Tennessee § 5-12-109 - County governing body action on budget.

§ 5-12-109. County governing body action on budget.

The budget committee shall present the budget to the county governing body in accordance with a timeline provided for in § 5-12-105. The proposed budget shall be accompanied by a budget message explaining the financial program and outlining the services, work and activities to be financed by the proposed budget and a brief discussion of the means proposed for financing the expenditure program set forth in the budget. With the proposed budget, the budget committee shall deliver to the county governing body a budget appropriation resolution and a tax levy resolution. The county legislative body may alter or revise the proposed budget except as to provision for debt service requirements and for other expenditures required by law. In the event that the local fiscal body has not adopted a budget by July 1 of any year, and until a final operating budget is adopted, the operating budget for the year just ended and the appropriation resolution for the year shall continue in effect by operation of law without further action of the county legislative body; provided, however, all agencies of the county and other entities receiving appropriated county funds shall not during any month encumber funds in excess of the allotment for a comparable month of the preceding fiscal year, unless specifically authorized to do so by resolution of the county legislative body. The authorizing resolution must identify a corresponding funding source equal to the amount of excess allotment authorized. The excess allotments so authorized shall become a part of the final operating budget. During the time that the continuation operating budget is in effect, the budget may be amended according to the procedures for amending a final operating budget, and amendments shall be made as necessary to provide for debt obligations and court-ordered expenditures. The continuing budget authorized by this subsection (b) may continue in effect for the months of July and August and, upon approval from the comptroller of the treasury or the comptroller's designee after a showing of extraordinary circumstances, may continue for the month of September; provided, however, no such continuation budget may extend beyond September 30 of any fiscal year. The county shall submit justification for extending the continuing budget through the month of September to the comptroller of the treasury or the comptroller's designee for approval by August 15. The comptroller of the treasury or the comptroller's designee may request any additional information as may be required to properly review the continuing budget extension request. The comptroller of the treasury or the comptroller's designee shall report the comptroller's approval or disapproval to the county legislative body within seven (7) business days, after receipt of the request and any requested supplemental documentation, upon which the county legislative body may take action to extend the continuing budget for the month of September. The fact that the county is operating under a continuation budget shall not, by itself, be grounds for disapproval of a tax and revenue anticipation note or other comparable financing. If the county legislative body and the county school board fail to agree upon a budget for the county department of education by August 31 of any year, then, by operation of law, the budget for the county department of education shall be equal to the minimum budget required to comply with the local match and maintenance of effort provisions of the BEP. However, if for three (3) consecutive years, the county legislative body and school board fail to agree upon a budget and the department of education receives the minimum required funding for that fiscal year by operation of law, then, the budget in the third year shall include a mandatory increase that is equivalent to three percent (3%) of the required funding from local sources for schools; provided, however, this increase shall not be required if during any of those three (3) years the school board failed to submit its budget proposals in accordance with a timeline provided for in § 5-12-105. The budget, the appropriation resolution, and the tax levy resolution, as adopted, shall be spread upon the minutes of the county governing body. Acts 1957, ch. 291, § 9; T.C.A., § 5-1209; Acts 2015, ch. 170, § 2; 2016, ch. 1080, §§ 8, 9. Amendments. The 2015 amendment rewrote (b), which read: “(b)(1) The county governing body may alter or revise the proposed budget except as to provision for debt service requirements and for other expenditures required by law, but the county governing body shall finally adopt a budget not later than the third Monday in July. (2) Pending such final adoption, the director of accounts and budgets is hereby authorized to make temporary allotments for expenditures for essential county services, in amounts not in excess of the comparable allotment for an average quarter of the preceding fiscal year.” The 2016 amendment, effective May 20, 2016, added (c) and redesignated former (c) to be present (d). The 2016 amendment, effective January 1, 2017, substituted “in accordance with a timeline provided for in § 5-12-105 ” for “at the regular July session each year or at a special session called for this purpose during the month of July” in (a)(1). Effective Dates. Acts 2015, ch. 170, § 5. April 16, 2015. Acts 2016, ch. 1080, § 18. May 20, 2016; January 1, 2017.