Director of Finance, Financial Departments, Boards and Commissions, City Treasurer, Procurement Department, and Board of Pensions and Retirement

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: The office of Director of Finance is created to give the Mayor and the City government a principal officer responsible for the official, accounting, and budgeting functions of the executive branch. The Director of Finance is thus the chief financial officer of the City and all powers and duties concerning finances, accounting, and budgeting in the executive branch are directly or indirectly his with the following exceptions:

  The custody of City funds and their actual' payment out of the City treasury remain with the City Treasurer who is independent of the Director of Finance until City-County consolidation. When the Constitution and laws of the Commonwealth permit, the City Treasurer is to be appointed by the Director of Finance (Section 3-202) and at that time the Director of Finance will supervise these functions as well as the others for which he has responsibility.

  The functions of the City Controller are not under the supervision of the Director of Finance. The customary independence of an auditor would not be maintained if the City Controller were made subject to the supervision of the Director of Finance.

1. Keep separate accounts of each item of appropriation made to any officer, department, board or commission of the City, to any other governmental officer or agency and to any other person, association or corporation. Each such account shall show the amount of the appropriation, the amounts paid therefrom, the unpaid obligations against it, and the unencumbered balance;

2. Have complete supervision over the keeping of detailed accounting records by officers, departments, boards, commissions, agencies or others receiving appropriations from the City. After consultation with the City Controller, he shall devise, and from time to time improve, a uniform system of accounting for all officers, departments, boards and commissions of the City and other governmental agencies receiving appropriations, and shall require such system to be installed and maintained by all such officers, departments boards, commissions and agencies. Such system shall avoid duplication of records and of bookkeeping to the greatest extent possible consistent with the provisions of this charter and the safeguarding of the City's finances;

3. Supervise the accounting for all moneys received and receivable by the City from any source whatever. He shall require the accounting in the Department of Collections to be done by modern and economical methods, including the use of mechanical equipment, and with adequate safeguards to prevent irregularity or laxity in the recording both of moneys received and of moneys due;

4. Reflect in the accounts in his office the amounts collected by the Department of Collections, as shown by the daily reports of the Department of Collections;

5. Issue within one hundred and twenty days after the close of each fiscal year a statement as of the end of that year showing the balances in all funds of the City, the amounts of the City's known liabilities, and such other information as is necessary to furnish a true picture of the City's financial condition.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: See Act of June 25, 1919, P.L. 581, Article XII, Section 3, as amended; the Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 701, as amended.

• Purposes:
  1. A primary function of the Director of Finance is to establish, maintain and supervise an adequate and modern accounting system for the City. Under the 1919 Charter this was a function of the City Controller shared by various agencies of the executive branch. Experience under that Charter demonstrated the inadequacy of the system which it provided. To remedy this condition the Director of Finance is placed in over-all charge of City accounting. He is to establish a general accounting system for the City. He is to maintain primary accounts showing the appropriation made to each officer and agency, how much of it has been spent, how much of it has been obligated but unpaid, and any unencumbered balance remaining. This will afford each officer and agency a day to day picture of the state of appropriations and City expenditures.

  2. Detailed accounting records are to be maintained by the various officers and agencies receiving City appropriations, but the accounting system is to be devised by the Director of Finance for the purpose of assuring a uniform, accurate and efficient system for the entire City. Consultation in the establishment of such a system with the City Controller is required because the City Controller will have to audit the records maintained and they should reflect those items which the City Controller will have to look for. While there is a caution that the detailed accounting records shall in so far as possible avoid duplication with those maintained by the Director of Finance, the extent to which duplication is required will avoid any system whereby essential accounting records are maintained by only one agency.

