2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-ONE - Municipalities (§§ 1-4 — 6756) › Subtitle 6 - Autonomous Municipalities (§§ 4001 — 4990-4990j) › Chapter 209 - Municipal Legislative Process (§§ 4201 — 4214) › § 4205 - General powers and duties of the legislature

The legislature shall exert legislative power in the municipality and shall have the powers and duties on local affairs conferred on it in this subtitle, as well as those that are incidental and necessary to the same, among which are:
(a) Approve the resolution of the general budget of income and expenses for the operation and functioning of the municipality, each year.
(b) Confirm the appointments of the municipal officers and the officials and members of the municipal boards and entities whose appointments are subject to confirmation by the legislature by the provisions of this subtitle or any other act.
(c) Approve by ordinance, the confidential positions of the municipality according to the provisions of this subtitle.
(d) Approve the exchange, encumbrance, lease or sale of municipal real estate.
(e) Authorize the levying of property taxes, special rates, excises, rights or imposts within the jurisdictional limits of the municipality on matters which are not incompatible with the taxing by the state subject to law.
(f) Approve ordinances that impose penal sanctions or administrative fines for violation of municipal ordinances and resolutions, up to the limits and in accordance with the provisions of this subtitle.
(g) Authorize the budget readjustments submitted by the mayor, and the transfers of credits of the accounts for paying for personal services to others within the general expense budget. The legislature may not authorize readjustments or transfers that adversely affect the accounts for the payment of interest, the amortization and settlement of the public debt, statutory obligations, the payment of judicial sentences and any contracts it has already executed, nor the account consigned to cover overdrafts of the previous years.
(h) Authorize the contracting of loans pursuant to the provisions of §§ 6001 et seq. of this title, known as the “Puerto Rico Municipal Financing Act of 1996”, the applicable special laws and regulations, and the corresponding federal laws.
(i) Provide, by ordinances or resolutions, what is needed to implement the powers conferred on the municipality with regard to the creation of intermunicipal bodies and the granting of agreements, in the measure they bind the municipality financially and legally.
(j) Approve the plans of the personnel area of the municipality submitted by the mayor pursuant to this subtitle, and the regulations and classification and guidelines and pay schedules that shall be adopted for the administration of the personnel system.
(k) Approve the regulations for the purchasing, leasing of equipment, or performance of services in case of emergencies caused by disasters.
(l) Ratify and validate the efforts, actions, expenses and obligations incurred by the mayor in the exercise of the powers conferred in this subtitle for those cases in which a state of emergency is decreed.
(m) Approve such ordinances, resolutions and regulations on matters or affairs of municipal competence or jurisdiction which, pursuant to this subtitle or any other statute, should be submitted to its consideration and approval.
However, when it concerns the installation of speed reducers, the municipal legislatures shall adopt the Regulations for the Authorization and Installation of Physical Speed Controls on the Public Highways of Puerto Rico, as approved by the Department of Transportation and Public Works, through an ordinance, and within a term no greater than ninety (90) days from the approval of this act. The needed penalties to be imposed on any person or entity who violates any of the provisions of the regulations approved to such effects, shall be fixed within said ordinance, without it being construed to represent the annulling of the penalties provided in §§ 5001 et seq. of Title 9, known as the “Vehicles and Traffic Act of Puerto Rico”. The municipality shall have thirty (30) days to implement said Regulations, counting from the date of approval of the ordinance of the municipal legislature.
(n) Fill vacancies that arise within its membership in accordance with the procedures established in this subtitle.
(o) Authorize the constitution of municipal and intermunicipal corporations which are to be organized and which operate in accordance with this subtitle.
(p) Perform any investigations, including public hearings, that are needed for the consideration of the drafts of ordinances and resolutions that are submitted to it, or to develop any municipal legislation.
(q) Contract, for reasonable pay, the necessary professional, technical and consulting services of the personnel of the University of Puerto Rico or any of its dependencies, outside of their working hours and with the prior written consent of the university body for which they work, to carry out the municipal activities, programs and operations, or to comply with any public purpose authorized by this subtitle.
History —Aug. 30, 1991, No. 81, § 5.005; Oct. 29, 1992, No. 84 § 19; Aug. 11, 1994, No. 57, § 3; Mar. 24, 1996, No. 17, § 1; Apr. 9, 1998, No. 63, § 2; Aug. 29, 2000, No. 219, § 1.