§ 715. Appropriation control and certification of funds.

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. No such payment shall be made nor any obligation or liability incurred, except for small purchases in an amount less than one hundred dollars, or such amount as may be set by legislative act of the county council, unless the director of budget and 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 or willfully violate this provision, such action shall be cause for his removal from office by a majority of the total number of county council members established by this Charter. ( Bill No. 13-18 , § 1; approved by the voters Nov. 6, 2018; effective Dec. 6, 2018)

Nothing in this section or elsewhere in this Charter shall prevent the making of contracts of lease or contracts for services providing for the payment of funds at a time beyond the fiscal year in which the contracts are made, provided that the nature of such transactions reasonably requires the making of such contracts. Any contract, must be approved by the county council before it is executed if the contract is:

(1)

For the purchase of real or leasehold property where the purchase price of the property is in excess of $5,000 or such amount as may be set by legislative act of the county council;

(2)

For the lease of real or leasehold property in excess of $25,000 in the aggregate or such amount as may be set by legislative act of the county council;

(3)

For services for a term in excess of two years or involving the expenditure of more than $25,000 per year or such amount or term as may be set by legislative act of the county council.

The county council shall define the term services as used in this section.

(Bill No. 86, 1978, § 1; approved by voters Nov. 7, 1978; effective Dec. 8, 1978; Bill No. 117, 1982, § 1; approved by voters Nov. 2, 1982; effective Dec. 3, 1982; Bill No. 129, 1990, § 3; approved by voters Nov. 6, 1990; effective Nov. 6, 1990; Bill No. 132, 1990, § 2; approved by voters Nov. 6, 1990; effective Dec. 7, 1990; Bill No. 82, 1998, § 1, approved by voters Nov. 3, 1998; effective Dec. 3, 1998)

Editor's note

The County Executive was not required to obtain prior certification from the Director of Finance that funds were available to provide for the payment of rental under a lease. Hormes V. Baltimore County, 225 Md. 371, 170 A.2d 772 (1961).
An amendment to this section was petitioned to referendum and approved by the voters on Nov. 2, 1982; effective Dec. 3, 1982. The Court of Appeals of Maryland invalidated this amendment as well as art. V, div. 5, and amendments to §§ 706 and 709 in the case of Griffith v. Wakefield, 298 Md. 381, 470 A.2d 345 (1982). The Court held that the amendments were impermissible under Article 11-A, § 3 of the State Constitution providing that the County Council has full power to enact local laws of the county, as the amendments provided for a complete and specifically detailed legislative scheme, and as such, was an attempt to circumvent the local legislative body and enact local law.