  3. The Director of Finance is charged with the duty of supervising the accounting for all moneys received and receivable by the City and this function is emphasized because the accounting for City receipts in the past has left much to be desired. Efficiency and accuracy of such accounting may be aided by the use of modern mechanical equipment and the Charter requires the use of such equipment. In addition, the Director of Finance is required to keep a day to day balance in his office based on reports of the Department of Collections. This will show the flow of receipts and, together with the Director's records of the flow of expenditures, will readily furnish information about the over-all financial position of the City.

  4. The Director of Finance is required to prepare an annual financial statement which will, by showing balances in City funds, City liabilities, and other pertinent information, afford a true picture each year of the City's financial position.

1. Be responsible for the maintenance of a perpetual inventory in the Procurement Department and in every department, board or commission of the City or other governmental agency having possession of unissued stores of City property. He shall devise install and supervise the operation of systems under which withdrawals from and replacements in stores will be currently recorded and reported to his office. He shall have supervision over the periodic (at least twice annually) counting, weighing or measuring of inventory quantities;

2. Supervise the making of inventory lists of furniture and equipment by every officer, department, board, commission or other agency having possession of City owned property. The inventory lists shall be signed by such officer or by the head of such department, board, commission or other agency. The Director shall devise a system under which additions to and withdrawals from such furniture or equipment shall be currently recorded, and shall have supervision over the periodic (at least annually) counting of such furniture and equipment, and the reconciliation of such counts with the City's perpetual inventory records.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: Adequate records accounting for the City's property will afford an opportunity for effecting economies in the acquisition of new property and will result in the strict accountability of any person or agency charged with City property. To achieve this goal the Director of Finance is required to maintain a perpetual inventory of unissued stores of the City and to install an accounting system whereby the status of such inventories will be maintained currently and will be known to his office. This system of inventory accounting is to include a physical inventory at least twice a year to assure its accuracy. A similar inventory procedure is required of every officer and agency of the City having furniture and equipment in his or its possession.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: Economies in the expenditure of City funds are often achieved if inventory records show that property requisitioned for purchase is presently available and unused by some other officer or agency. The purpose of this section is to provide a procedure whereby purchases above a certain amount may be so screened. It would be too great a burden on the Director of Finance to require him to screen every purchase and, therefore, the Administrative Board is designated as the agency to determine the amount above which purchases are to be screened.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Act of June 25, 1919, P.L. 581, Article XII, Section 4.

• Purposes: The Director of Finance is required to approve all contracts as to the availability of funds so that obligations will not be incurred in excess of available appropriations. While the expenditure of moneys under a contract may be deferred, prudent accounting requires funds in the appropriation to be set aside for the obligation incurred. See also Section 8-104.

1. Obtain from all officers, departments, boards and commissions and other agencies receiving appropriations from the City such information as shall be necessary to enable him to compile for the Mayor the information necessary for the preparation and submission to the Council of the annual operating budget;

2. Not later than six months prior to the end of each fiscal year, distribute to the Mayor, the Managing Director, the Personnel Director. each department, board and commission of the City, the chief clerk of the Council and all other officers of the City and other governmental or other agencies which desire City appropriations to be made to them, the proper blanks necessary for the preparation of operating budget estimates, with a request that such blanks be returned with the information desired not later than five months prior to the end of the fiscal year. Such blanks shall be in such form as shall be prescribed by the Director of Finance to procure any and all information pertaining to the revenues and expenditures for the preceding fiscal year and for the current fiscal year, including the appropriations made by the Council for the previous year, the expenditures therefrom, the encumbrances thereon, the amount unencumbered and unexpended, itemized estimates of the revenues and expenditures of the current fiscal year and for the succeeding fiscal year, and an estimate of the revenues and amounts needed for expenses of the Council, and for all offices, departments, boards and commissions of the City and other governmental or other agencies to which appropriations are likely to be made by the Council for the next fiscal year. Such blanks shall also request the person returning them to accompany them with a statement in writing, giving the facts and an explanation of and reasons for the estimates of receipts and expenditures for the succeeding fiscal year contained upon the blanks returned;

