CHARTER
OF THE
CITY OF SPRINGFIELD, OHIO

ARTICLE VI - FINANCE

SECTON 32.   THE ESTIMATE.

The fiscal year of the city shall begin on the first day of January. On or before the first day of November of each year, the city manager shall submit to the city commission an estimate of the expenditures and revenues of the city departments for the ensuing year. This estimate shall be compiled from detailed information obtained from the several departments on uniform blanks to be furnished by the city manager. The classification of the estimate of expenditures shall be as nearly uniform as possible for the main functional divisions of all departments, and shall give in parallel columns the following information:

(a) A detailed estimate of the expense of conducting each department as submitted by the department.
(b) Expenditures for corresponding items for the last two (2) fiscal years.
(c) Expenditures for corresponding items for the current fiscal year, including adjustments due to transfers between appropriations plus an estimate of expenditures necessary to complete the current fiscal year.
(d) Increase or decrease of requests compared with the corresponding appropriations for the current year.
(e) Such other information as is required by the city commission or that the city manager may deem advisable to submit.
(f) The recommendation of the city manager as to the amounts to be appropriated with reasons therefor in such detail as the city commission may direct.

Sufficient copies of such estimate shall be prepared and submitted that there may be copies on file in the office of the city clerk for inspection by the public.

SECTION 33.   APPROPRIATION ORDINANCE.

Upon receipt of such estimate the city commission shall prepare an appropriation ordinance, but before acting upon such ordinance the city commission shall fix a time and place for holding public hearing upon the tentative appropriation, and shall publish a public notice of such hearing ten (10) days before the hearing date. During the ensuing year the appropriation ordinance may be revised, amended and additional appropriations made without the necessity of a public notice or hearing.

SECTION 34.   TRANSFER OF FUNDS.

Upon request of the city manager, the city commission may transfer any part of an unencumbered balance of an appropriation to a purpose or object for which the appropriation for the current year has proved insufficient, or may authorize a transfer to be made between items appropriated to the same office or department.

SECTION 35.   UNENCUMBERED BALANCES.

At the close of each fiscal year the unencumbered balance of each appropriation shall revert to the respective fund from which it was appropriated and shall be subject to future appropriations. Any accruing revenue of the city not appropriated as hereinbefore provided and any balances at any time remaining after the purposes of the appropriation shall have been satisfied or abandoned, may from time to time be appropriated by the city commission to such uses as will not conflict with any uses for which specifically such revenues accrued. No money shall be drawn from the treasury of the city, nor shall any obligation for the expenditure of money be incurred, except pursuant to the appropriation made by the city commission, but nothing in this or the preceding section shall be construed to authorize the application of revenue derived from a public utility of the city to any other purpose than that of the utility from which the same was derived.

SECTION 36.   PAYMENT OF CLAIMS.

No warrant for the payment of any cliam shall be issued by the finance director until such claim shall have been approved by the finance director, the head of the department for which the indebtedness was incurred, the purchasing officer and the city manager, and such officers and their sureties shall be liable to the municipality for all loss or damage sustained by the municipality by reason of the unlawful approval of any such claim. Whenever any claim shall be presented to the finance director, he shall have power to require evidence that the amount claimed is justly due and is in conformity to law and ordinance, and for that purpose he may summon before him any officer, agent or employee of any department of the municipality, or any other person, and examine him upon oath or affirmation relative thereto. The chief executive officer, whatever his title, and the purchasing agent, if any, for any administrative board or commission shall comply with this section.

SECTION 37.   CERTIFICATION OF FUNDS.

No contract or agreement or other obligation involving the expenditure of money in excess of $100.00 shall be entered into unless the finance director shall first certify to the city commission or to the proper officer, as the case may be, that the money required for such contract, agreement, obligation or expenditure is in the treasury to the credit of the fund from which it is to be drawn, and not appropriated for any other purpose, and a copy of such certificate shall be filed and immediately recorded by the finance director. The sum so certified shall not thereafter be considered unencumbered until the city is discharged from such contract, agreement or obligation. The provisions of this section shall not apply to contracts or proceedings relating to improvements any part of the cost of which is to be paid by special assessments.
(Amended 11-8-77.)

