Pomona Municipal Code Art. X Financial Procedures

On such date in each year as determined by the City Manager, each department, agency, board, and commission shall submit to the City Manager through the Director of Finance/City Treasurer written estimates of the necessary expenditures and estimates of revenues expected to accrue to the City during the next fiscal year. The City Manager, with the advice and assistance of the Director of Finance/City Treasurer, shall review such estimates, hold conferences thereon with each department, agency, board, or commission, and may revise any estimates.

On such date in each year as determined by the City Manager, each department, agency, board and commission shall submit to the City Manager through the Director of Finance/City Treasurer written estimates of the necessary expenditures and estimates of revenues expected to accrue to the City during the next fiscal year. The City Manager, with the advice and assistance of the Director of Finance City Treasurer, shall review such estimates, hold conferences thereon with each department, agency, board or commission, and may revise any estimates.

At least 45 days prior to the beginning of each fiscal year, the City Manager shall submit to the Council a proposed budget for the next fiscal year and an accompanying budget message.

The City Manager's message shall explain the budget in both fiscal and in work program terms. It shall outline the proposed financial policies of the City, describe the important features of the budget, indicate any major changes from the preceding year in financial policies, expenditures, and revenues, together with the reasons for such changes, summarize the City's debt position, and include such other information as the City Manager deems necessary.

The budget shall provide a complete financial plan of all City operating funds and activities for the next fiscal year and shall be in such form as the City Manager deems desirable or the Council may require. The budget shall contain a clear general summary of its contents; show all revenues in detail and by fund totals; and show all proposed expenditures, including debt service, by department and by fund[.] It shall also contain comparative figures for actual and estimated revenues and expenditures of the current fiscal year and revenues and expenditures of the preceding year. It shall further contain:

(a) Proposed goals, objectives and expenditures presented for each fund by organizational unit, program, or activity, and the method of financing such expenditures; and

(b) Proposed capital expenditures during the next fiscal year for each fund and the method of financing[.]

(a) Notice and Hearing. To achieve wide dissemination of information to the residents, the Council shall publish a general summary of the budget in one or more general circulation newspapers. The Council is encouraged to publish the summary in additional media including foreign language newspapers and electronic media. The message shall include:

(1) Times and places where copies of the budget message are available for inspection by the public, and

(2) Time and place, not less than ten (10) days after such publication, for a public hearing on the budget.

(b) Modification Before Adoption. After the public hearing, the Council may adopt the budget with or without modification. Any modification may add or increase programs or amounts, or delete or decrease programs or amounts, except restricted program amounts, and except expenditures required by law or for debt service. However, no modification shall increase the total authorized expenditures to any amount greater than total estimated revenue plus the unreserved fund balance.

(c) Adoption. The Council shall adopt the budget on or before the last day of each fiscal year. To implement the adopted budget, the Council shall concurrently adopt an appropriation resolution making appropriations by department or major organizational unit in the General Fund and by fund total for all other funds. If the Council fails to adopt the budget by this date the amounts appropriated for current operation for the prior fiscal year shall be deemed adopted for the current fiscal year on a month to month basis, with all items in it prorated accordingly, until such time as the Council adopts a budget for the current fiscal year.

(a) Supplemental Appropriations. If during the fiscal year the City Manager determines that there are available revenues in excess of those estimated in the budget, the Council by resolution may make supplemental appropriations for the year up to the amount of such excess.

(b) Reduction of Appropriations. If during the fiscal year it appears probable to the City Manager that the revenues or fund balances will be insufficient to finance the expenditures for which appropriations have been authorized, the City Manager, after evaluation, shall report to the Council without undue delay, indicating the estimated amount of deficit, any remedial action taken by the City Manager and recommendations for any further action. The Council shall then take such further action as deemed necessary to prevent or reduce any deficit.

(c) Transfer of Appropriations. At any time during the fiscal year the Council may by resolution transfer part or all of the unencumbered appropriation balance from one department or major organizational unit to the appropriation for another department or major organizational unit within the same fund.

(d) Limitation. No appropriations for debt service may be reduced or transferred below the amount required for debt service, and no appropriation may be reduced below any amount required by law to be appropriated or by more than the amount of the unencumbered balance.

