§ 159-13. The budget ordinance; form, adoption, limitations, tax levy, filing.
§ 159‑13. The budget ordinance; form, adoption,limitations, tax levy, filing.
(a) Not earlier than 10 days after the day the budget ispresented to the board and not later than July 1, the governing board shalladopt a budget ordinance making appropriations and levying taxes for the budgetyear in such sums as the board may consider sufficient and proper, whethergreater or less than the sums recommended in the budget. The budget ordinanceshall authorize all financial transactions of the local government or publicauthority except
(1) Those authorized by a project ordinance,
(2) Those accounted for in an intragovernmental service fund forwhich a financial plan is prepared and approved, and
(3) Those accounted for in a trust or agency fund established toaccount for moneys held by the local government or public authority as an agentor common‑law trustee or to account for a retirement, pension, or similaremployee benefit system.
The budget ordinance may be in any form that the boardconsiders most efficient in enabling it to make the fiscal policy decisionsembodied therein, but it shall make appropriations by department, function, orproject and show revenues by major source.
(b) The following directions and limitations shall bind thegoverning board in adopting the budget ordinance:
(1) The full amount estimated by the finance officer to berequired for debt service during the budget year shall be appropriated.
(2) The full amount of any deficit in each fund shall beappropriated.
(3) A contingency appropriation shall not exceed five percent(5%) of the total of all other appropriations in the same fund, except there isno limit on contingency appropriations for public assistance programs requiredby Chapter 108A. Each expenditure to be charged against a contingencyappropriation shall be authorized by resolution of the governing board, whichresolution shall be deemed an amendment to the budget ordinance setting up anappropriation for the object of expenditure authorized. The governing board mayauthorize the budget officer to authorize expenditures from contingencyappropriations subject to such limitations and procedures as it may prescribe.Any such expenditures shall be reported to the board at its next regularmeeting and recorded in the minutes.
(4) No appropriation may be made that would require the levy ofa tax in excess of any constitutional or statutory limitation, or expendituresof revenues for purposes not permitted by law.
(5) The total of all appropriations for purposes which requirevoter approval for expenditure of property tax funds under Article V, Sec.2(5), of the Constitution shall not exceed the total of all estimated revenuesother than the property tax (not including such revenues required by law to bespent for specific purposes) and property taxes levied for such purposespursuant to a vote of the people.
(6) The estimated percentage of collection of property taxesshall not be greater than the percentage of the levy actually realized in cashas of June 30 during the preceding fiscal year. For purposes of the calculationunder this subdivision only, the levy for the registered motor vehicle taxunder Article 22A of Chapter 105 of the General Statutes shall be based on thenine‑month period ending March 31 of the preceding fiscal year, and thecollections realized in cash with respect to this levy shall be based on the 12‑monthperiod ending June 30 of the preceding fiscal year.
(7) Estimated revenues shall include only those revenuesreasonably expected to be realized in the budget year, including amounts to berealized from collections of taxes levied in prior fiscal years.
(8) Repealed by Session Laws 1975, c. 514, s. 6.
(9) Appropriations made to a school administrative unit by acounty may not be reduced after the budget ordinance is adopted, unless theboard of education of the administrative unit agrees by resolution to areduction, or unless a general reduction in county expenditures is requiredbecause of prevailing economic conditions. Before a board of countycommissioners may reduce appropriations to a school administrative unit as partof a general reduction in county expenditures required because of prevailingeconomic conditions, it must do all of the following:
a. Hold a public meeting at which the school board is given anopportunity to present information on the impact of the reduction.
b. Take a public vote on the decision to reduce appropriationsto a school administrative unit.
(10) Appropriations made to another fund from a fund establishedto account for property taxes levied pursuant to a vote of the people may notexceed the amount of revenues other than the property tax available to thefund, except for appropriations from such a fund to an appropriate account in acapital reserve fund.
(11) Repealed by Session Laws 1975, c. 514, s. 6.
(12) Repealed by Session Laws 1981, c. 685, s. 4.
(13) No appropriation of the proceeds of a bond issue may be madefrom the capital project fund account established to account for the proceedsof the bond issue except (i) for the purpose for which the bonds were issued,(ii) to the appropriate debt service fund, or (iii) to an account within acapital reserve fund consistent with the purposes for which the bonds wereissued. The total of other appropriations made to another fund from such acapital project fund account may not exceed the amount of revenues other thanbond proceeds available to the account.
(14) No appropriation may be made from a utility or public serviceenterprise fund to any other fund than the appropriate debt service fund unlessthe total of all other appropriations in the fund equal or exceed the amountthat will be required during the fiscal year, as shown by the budget ordinance,to meet operating expenses, capital outlay, and debt service on outstandingutility or enterprise bonds or notes.
(15) Sufficient funds to meet the amounts to be paid during thefiscal year under continuing contracts previously entered into shall beappropriated unless such contract reserves to the governing board the right tolimit or not to make such appropriation.
(16) The sum of estimated net revenues and appropriated fundbalance in each fund shall be equal to appropriations in that fund.Appropriated fund balance in a fund shall not exceed the sum of cash andinvestments minus the sum of liabilities, encumbrances, and deferred revenuesarising from cash receipts, as those figures stand at the close of the fiscalyear next preceding the budget year.
(17) No appropriations may be made from a county reappraisalreserve fund except for the purposes for which the fund was established.
(18) No appropriation may be made from a service district fund toany other fund except (i) to the appropriate debt service fund or (ii) to anappropriate account in a capital reserve fund unless the district has beenabolished.
(19) No appropriation of the proceeds of a debt instrument may bemade from the capital project fund account established to account for suchproceeds except for the purpose for which such debt instrument was issued. Thetotal of other appropriations made to another fund from such a capital projectfund account may not exceed the amount of revenues other than debt instrumentproceeds available to the account.
Notwithstanding subdivisions (9), (10), (12), (14), (17), or (18) ofthis subsection, any fund may contain an appropriation to another fund to coverthe cost of (i) levying and collecting the taxes and other revenues allocatedto the fund, and (ii) building maintenance and other general overhead andadministrative expenses properly allocable to functions or activities financedfrom the fund.
(c) The budget ordinance of a local government shall levy taxeson property at rates that will produce the revenue necessary to balanceappropriations and revenues, after taking into account the estimated percentageof the levy that will not be collected during the fiscal year. The budgetordinance of a public authority shall be balanced so that appropriations do notexceed revenues.
(d) The budget ordinance shall be entered in the minutes of the governingboard and within five days after adoption copies thereof shall be filed withthe finance officer, the budget officer, and the clerk to the governing board. (1927, c. 146, s. 8; 1955, cc. 698, 724; 1969, c. 976, s. 2; 1971, c.780, s. 1; 1973, c. 474, ss. 7‑9; c. 489, s. 3; 1975, c. 437, ss. 13, 14;c. 514, ss. 5, 6; 1981, c. 685, ss. 3‑5, 10; 1987, c. 796, s. 3(2); 1989,c. 756, s. 2; 1999‑261, s. 1; 2000‑140, s. 80; 2002‑126, s.6.7(a).)