2009 Budget
CITY OF HELENA-WEST HELENA
2009 ANNUAL OPERATING BUDGET
FOR CALENDAR AND FISCAL YEAR
JANUARY 1, 2009 THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2009
Budget as Passed January 22, 2009:
September 4, 2008
The Department Heads have been provided with budget break-out sheets. Our City Treasurer and Purchasing Officer will soon be providing the budget projections based upon our receipts in 2006, 2007 and 2008. As this process proceeds, we will update this page.
However, our current budget with its amendments can be found at http://mayorjfvalley.googlepages.com/amendedbudgetspreadsheet or by clicking this link: CURRENT AND FORMER BUDGETS.
Our City Treasurer is Mike Boone and his number is 870-816-1121 and his email address is michael.lynn.boone@gmail.com.
Our Purchasing Officer is Belinda Covington and her number is 870-572-6714 and her email address is 8174035@gmail.com.
Budget Law:
A.C.A. § 14-58-101
(a) The audit or agreed-upon procedures engagement of every municipality shall be made by the Division of Legislative Audit or other independent persons licensed and in good standing to practice accounting by the Arkansas State Board of Public Accountancy, to be selected by the governing body of the municipality.
(b) Any statutorily required audit of a municipality shall include, as a minimum, a review and comments on substantial compliance with each of the following Arkansas laws:
Chapter 58
A.C.A. § 14-58-201 A.C.A. § 14-58-202
On or before December 1 of each year, the mayor of all cities and incorporated towns having the mayor-council form of government shall submit to the governing body of the city or town, for its approval or disapproval, a proposed budget for operation of the city or town from January 1 to December 31 of the forthcoming year.
Under this subchapter, the governing body of the municipality shall, on or before February 1 of each year, adopt a budget for operation of the city or town.
A.C.A. § 14-58-203
(a) The approval by the municipal governing body of the budget under this subchapter shall, for the purposes of the budget from time to time amount to an appropriation of funds which are lawfully applicable to the items therein contained.
(b) The governing body may alter or revise the budget and unpledged funds appropriated by the governing body for any purpose may be subsequently, by action of the governing body, appropriated to another purpose, subject to the following exceptions:
September 26, 2001
The Honorable Randy Minton
State Representative
830 Minton Road
Ward, Arkansas 72176-8618
Dear Representative Minton:
I am writing in response to your request for an opinion on the following questions:
Does a second-class city have to pass its budget by ordinance?
Please explain the legal difference in a motion, an ordinance and a resolution.
RESPONSE
In my opinion the answer to your first question is “no.” In response to your second question, general definitions of these terms are set out below.
Question 1-- Does a second-class city have to pass its budget by ordinance?
I assume, as an initial matter, that your question has reference to a city of the second-class with the mayor council form of government. The Arkansas Code provides, as regards such cities, that:
A.C.A. § 14-58-201
On or before December 1 of each year, the mayor of all cities and incorporated towns having the mayor-council form of government shall submit to the governing body of the city or town, for its approval or disapproval, a proposed budget for operation of the city or town from January 1 to December 31 of the forthcoming year.
A.C.A. § 14-58-202
Under this subchapter, the governing body of the municipality shall, on or before February 1 of each year, adopt a budget for operation of the city or town.
A.C.A. § 14-58-203
The approval by the municipal governing body of the budget under this subchapter shall, for the purposes of the budget from time to time amount to an appropriation of funds which are lawfully applicable to the items therein contained.
The governing body may alter or revise the budget and unpledged funds appropriated by the governing body for any purpose may be subsequently, by action of the governing body, appropriated to another purpose, subject to the following exceptions:
Funds resulting from taxes levied under statutes or ordinances for specific purposes may not be diverted to another purpose;
Appropriated funds may not be diverted to another purpose where any creditor or the municipality would be prejudiced thereby.
A.C.A. §§ 14-58-20, 202 and 203 (Repl. 1998).
The subchapter quoted from above does not specify whether the governing body must adopt the budget by ordinance. It has been stated in this regard that:
The governing body of a municipal corporation ordinarily can act only by ordinance or resolution. If the mode of the exercise of a power is not prescribed in the act or charter conferring the power or in some other statute, the power may be exercised by resolution as well as by ordinance or order. . . .