Every appropriation, except an appropriation for a capital improvement expenditure, shall lapse at the close of the fiscal year. Encumbered funds may be carried out to the next fiscal year by resolution as recommended by the City Manager and adopted by the Council. An appropriation for a capital improvement expenditure shall continue in force, with written justification, until expended, revised or repealed. The purpose of any such appropriation shall be deemed abandoned if three (3) years pass without any disbursement from or encumbrance of the appropriation. Projects will also be considered abandoned, with any remaining appropriation removed, if five (5) years pass with less than ten percent (10%) of the project budget expended or encumbered.

No payment shall be made or obligation incurred except in accordance with appropriations duly made, or in the case of an emergency situation only with written City Manager authorization. A violation of this provision may be cause for removal of any person who knowingly authorized or made such payment or incurred such obligation.

Except where prohibited by law, however, nothing in this Charter shall be construed to prevent the making or authorizing of payments or making of contracts for capital improvements to be financed wholly or partly by the issuance of bonds, or to prevent the making of any contract or lease providing for payments beyond the end of the fiscal year, but only if such action is made or approved by resolution of the Council.

(a) Submission to City Council. The City Manager shall prepare and submit to the Council a five (5) year or longer capital improvement program no later than the final date for submission of the operating budget.

(b) Contents. The capital improvement program shall include:

(1) Clear general summary of the contents;

(2) List of all capital improvements proposed to be undertaken during the next five (5) fiscal years, with appropriate supporting information of the necessity of each;

(3) Cost estimates and recommended time schedules for each improvement or other capital expenditure;

(4) Method of financing each capital project; and

(5) Estimated annual cost of operating and maintaining the facilities to be constructed or acquired.

The above shall be revised and extended each year for capital improvements still pending or in process of construction or acquisition.

(a) Notice and Hearing. To achieve wide dissemination of information to the residents, the Council shall publish a general summary of the capital improvement program in one or more general circulation newspapers. The Council is encouraged to publish the summary in additional media including foreign language newspapers and electronic media. The message shall include:

(1) Times and places where copies of the capital improvement program are available for inspection by the public, and

(2) Time and place, not less than ten (10) days after such publication, for a public hearing on the capital improvement program.

(b) Adoption. The Council by resolution shall adopt the capital improvement program with or without amendment after the public hearing, and on or before the last day of the fiscal year.

Copies of the operating budget, capital improvement program and budget resolutions shall be public records and shall be made available to the public at suitable places in the City.

(a) Bonded Indebtedness. The City and its agencies may issue general obligation bonds when authorized by the affirmative vote of not less than two-thirds (⅔) of the electors voting on the issue.

(b) Certificates of Participation and Similar Debt Instruments. The City may issue Certificates of Participation and similar debt instruments not to exceed five (5) percent of the total assessed valuation of real and personal property in the City for purposes of City taxation when authorized by the affirmative vote of not less than five-sevenths ( 5/7 ) of the total membership of the Council. Additionally, the sum of interest and principal payments of these current year obligations charged to the General Fund may not exceed twenty percent (20%) of the previous year's revenue of the General Fund.

(c) Debt Limit. The total indebtedness authorized by subsections (a) and (b) above shall not exceed fifteen (15) percent of the total assessed valuation of real and personal property in the City for purposes of City taxation. Additionally, the sum of the interest and principal payments of all obligations (referenced in (a) and (b) above) charged to any fund may not exceed 30 percent of the previous year's revenue of that fund.

All monetary demands, except liability demands, against the City must be in writing, and must specify the date, nature, and amount of each item. Each such demand shall be presented to the Director of Finance/City Treasurer for examination and auditing. If the amount is legally due and payable and an unexhausted appropriation balance at the fund level remains against which the amount may be properly charged, the Director of Finance/City Treasurer shall approve such demand and make payment. Otherwise, the Director of Finance/City Treasurer shall refer the demand to the City Manager for resolution.

All proposed, increased, or extended City taxes shall not be effective unless and until approved by the electors voting on the issue as set forth in State law.

The Council shall provide for an independent annual audit of all City accounts and may provide for more frequent audits, as necessary. Such audits shall be public records and made by a certified public accountant or firm of such accountants who have no personal interest, direct or indirect, in the fiscal affairs of the City or any of its employees. The Council may designate such accountant or firm annually for a period not exceeding three (3) years with an option to extend the contract for an additional two (2) years, but the designation for any particular fiscal year shall be made no later than sixty (60) days after the beginning of such fiscal year.