Cerritos Municipal Code Art. IX Fiscal Administration

The fiscal year of the City government shall begin on the first day of July of each year and end on the thirtieth day of June the following year.

At such date as the City Manager shall determine, the City Manager shall obtain from each department head estimates of revenue and expenditures of each respective department, detailed in such manner as may be prescribed by the City Manager. In preparing the proposed budget, the City Manager shall review the estimates, hold conferences thereon with the respective department heads and may revise the estimate as deemed advisable by the City Manager.

(As amended by Cerritos voters at the following election(s): April 12, 2022)

At least sixty days prior to the beginning of each fiscal year, the City Manager shall submit to the City Council the proposed budget. Copies of the proposed budget shall be available for inspection by the public in the office of the City Clerk. At a regular meeting, the City Council shall consider the proposed budget and make any revisions thereof that it may deem advisable and on or before August thirty-first, it shall adopt the budget. A copy thereof, certified by the City Clerk, shall be filed with the person retained by the City Council to perform auditing functions for the Council and a further copy shall be placed and shall remain on file in the office of the City Clerk where it shall be available for inspection.

(As amended by Cerritos voters at the following election(s): March 4, 2025, April 12, 2022)

(a) [reserved]

(b) The City Council shall be empowered to levy and collect at the time and in the same manner as other property taxes, if any, for municipal purposes are levied and collected, as additional taxes, if no other provision for payment thereof is made.

(c) A tax sufficient to meet all liabilities of the City for principal and interest of all bonds or judgments due and unpaid, or to become due during the ensuing fiscal year, which constitute general obligations of the City.

(d) The procedure for the assessment, levy, and collection of taxes, if ever, upon property, taxable for municipal purposes, may be prescribed by ordinance of the City Council.

(As amended by Cerritos voters at the following election(s): April 12, 2022)

The City shall not incur an indebtedness evidenced by general obligation bonds which shall in the aggregate exceed the sum of fifteen percent of the total assessed valuation, for purposes of city taxation, of all the real and personal property within the City, exclusive of any indebtedness that may hereafter be incurred for the purpose of constructing sewers or drains in the City, for which purposes a further indebtedness may be incurred for the issuance of bonds, subject only to the provisions of the State Constitution and of this Charter.

No bonded indebtedness which shall constitute a general obligation of the City may be created unless authorized by the affirmative votes of two-thirds of the electors voting on such proposition at any election at which the question is submitted to the electors and unless in full compliance with the provisions of the State Constitution and of this Charter.

Every project involving an expenditure greater than an amount as set by ordinance of the City Council for the construction or improvement of public buildings, works, streets, drains, sewers, utilities, parks or playgrounds shall be let by the City Council by contract to the lowest responsible bidder after notice by publication in the official newspaper by one or more insertions, the first of which shall be at least ten days before the time for opening bids. Projects for the construction, resurfacing, maintenance or repair of street, drains or sewers are excepted from the requirements of this paragraph if such work is performed by a City or County of Los Angeles department.

All bids shall be accompanied by either a certified or cashier's check, or a bidder's bond executed by a corporate surety authorized to engage in such business in California, made payable to the City. Such security shall be in an amount not less than that specified in the notice inviting bids or in the specifications referred to therein, or if no amount be so specified then in an amount not less than ten percent of the aggregate amount of the bid. If the successful bidder neglects or refuses to enter into the contract, within the time specified in the notice inviting bids or in the specifications referred to therein, the amount of the bidder's security shall be declared forfeited to the City and shall be collected and paid into its general fund, and all bonds so forfeited shall be prosecuted and the amount thereof collected and paid into such fund.

The City Council may reject any and all bids presented and may readvertise in its discretion.

The City Council, after rejecting bids, or if no bids are received, may declare and determine that in its opinion, based on estimates approved by the City Manager, the work in question may be performed better or more economically by the City with its own employees or the materials may be purchased more economically on the open market, and after the adoption of a resolution to this effect by at least three affirmative votes of the Council may proceed to have said work done in the manner stated, without further observance of the provisions of this section. Such contracts likewise may be let without advertising for bids, if such work shall be deemed by, the City Council to be of urgent necessity for the preservation of life, health or property, and shall be authorized by resolution passed by at least three affirmative votes of the Council and containing a declaration of the facts constituting such urgency.

(As amended by Cerritos voters at the following election(s): April 12, 2022, March 2, 1965)

Any demand against the City must be in writing and may be in the form of a bill, invoice, payroll, or formal demand. Each such demand shall be presented to the City Treasurer, who shall examine the same. If the amount thereof is legally due and there remains on the City Treasurer's books an unexhausted balance of an appropriation against which the same may be charged, the City Treasurer shall approve such demand and draw a warrant therefor, payable out of the proper fund. Objections of the City Treasurer may be overruled by the City Council and the warrant ordered drawn.

The City Treasurer shall transmit such demand, with the City Treasurer's approval or rejection thereof, endorsed thereon, and warrant, if any, to the City Manager. If a demand is one for an item included within an approved budget appropriation, it shall require the approval of the City Manager, otherwise it shall require the approval of the City Council. Any person dissatisfied with the refusal of the City Manager to approve any demand, in whole or in part, may present the same to the City Council which, after examining into the matter, may approve or disapprove the demand in whole or in part.

(As amended by Cerritos voters at the following election(s): March 4, 2025, April 12, 2022)

Warrants on the City Treasurer which are not paid for lack of funds shall be registered. All registered warrants shall be paid in the order of their registration when funds therefor are available and shall bear interest from the date of registration at such rate as shall be fixed by the City Council by resolution.

No suit shall be brought on any claim for money or damages against the City Council or any board or officer thereof until a demand for the same had been presented as herein provided and rejected in whole or in part. If rejected in part, suit may be brought to recover the whole. Except in those cases where a shorter time is otherwise provided by law, all claims for damages against the City must be verified and presented to the City Clerk within the time provided by law, and shall set forth in detail the name and address of the claimant, the time, date, place and circumstances of the occurrence and the extent of the injuries or damages received; all other claims or demands shall be presented within ninety days after the last item of the account or claim occurred.

In all cases such claims shall be approved or rejected in writing by order of the City and the date thereof given. Failure to complete the action or demand within sixty days from the day the same is filed with the City Clerk shall be deemed a rejection thereof.

(As amended by Cerritos voters at the following election(s): April 12, 2022, January 20, 1970)

The City Council shall employ at the beginning of each fiscal year, a certified public accountant who shall, at such time or times as may be specified by the City Council, and at such other times as he shall determine, examine the official books, records, inventories and reports of all officers and employees who receive, handle or disburse public funds and all such other officers, employees or departments as the City Council may direct. Within sixty days from the end of the fiscal year, unless such time shall be extended by the Council, a final audit and report shall be submitted by such accountant to the City Council, one copy thereof to be distributed to each member, one to the City Manager, Treasurer and City Attorney, respectively, and one additional copy to be placed on file in the office of the City Clerk which shall be available for inspection by the general public.

(As amended by Cerritos voters at the following election(s): March 4, 2025)