SECTION 38.   MONEY IN THE FUND.

All monies actually in the treasury to the credit of the fund from which they are to be drawn, and all monies applicable to the payment of the obligation or appropriation involved that are anticipated to come into the treasury before the maturity of such contract, agreement or obligation from taxes, assessments, or license fees, or from sales of services, products or by-products of any city undertaking, and moneys to be derived from lawfully authorized bonds sold and in the process of delivery, and all moneys to be derived from grants or loans made by the United States government or the state of Ohio or any department, division, agency, authority or unit thereof to the city, for the purpose of such certificate shall be deemed in the treasury to the credit of the appropriate fund and shall be subject to such certification.

SECTION 39.   FINANCIAL REPORT.

The city commission may provide by ordinance for monthly or annual financial reports by the city manager or finance director on forms prescribed by the city commission. At the end of each year the city commission shall print an annual report, giving a detailed statement of all receipts, expenditures and liabilities of the city; a detailed comparison of such receipts, expenditures and liabilities with those of the year preceding; and a summary of city commission and administrative operations for the previous twelve (12) months. A copy of this report shall be furnished to any citizen of the city who may apply therefor at the office of the clerk of the city commission.

SECTION 40.   ASSESSMENTS.

In levying special assessmnets to pay any part of the cost of any public work or improvement, the city commission shall not exceed any limitation as to the amount thereof which may be prescribed by the general laws of the state applicable to municipalities and in force at the time it is determined by the city commission that any such work shall be done or improvements made. The city commission may, however, by ordinance, provide different procedures for levying special assessments other than those established by the general laws of the state.

SECTION 41.   IMPROVEMENTS BY DIRECT LABOR.

Nothing in the preceding section shall be construed to prohibit the city commission from doing any public work or making any public improvements by the direct employment of the necessary labor and the purchase of the necessary supplies and materials, with separate accounting as to each improvement so made.

SECTION 42.   EXPENDITURES REQUIRING CITY COMMISSION AUTHORIZATION.

When an expenditure, other than the compensation of persons employed by the city, exceeds the threshold dollar amount requiring legislative authorization established in Section 735.05 of the Ohio Revised Code, as presently enacted and as it may be amended from time to time by the General Assembly, such expenditures shall first be authorized and directed by ordinance of the city commission, and no contract involving an expenditure in excess of such sum shall be made or awarded except upon the approval of the city commission.
(Amended 11-6-90)

SECTION 43.   TIME OF MAKING CONTRACTS.

The city commission shall not enter into any contract which is not to go into effect during the term for which all the members of such city commission are elected.

SECTION 44.   MODIFICATION OF CONTRACTS.

When it becomes necessary, in the opinion of the city manager in the prosecution of any work or improvement under contract, to make alterations or modifications in such contract, such alterations or modifications, if made, shall be of no effect until the price to be paid for the work or material, or both, under the altered or modified contract, has been agreed upon in writing and signed by the contractor and by the city manager and approved by the city commission.

SECTION 45   MANDATORY BIDDING.

In no instance shall contracts be let for any project, improvement or purchase if bids are taken which exceed the estimate for the project, improvement or purchase contemplated by more than ten percent of the estimate. If bids for parts of the project, improvement or purchase are taken separately, contracts for those parts which do not exceed the estimate by more than ten percent may be let. The city's finance department shall advertise for and solicit formal bids for projects, improvements and purchases when required to do so by Section 735.05, 735.051, 735.052 and 735.053 of the Ohio Revised Code, as presently enacted and as they may be amended from time to time by the General Assembly.
(Amended 11-6-90.)

SECTION 46.   CONTRACTS; WHEN VOID.

All contracts, agreements or other obligations entered into, and all ordinances passed, or resolutions and orders adopted, contrary to the provisions of the preceding sections shall be void.

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