3. Under the direction of the Mayor, make inquiries and investigations as to the financial needs, expenditures, estimates or revenues of any officer, department, board or commission of the City or other agency requesting appropriations from the City. The Mayor may, after giving to each such officer, department, board, commission or other agency an opportunity to be heard, approve, disapprove or alter the estimates. The Director of Finance shall submit to the Mayor, in writing, the above information and any additional information requested by the Mayor as a basic for the Mayor's estimates for appropriations for the next fiscal year;

4. Obtain annually from all officers, departments, boards and commissions and other agencies requesting funds from the City for capital improvements, such information as the City Planning Commission shall require to enable it to prepare the capital program and capital budget;

5. Prepare and supply to the Mayor such information as will enable the Mayor to keep currently acquainted with the financial conditions and prospective receipts and expenditures of the City during the current fiscal year in order to control expenditures in such a manner as to avoid deficits.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: The Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 601.

• Purposes:
  1. The Director of Finance is to be in over-all charge of the preparation of the annual operating budget so that it may be prepared in an orderly and efficient manner and so that it will reflect all possible economies. Thus, he has the duty of gathering from all officers and agencies of the City all the information necessary for the preparation of the budget. He may request any officer or agency to justify the information furnished either as to expenditures requested or revenues estimated. It is to be noted that since the Director of Finance is the principal financial assistant of the Mayor, the Mayor is ultimately responsible for the budget, and for this reason the Director of Finance will act under the direction of the Mayor, to the extent that the Mayor deems it appropriate to give such direction. The Mayor is empowered to make the final decision as to the content of the operating budget to be submitted to the Council.

  2. The Director of Finance is also to gather information required by the City Planning Commission in the preparation of the capital program and capital budget since, as the City's chief financial and budget officer, he will be in a position to obtain such information.

  3. The Director of Finance is required to gather and compile information which will enable the Mayor to know at all times the financial condition of the City. One of the purposes of this requirement is to enable the Mayor to be in a position to reduce expenditures in the event the flow of revenues indicates a deficit may be or is about to be incurred. Section 8-102.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Act of June 25, 1919, P.L. 581, Article XII, Section 3, as amended; -see also the Fiscal Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 343, Section 1502.

• Purposes: All requisitions for the payment of money are required to pass through the office of the Director of Finance in order to make certain that appropriations are available for proposed expenditures and so that they may be checked for conformity to current orders of the Mayor dealing with current expenditures. If these requirements are met, and if the officer or agency initiating a requisition is conforming with the Director of Finance's accounting requirements, the Director of Finance will approve the requisition. Disapproval is permitted where there is a failure to comply with the Director's accounting requirements since this is an effective means for assuring such compliance. Copies of all requisitions are to be retained by the Director of Finance to aid his general accounting system.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: Cost analysis is required so that the cost of performing various City operations will be known. Such knowledge will make possible the effecting of economies where costs appear to be excessive and the reviewing of costs in those cases where charges are made for services rendered by the City. Cost analysis information is to be supplied to the Mayor, because he is the chief executive, and to the Managing Director, because he will be supervising the service departments and should know the cost of their various operations for effective supervision.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: The Director of Finance is given the right to examine all records and property of any officer or agency to which appropriations are made so that he may properly discharge his duties.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: The Fiscal Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 343, Section 201.

• Purposes: A Department of Collections replaces the former Department of Receiver of Taxes. In addition to the powers and duties thus acquired, the new Department is made responsible for the collecting of all moneys payable and due to the City. Centralization of revenue collecting functions will facilitate accountability for revenues to an extent not heretofore possible or experienced.

1. Collection of Real Estate and Personal Property Taxes - Billing. It shall collect all real estate and personal property taxes, penalties and interest due the City. All bills for such taxes shall be prepared in accordance with the assessments certified to the Department by the Board of Revision of Taxes and shall be forwarded to the respective taxpayers as soon as possible after the receipt of the certified list.

