The City Administrator submits to the Mayor and the City Council a proposed operating budget for the fiscal year commencing the following January 1. The operating budget includes proposed expenditures and the means of financing them.
a) A public hearing is conducted to obtain taxpayer comments.
b) The budget is legally adopted through passage of a resolution no later than the last Thursday in October. An appropriation ordinance, based on the adopted budget, is enacted on or before the last day of December.
c) The City Administrator is authorized to transfer budgeted amounts between departments in any fund; however, any revisions that alter the the total expenditures of an fund must be approved by the City Council.
d) The level on which expenditures may not legally exceed appropriations is the legally adopted annual budget for each fund in total.
e) Budgets for the General, Special Revenue, Debt Service, Capital Projects, and Internal Service Funds are adopted on a basis consistent with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Any reservations of fund balance are subsequently re-appropriated in the following year to provide legal budgetary authority for actual expenditures. In the Enterprise Funds, certain capitalized receipts and disbursements are budgeted along with related revenues and expenses.