62 C.J.S. Municipal Corporations, § 158 (emphasis added and footnotes omitted).
It has also been stated by the Arkansas Supreme Court that “[w]here the law conferring authority on the city council to act does not require same to be exercised by ordinance, it may be exercised by resolution.” Coal District Power Company v. Booneville, 169 Ark. 1065, 1068, 278 S.W. 353 (1925), citing Batesville v. Ball, 100 Ark. 496, 140 Ark. 712 (1911) and Arkadelphia Lumber Co. v. Arkadelphia, 56 Ark. 350, 19 S.W. 1053 (1892).
I can find no state law requirement specifying that the adoption of a municipal budget must be by ordinance. In my opinion, therefore, the answer to your first question is “no.”
Question 2-- Please explain the legal difference in a motion, an ordinance and a resolution.
These terms are not defined in the Arkansas Code with particular reference to cities and towns.[1]
The Arkansas Supreme Court, however, has quoted the following language with approval:
A resolution or order is not a law, but merely the form in which the legislative body expresses an opinion. An ordinance prescribes a permanent rule of conduct or government, while a resolution is of a special and temporary character. Acts of legislation by municipal corporations which are to have continuing force and effect must be embodied in ordinances, while mere ministerial acts may be in the form of resolutions. . . . Where the charter requires an act to be done by ordinance, or where such a requirement is implied, as it is here, by necessary inference, a resolution is not sufficient, but an ordinance is necessary.
Van Hovenberg v. Holman, 201 Ark. 370, 374, 144 S.W.2d 718 (1940), citing Village of Altamont v. Baltimore & Ohio S.W. Railroad Company, 184 Ill. 47, 56 N.E. 340 (19 ).
It has also been generally stated that:
While the terms “resolution: and “ordinance” have been used interchangeably, and the term “resolution” has been held to be the equivalent of the term “ordinance,” and it has been held that a resolution may be treated as an ordinance, a resolution generally is less solemn and formal than an ordinance. A resolution is customarily passed without the forms and delays that constitutions and municipal charters generally require for the enactment of valid laws or ordinances.
62 C.J.S. Municipal Corporations, § 247 (footnotes omitted).
It has also been held that “a resolution, particularly when used to express a ministerial act by a deliberative body, need not partake of any definite form and need not be a written instrument.” Steward v. Rust, 221 Ark. 286, 288, 252 S.W.2d 816 (1952).
In addition, “motions” have been held to be forms of “resolutions.” Steward v. Rust, 221 Ark. 286, 288, 252 S.W.2d 816 (1952) citing Van Hovenberg v. Holman, 201 Ark. 370, 374, 144 S.W.2d 718 (1940).
.Senior Assistant Attorney General Elana C. Wills prepared the foregoing opinion, which I hereby approve.
Sincerely,
MARK PRYOR
Attorney General
MP:ECW/cyh
October 13, 2008
On October 7, 2008, Belinda and I submitted the projections to the department heads. The projections are:
Helena-West-Helena-Projections-FY2009
Helena-West-Helena-Projections-FY2009 (3%)
Mike Boone has provided the expense report by department for January - July 2008:
income_statement_jan_-_july_2008
Mike has also provided an income statement for January - September 2008:
income_statement_jan_-_sept_2008
Budget Break-out sheets:
Administration Budget (Sample)
October 14, 2008
Year to Date Payroll -- General Fund
Fire Department Proposed Budget
Code Enforcement 2009 Budget (Proposed)
Police Department 2009 Budget (Proposed)
District Court Budget (Part of Administration)
Parks & Recreation Department 2009 Budget (Proposed)
Sanitation Department 2009 Budget (Proposed)
Street Department 2009 Budget (Proposed)
October 20, 2008
December 11, 2008
Budget Committee Meeting scheduled for 11:00 a.m. was postponed until Monday, December 15, 2008. The time of that meeting may be 11:00 a.m. or 12:00 noon. I will update this page after the time is confirmed.
December 14, 2008
Message sent to Budget Committee Members:
A city council meeting has been scheduled for Monday, December 22, 2008. We need a quorum to pass a budget extension and keep the city lawfully operating through the end of this year and beginning of next year.
Proposed Budget Extension Resolution
December 22, 2008
BUDGET EXTENSION UNANIMOUSLY PASSED BY COUNCIL
http://jfvalley.blogspot.com/2008/12/2008-budget-extension-passed.html
Today, our city council met at Twelve O'clock Noon to address one agenda item: Resolution 22-2008. Here's a copy of that item: Resolution 22-2008. After a short discussion, the 9 members present voted 9-0 in favor of extending the current budget for a time period sufficient to provide the new council an opportunity to pass a budget for 2009. A new budget must be in place prior to February 1, 2009 or the city will be out of compliance with state law. Budget as Passed January 22, 2009: