§ 612. Appropriation control and certification of funds.

(a)

No office, department, institution, board, commission or other agency of the County government shall during any fiscal year expend, or contract to expend, any money or incur any liability, or enter into any contract which by its terms involves the expenditure of money, for any purpose in excess of the amounts appropriated or allotted for the same general classification of expenditure in the budget for such fiscal year, or in any supplemental appropriation as hereinabove provided; and no such payment shall be made nor any obligation or liability incurred, except for small purchases in an amount to be established from time to time by ordinance unless the Director of Finance shall first certify that the funds for the designated purpose are available. Any contract, verbal or written, made in violation of this Section shall be null and void; and if any officer, agent or employee of the County shall knowingly violate this provision, he or she shall be personally liable and such action shall be cause, after public hearing, for his or her removal from office by the Executive or by majority vote of the Council, notwithstanding the provisions of Article VII of this Charter. Nothing in this Section or elsewhere in this Charter contained shall prevent the making of contracts of lease or for services providing for the payment of funds at a time beyond the fiscal year in which such contracts are made, provided the nature of such transactions reasonably requires the making of such contracts. But any contract, lease or other obligation requiring the payment of funds from appropriations of a later fiscal year shall be made or approved by ordinance which shall be effective immediately upon enactment. No contract for the purchase of real or leasehold property shall be made unless the funds therefor are included in the capital budget.

(b)

In exercising his or her powers as the custodian of the monies of the County, the Director of Finance may advance funds in his or her custody for the discharge of obligations incurred in connection with capital projects for which a bond enabling law or laws of the County has or have been approved and money appropriated therefor prior to the issuance of such bonds; provided that repayment of any such advance shall be made out of the proceeds of the sale of the bond issue concerned or from any other monies subsequently made available for such purpose.

Editor's note

Amendments to § 612 promulgated by Res. No. 123—125, 1988 were approved at an election held Nov. 8, 1988, and became effective Dec. 8, 1988. An amendment proposed by Res. No. 126, 1996 was approved at an election held Nov. 5, 1996, and became effective Dec. 5, 1996.