SEARCH SITE
VIRGINIA LAW PORTAL
- Code of Virginia
- Virginia Administrative Code
- Constitution of Virginia
- Charters
- Authorities
- Compacts
- Uncodified Acts
- RIS Users (account required)
SEARCHABLE DATABASES
- Bills & Resolutions
session legislation - Bill Summaries
session summaries - Reports to the General Assembly
House and Senate documents - Legislative Liaisons
State agency contacts
ACROSS SESSIONS
- Subject Index: Since 1995
- Bills & Resolutions: Since 1994
- Summaries: Since 1994
Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.
2016 SESSION
16103842DBe it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §§ 8.1 and 8.2, §§ 8.3 and 8.4, as amended, and § 8.6 of Chapter 213 of the Acts of Assembly of 1960 are amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 8.1. Department of finance.
The city council may by ordinance create a department of
finance which shall include the functions of accounting and control,;
budgeting,; purchasing,; the collection of locally
imposed taxes, fees, special assessments, and other revenues,;
and such other functions as may be provided by ordinance or by orders of the
director of finance consistent therewith.
§ 8.2. Director of finance; appointment.
The head of the department of finance shall be known as the
director of finance, and council may by ordinance provide that the director of
finance shall be the City Treasurer, or City Manager city manager,
or it may establish a director of finance separate from the City Treasurer
or City Manager as the case may be. Until otherwise provided by ordinance the
Director of Finance shall be the City Treasurer city manager. When
the city council shall by ordinance establish a director of finance separate
from the city treasurer or city manager, he shall be appointed by
the city manager. In making such appointment, the city manager shall give
consideration to the applicant's qualifications in municipal finance and
financial control.
§ 8.3. Director of finance; powers and duties.
The director of finance shall have general management and
control of the functions of the department of finance. He shall appoint
and remove, subject to the provisions of Chapter 9 of this charter, all
officers and employees of the department, excepting constitutional officers,
and shall have power to make rules and regulations consistent with this charter
and the ordinances of the city for the conduct of its business. He shall have
charge, subject to the direction and control of the city manager, of the
administration of the financial affairs of the city, except those of the school
board, unless specified in this chapter, and to that end shall have authority
and be required to:
(a) Compile the departmental estimates and other data necessary or useful to the city manager in the preparation of the current expense and capital budgets.
(b) Supervise and control all encumbrances, expenditures and disbursements to insure that budget appropriations are not exceeded.
(c) Maintain a general accounting system for the city government and each of its departments, boards, commissions, offices and agencies, in conformity with the best recognized practices in governmental accounting; and encumber each item of appropriation and the allotments thereof with the amount of each purchase order, payroll or contract which he has approved, including each advance authorization as provided in subsection (f) of § 8.3.
(d) Prescribe the form of receipts, vouchers, bills or claims to be used, and of accounts to be kept by all departments, boards, commissions, offices and agencies of the city, provided that in so doing he shall consult with any officer appointed by the council for the purpose.
(e) Require daily, or at such other intervals as he may deem
expedient, a report of receipts from each of such departments, boards,
commissions, offices and agencies, and prescribe the times at and the manner in
which moneys received by them shall be paid to the office of the director of
finance or deposited in a city bank account under the control of the city
treasurer.
(f) Examine all contracts, purchase orders and other documents, except bonds and notes authorized as provided in Chapter 7, which create financial obligations against the city and approve the same only upon ascertaining that money has been appropriated and allotted therefor and that an unexpended and unencumbered balance is available in such appropriation and allotment to meet the same, provided that the director of finance may give advance authorization for expenditures in conformance with a procurement policy approved by the council and consistent with the laws of the Commonwealth.
(g) Audit before payment, for legality and correctness, all accounts, claims and demands against the city, and no money shall be drawn from any bank account of the city or school board except by warrant or check, signed, if from an account of the city, by the director of finance, based upon a voucher duly approved by him as above provided.
(h) Supervise and be responsible for provision of tax maps, property descriptions and such other information as may be necessary or convenient for the scientific assessment of property for taxation within the city.
(i) Have custody of all investments and invested funds of the city or in its possession in a fiduciary capacity, unless otherwise provided by this charter or by law, ordinance or the terms of any trust, and the safekeeping of all bonds and notes of the city and the receipt and delivery of city bonds and notes for transfer, registration and exchange.
(j) Submit to the city manager for presentation to the council not later than the tenth day of each month, a statement concerning the financial transactions of the city and each utility respectively, prepared in accordance with accepted principles of municipal accounting and budgetary procedure, and showing: (1) the amount of each appropriation with transfers to and from the same, the allotments thereof to the end of the preceding month, the encumbrances and expenditures charged against such appropriation and the allotments thereof during the preceding month, the total of such charges for the fiscal year to the end of the preceding month, and the unencumbered balance remaining in such appropriation and the allotments thereof; (2) the revenue estimated to be received from each source, the actual receipts from each source for the preceding month, the total receipts from each source for the fiscal year to the end of the preceding month, and the balance remaining to be collected.
(k) Furnish to the head of each department, court, board, commission, office and agency of the city a copy of that portion of the statement relating to such department, court, board, commission, office or agency.
(l) Prepare and submit to the city manager at the end of each fiscal year, for the preceding year, a complete financial statement and report of the financial transactions of the city.
(m) Protect the interests of the city by withholding the payment of any claim or demand by any person, firm or corporation against the city until any indebtedness or other liability due from such person, firm or corporation shall first have been settled and adjusted.
(n) Collect all tax payments, fees, assessments, and charges that the City of Colonial Heights imposes.
(o) Employ any procedure that is now or hereafter prescribed by law to collect locally imposed taxes, assessments, fees, and charges that are delinquent.
