to any other purpose for which the Council may legally appropriate money, provided that such a transfer may be made from a contingency account at any time or from other budget appropriations only in the last three (3) months of the fiscal year, or at the end of the fiscal year but in no case later than September 30, and that there shall be attached to the resolution making the transfer the certificate of the Manager that such transfer is necessary, with the reasons therefor.
Unencumbered appropriations shall lapse at the end of the fiscal year for which they were made, and any balance shall be credited to the general fund, provided that an appropriation for a capital outlay shall not lapse until the object for which the appropriation was made has been accomplished or no expenditure from or encumbrance of the appropriation has been made for three (3) consecutive fiscal years.
The Council, on the recommendation of the Manager or the Board of Education, may, at any time, appropriate, subject to the limitations imposed in Chapter III of the Charter, any unappropriated and unassigned fund balance, or the equivalent as defined by generally accepted accounting principles, in the town treasury as may exist at the end of each fiscal year, provided that there shall be attached to the resolution making such appropriation the certificate of the Director of Finance that such a balance actually exists, free from encumbrance.
The Town Manager shall designate a person to act as the Purchasing Agent for the Town. All supplies, materials and equipment required by all departments, offices, boards, commissions and agencies of the town, hereafter referred to in this chapter as "buying units," shall be purchased by the Purchasing Agent. The Board of Education and the Library Board, the latter only in respect to purchases of materials peculiar to libraries, shall be exceptions to the above; however, either body may elect to use the services of the Purchasing Agent. All purchases shall be made on requisition describing the kind and quantity of goods or services required, provided that it shall be the duty of the Purchasing Agent, prior to the annual bid, to request requisitions and of all buying units to prepare and deliver to the Purchasing Agent such requisitions covering their normal requirements for the year so that wholesale purchases may be made on behalf of the town. No requisition shall be honored unless it bears the certificate provided for in Section 708.
§ 713 Purchasing procedure. [1]
Purchases shall be made under such rules and regulations as may be established, by ordinance, provided that if any purchase or contract for purchasing, including a continuing order or contract for the purchase of the same commodity over a period of time, involves the expenditure of 0.03% of the appropriated General Fund expenditures for the current fiscal year or more, the Purchasing Agent shall invite sealed bids or proposals, giving at least ten (10) days' public notice thereof, by at least one (1) publication in a newspaper which has a general circulation in the town or by other alternative means established by the Council, and the Council shall let the purchase or contract to the lowest responsible bidder thereon or shall reject all such bids and proposals. All such sealed bids or proposals shall be opened publicly.
It shall not be necessary to call for sealed bids for the following supplies, materials, equipment, goods, services, commodities or construction:
That furnished by a monopoly utility.
That providing a creative product or requiring special skill and knowledge or a profession such as the following services: legal, accounting, auditing, medical, architectural, engineering, design, systems analysis, computer programming, planning, technical advice and management assistance. This section shall not apply to the Town Attorney who shall be retained in accordance with Section 503 of this Charter.
The Council shall by Ordinance establish rules, which shall apply to all town contracts for creative products or professional services. Said ordinance shall include procedures and criteria for selecting the most suitable sources for supplying such services.
That having a single source of supply.
That needed to cope with an emergency situation reported as such to the Council or declared as such by a competent authority.
Awards for items in (b) and (c) above shall be made by the Council if the amount of the contract exceeds the sum of 0.03% of the appropriated General Fund expenditures for the current fiscal year.
No transaction essentially a unit shall be divided for the purpose of evading the provisions of this section. Records of all bids, formal and informal, and of the successful bidder shall be kept in the office of the Purchasing Agent, where they shall be open to public inspection.
Editor's Note: See Ch. 27, Purchasing Procedure.
Contracts for the construction of streets, sewers, buildings and other public works shall be made under such rules and regulations as may be established, by ordinance, provided that if any such contract involves the expenditure of 0.03% of the appropriated General Fund expenditures of the current fiscal year or more, the Purchasing Agent shall invite sealed bids or proposals, giving at least ten (10) days' public notice thereof by at least one (1) publication in a newspaper which has a general circulation in the town or by other alternative means established by the Council. The Council shall let the purchase or contract to the lowest responsible bidder thereon or shall reject all such bids and proposals. All such sealed bids or proposals shall be opened publicly. No transaction essentially a unit shall be divided for the purpose of evading the provision of this section. Records of all bids shall be open to public inspection.
No payroll, bill or other claim against the town, except those of the Board of Education, shall be paid until the same has been audited for correctness and legality by the Director of Finance, and all payments shall be made by check, or wire transfer, (or other electronic transfer), drawn on a town bank account, authorized and signed by the Director of Finance and countersigned by the Town Treasurer, as provided in Section 502 of this Charter. All payrolls, bills or other claims against the Board of Education shall be audited as such Board may provide, and payments shall be made by check signed by the Chairperson or the Secretary of the Board of Education and countersigned by the Town Treasurer. To avoid unnecessary delay in the transaction of town business, the Manager shall designate a Deputy of the Director of Finance, and the Council shall appoint a Deputy of the Treasurer, each of whom, in lieu of the principal, may sign certificates, payrolls, bills, claims and checks.
All fees collected by officers and employees of the town in their official capacities shall be paid into the town treasury, provided that this shall not apply to the fees of Constables or witness fees payable to police officers. Detailed records of such transactions must be maintained within each office and be available for auditing purposes.
The Manager, Director of Finance, Tax Collector, Treasurer and such other officers and employees of the town as the Council may determine, by ordinance, shall file with the Town Clerk a surety bond or surety bonds in such amounts as may be designated in such ordinance, conditioned upon the faithful performance of their respective duties. The premiums of such bonds shall be paid by the town.
Any person who knowingly and intentionally makes or causes to be made any payment from town moneys in violation of the provisions of this chapter or who receives such a payment, shall be jointly and separately liable to the town for the full amount of such payment. Violation of any of the provisions of this chapter, by any officer or employee of the town, shall be grounds for removal.
The Council shall designate, annually, an independent public accountant or firm of independent public accountants, to audit the books and accounts of the town, including the Board of Education, as provided in the General Statutes.