§ 819. Appropriation Control and Certification of Funds.

No 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 in the budget for such fiscal year, or in any supplemental appropriation as herein provided; and no such payment shall be made nor any obligation or liability incurred, except for purchases in an amount to be fixed by legislative act, unless the Director of Finance or his designee shall first certify that the funds for the designated purpose are available. If any officer, agent or employee of the County government shall knowingly violate this provision, he shall be personally liable and such action shall be cause, after public hearing, for his removal from office by the County Executive or by majority vote of the Council, notwithstanding the provisions of Article IX of this Charter. Nothing in this Charter shall authorize the making of contracts providing for the payment of funds at a time beyond the fiscal year in which such contracts are made for personal service contracts exceeding an aggregate of One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00) per contractor, or such other sum as may be set by legislative act, and an aggregate of Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($500,000.00) for all other multiyear contracts, or such other sum as may be set by legislative act, provided the nature of such transactions reasonably requires the making of such contracts, unless such contracts are approved by resolution of the County Council upon notice and public hearing. No language in such contract, including language subjecting the contract to further funding availability, shall obviate the requirement that all multiyear contracts shall be approved by resolution of the County Council upon notice and public hearing. Any contract, lease, or other obligation requiring the payment of funds from the appropriations of a later fiscal year shall be made or approved by resolution of the County Council upon notice and public hearing. No contract for the purchase of real property shall be made unless the funds therefor are included in the capital budget.

(Amended, CB-92-1974, ratified Nov. 5, 1974; Amended, CB-95-1978, ratified Nov. 7, 1978; Amended, CB-68-2002, ratified Nov. 5, 2002; Amended, CB-74-2006, ratified Nov. 7, 2006; Amended CB-57-2012, ratified Nov. 6, 2012)

Editor's note

Former Section 823 was amended and renumbered to be Section 819.