[ (p) Examine the Commissioner of the Revenue's records
as to licenses or license taxes and examine and audit the books of any person,
firm, or corporation that he has reasonable cause to believe is liable for a
license tax or fee. ]
§ 8.4. City treasurer.
The city treasurer shall collect and receive all moneys due
the city for taxes whether current or delinquent, assessments or fees or
charges of every kind except that the council may by ordinance provide for the
collection of charges for the use of water, refuse, and sanitary sewers, by
some officer or agency and except as otherwise provided by this charter or the
general laws of the Commonwealth as the same may relate to the city. In so
doing, he shall have power to employ any procedure that is now or may hereafter
be prescribed by law for the collection of State taxes or local taxes. There
shall be a lien, which shall have precedence over any other lien or encumbrance
thereon, on all real estate and on each and every interest therein, for the
city taxes assessed thereon, from the commencement of the year for which they
are assessed, including penalties and interest on such taxes, which may be
enforced by the city treasurer on behalf of the city in any manner provided by
law. All goods and chattels wheresoever found may be distrained and sold for
taxes, interest and penalties assessed and due thereon and for taxes, interest
and penalties assessed against the owner thereof, and no deed of trust or
mortgage upon goods or chattels shall prevent the same from being distrained
and sold for taxes or levies assessed against the grantor in such deed while
such goods and chattels remain in the grantor's possession; nor shall any such
deed prevent the goods and chattels conveyed from being distrained and sold for
taxes or levies assessed thereon, no matter in whose possession they may be
found. He shall have power to enforce the provisions of this charter and the
ordinances of the city with regard to licenses and license taxes, to check any
or all of records of the commissioner of revenue and to examine and audit the
books of all persons, firms and corporations whom he has reasonable cause to
believe to be liable to pay a license. He shall have custody of all funds
belonging to the city and the school board and deposit all funds coming into
his hands to the account of the city or the school board, as the case may be,
in such banks as may be designated for the purpose by the council and the school
board, respectively, subject to the laws of the Commonwealth applicable to the
city and school board relative to the deposit of public funds. He shall perform
such other duties, including validating of school board warrants or checks,
have such powers and be liable to such penalties as are now or may hereafter be
prescribed by law or ordinance shall collect all tax returns, tax
payments, fees, assessments, and charges imposed by or payable to the
Commonwealth of Virginia, and he shall have the power to employ for such
collection any procedure that is now or hereafter prescribed by law. In
performing his duties, the city treasurer shall be entitled to employ such
staff as the State Compensation Board authorizes.
§ 8.6. Sale of property for taxes.
The council may require real estate in the city, delinquent
for the nonpayment of taxes, to be sold for said taxes, as provided in the Code
of Virginia, except that if at any such sale no bid shall be made for any such
real estate, or such bid shall not be equal to the tax or assessment, with
interest, charges and expenses, then such real estate shall be struck off to
the city. As soon as practicable thereafter, the city treasurer
director of finance shall prepare a statement of sales made to the city, in
which the real estate so sold shall be described, and the aggregate amount of
tax or assessment with interest, charges and expenses specified.
(a) The owner of any real estate so struck off to the city, his heirs or assigns, or any person having the right to charge such real estate for a debt, or any person having interest in such real estate by way of reversion, remainder or otherwise, may redeem the real estate within three years from the sale thereof, by payment to the city of the amount for which it was sold, with such additional sums as would have accrued for taxes thereon if it had not been purchased for the city, with interest on the purchase money and taxes at the rate of six percent per annum from the time that they may have been so paid.
(b) In case that any real estate, struck off to the city as
hereinbefore provided, shall not be redeemed within the time specified, the
city treasurer director of finance may, at the direction of the
council, within sixty days after the expiration of three years from the sale,
cause to be recorded in the Clerk's Office of the Circuit Court having
jurisdiction of the city a certificate of sale with his oath that the same has
not been redeemed, and thereupon the city, or its assignee, shall acquire an
absolute title in fee in chancery proceedings to such real estate, and every
interest therein, subject to be defeated only by proof that the taxes for which
said real estate was sold were not properly chargeable thereon, or that the
taxes properly chargeable thereon had been paid at the time of the execution of
such certificate. The said certificate shall be recorded in the said Clerk's
Office in a record book known as "deed book, recording conveyances to city
lands sold for delinquent taxes," for recording which certificate the
clerk shall be entitled to a fee of ten cents, payable out of the city
treasury. The council may impose penalties upon its officers for their failure
to comply with the requirements of this section. The said certificate, or the
record thereof, or a certified copy thereof, shall, in all courts and other
places, be evidence of the facts therein stated; provided, however, that the
failure to obtain or record such certificate shall not invalidate the lien of
the city for all taxes assessed against such real estate, but the city may, at
any time, elect to enforce its lien for taxes in a court of equity and real
estate. When real estate is sold at a tax sale, it shall be continued upon the
land books in the name of the former owner or owners until there is a transfer
of title of record and taxes and levies shall be annually extended thereon the
same as if such tax sale had not taken place.
(c) When land sold for delinquent taxes or struck off to the city is redeemed by persons under disability at the time of sale, in addition to the payments otherwise required for redemption, the person or persons so redeeming the land shall pay to the purchaser, his heirs or assigns, the appraised value of any improvement that may have been made thereon after three years from the date of the sale for delinquent taxes.
[ 2. That notwithstanding any other provision of law, the provisions of this act shall not result in a change in the amount of the Treasurer's salary set by the Compensation Board that is payable by the locality in the City of Colonial Heights for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2017 or the fiscal year ending June 30, 2018. ]