Division 1. Budget and Audit Control

Each year the County Executive shall determine an operating budget. The Director of the Budget shall prepare budget instructions, and budget request forms which shall be followed by all County departments and agencies. The departments and agencies shall submit budget requests to the Director of the Budget in accordance with the prescribed calendar, instructions and forms and shall provide such fiscal information as may be determined by the Director of the Budget.

In the event that any County Department or agency does not submit its budget request in accordance with the prescribed budget, the Director of the Budget may prepare a budget request for such department or agency based upon its previous fiscal year expenditures.

The Director of the Budget shall annually obtain from the Supervisor of Assessments a statement of the assessed valuation of all real and personal property assessed for County tax purposes in the County as of the last date of finality.

The Director of the Budget shall obtain from the Director of Finance a compilation of estimates for the forthcoming fiscal year of all revenues, income and other available funds, and an estimate of collection of revenues and taxes during the current fiscal year.

The Director of the Budget, according to the prescribed budget for each fiscal year, shall submit to the County Executive, on forms prescribed by him, a proposed budget for the forthcoming fiscal year. The budget shall contain, in detail for each class of income and expense, and in summary form, actual amounts for the last completed fiscal year, the budget of the current fiscal year, as amended, the latest estimate of actual income and expense for the current fiscal year, and the proposed departmental and agency estimates of the nature, volume, and other factors relating to its functions, its income and the expenses for the forthcoming fiscal year.

The County Executive, after review and revision, if necessary, of the proposed budget, shall not later than March 15 of each fiscal year submit to the Council the proposed budget for the ensuing year. The proposed operating budget shall include the number of permanent full-time and part-time employees in the classified service at or above Grades: 30, S-07, L-06, I-16, H-23, R-23, and D-23 for each department or agency. A supplemental report shall accompany the proposed operating budget which lists all classes of positions by County department or agency at or above Grades: 30, S-07, L-06, I-16, H-23, R-23 and D-23, including position titles and number of positions, filled and vacant, by job title for the last fiscal year, the currently ending fiscal year, and the budget year.

For purposes of compliance with the prescriptions of Section 819 of the County Charter, at the time of the submission of the proposed budget for the ensuing fiscal year or, not later than April 1 of each fiscal year, the County Executive shall submit to the County Council a report listing all executory multiyear personal service contracts for the ensuing fiscal year exceeding an aggregate of One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000) per contractor, and all other executory multiyear contracts for the ensuing fiscal year exceeding an aggregate of Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($500,000) for review, public comment, and approval as part the Council budget approval process. The report shall list each contractor and total contract value of the executory multiyear contract. Any contract listed therein not approved by the Council shall be deemed disapproved.

The Council shall consider the proposed budget and set a time and place for two (2) public hearings.

After such hearings and any such amendments as authorized by Section 809 of the Charter, the Council shall by ordinance adopt the budget for the forthcoming fiscal year, appropriate the amount of the expense items, and fix the rates of all special taxes. The number of permanent full-time and part-time positions in the classified service, as enumerated in Section 10-105(b), and funded in the budget document for each agency or department, shall constitute the position authorization for those grade levels for that agency or department shall not be exceeded unless approved in writing by a majority vote of the full Council. In addition, Council approval by majority vote, after a public hearing, of the report listing all executory multiyear personal service contracts for the ensuing fiscal year exceeding an aggregate of One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000) per contractor, and all other executory multiyear contracts for the ensuing fiscal year exceeding an aggregate of Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($500,000), as enumerated in Section 10-105(c), and funded in the budget document for each agency or department, shall constitute the approval required for such multiyear contracts required by Section 819 of the Charter. The report shall list each contractor and total contract value of the executory multiyear contract. Any contract listed therein not approved by the Council shall be deemed disapproved.

After the budget has been submitted to the Executive for his approval or item veto and returned to the Council, and after appropriate Council action has been taken on an Executive veto, if any, the Council shall set by resolution, the County general property tax levy. The levy shall be set forth in such a manner as to show the total property tax rate and that portion of the rate in dollars and cents per one hundred dollars of assessed valuation attributable to the budget for Prince George's County Public Schools. Each County property tax bill shall show in percentage terms the amount of the County Government's portion of each tax bill that is attributable to the budget for Prince George's County Public Schools. Each tax bill shall also show the total County funding for the Prince George's County Public Schools and the total anticipated County revenue from property taxes for the current fiscal year.

The County Executive shall submit to the Council the operating and capital budget proposals as prescribed in Sections 805 and 806 of the Charter.

If any revenue in the proposed operating budget is anticipated to be received from a tax or other revenue source which is not authorized by law, or from an increase in the rate of a tax or revenue source which increase requires, but has not yet received, Council approval, the County Executive shall separately identify the amount of revenue anticipated to be received when the additional revenue is authorized by law and recommended contingent appropriation amounts for expenditures proposed to be made if the County Council authorizes the tax or other revenue source or the increased rate in such tax or revenue source.

No County liability shall be incurred or contracted by any department, agency, or employee and no bill or invoice shall be approved or paid, unless the Council has authorized by budget adoption or a specific appropriation to cover payment out of public funds.

In addition to the requirements set forth above in Subsection (a) of this Section, no County liability shall be incurred or contracted by any department, agency, or employee and no bill or invoice shall be approved or paid for any multiyear contract not submitted, reviewed, and approved by the County Council pursuant to the notice and hearing prescriptions set forth in Section 819 of the County Charter and Section 10-105 of this Code.

Any person willfully violating this provision shall be deemed to be responsible for the contract, debt, or expenditure. The head of the department allowing such action shall be subject to such disciplinary action as the Council shall determine.

A Budget appropriation adjustment shall not be made unless the approval of the Finance Director is previously obtained in writing on the prescribed forms. The Council may, by order, direct the Finance Director to notify the head of any department, or the officials of any agency, that its appropriation has been rescinded, revoked, reallocated, or canceled for any particular budget, object or appropriation during the fiscal year.

Supplementary appropriations to any department or agency shall require the approval of the Council upon recommendation of the County Executive.