2. Collection of Income and Other Taxes. The Department shall collect the City income tax and any other taxes which now are or may hereafter be imposed by the Council in such manner as shall be prescribed by ordinance.

3. Water and Sewer Rents. The Department shall collect all water and Sewer rents due to the City. It shall cause all water meters to be read punctually by its employees. Bills for water and sewer rents shall be mailed to the owners of the properties against which they are charged.

4. Collection of License Fees, Assignment of Employees to Department of Licenses and Inspections. The Department shall collect all fees or charges imposed by or pursuant to statute or ordinance for the issuance by the City of any licenses or permits. For this purpose, the Department shall assign an adequate number of its own employees to duty in the Department of Licenses and Inspections to receive such-fees or charges.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: The Fiscal Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 343, Sections 202 and 203, as amended, and 204, 205 and 206.

• Purposes:
  1. The Department of Collections is charged with the duty of collecting all taxes due to the City. See Annotation to Section 6-200. It is to bill taxpayers for all real and personal property taxes in accordance with assessments of the Board of Revision of Taxes.

  2. The Department is to collect all water and sewer rents and for this purpose is to read water meters and to do the billing. This function has been placed in the Department of Collections rather than the Department of Water since it is a revenue Collecting function and should therefore be performed more efficiently by an agency charged with collecting revenues rather than one responsible for furnishing a service to citizens.

  3. The Department is to collect all license fees due to the City and is to accomplish this by assigning its employees to the agency where licenses and permits are granted. The latter is required for the convenience of the public and for the strict accounting for City revenues. See Annotation to Section 6-200.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: The Fiscal Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 343, Section 208, as amended.

• Purposes: In accordance with good accounting practice, the Department of Collections, as the revenue collecting agency of the City,, is required to issue official receipts for all moneys collected. To facilitate auditing copies of all bills and receipts issued by the Department are required currently to be delivered to the Auditing Department, but bills and receipts for real estate and personal property taxes are excepted because these are issued in such volume as to make impracticable this requirement. Moreover, the Auditing Department will be able to audit adequately such bills and receipts without receiving duplicates.

ANNOTATION

• Source: No specific source.

• Purposes: The Department of Collections is required to keep separate accounts of revenues from utility services in order to facilitate the determination of the account of furnishing such services and so that such receipts to the extent that they exceed expenditures may be available, as Council shall determine, for meeting the cost of utility improvements and the operating costs of the utility from which they were derived. See Annotations to Sections 5-801 and 5-901.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: The Fiscal Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 343, Section 210, as amended.

• Purposes: Employees of the Department of Collections are, as a general rule, to collect any form of City revenues. See Annotation to Section 6-201. Where the amount of revenues to be collected by any agency warrants it, a full-time employee of the Department of Collections is to be assigned to such agency. Otherwise, the Department of Collections has the responsibility of designating an employee of the agency to act as agent of the Department for this purpose. Strict accounting requirements are imposed in such instances and the employee must be appropriately bonded.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: For the convenience of taxpayers and because it will provide the City with a safe and economical means of collecting moneys, the Department of Collections may, with the approval of the Director of Finance, authorize any bank doing business in the City to be its agent for collecting moneys due to the City.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Act of June 25, 1919. P.L. 581, Article XV, Section 3.

• Purposes: This provision continues existing law.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Cf. the Fiscal Code of 1929, Act of April 9,l929, P.L. 343, Section 503, as amended.

• Purposes: The Tax Review Board is to be the official agency of the City to which taxpayers may appeal decisions of the executive branch of the government affecting their tax liability. Disputed tax cases will frequently be settled quickly and with the least expense to the taxpayer and the City through resort to the Board. The scope of the functions of the Board is left to councilmanic determination so that it may meet needs in this area as they arise.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: See Act of June 25, 1919, P.L. 581, Article XIV.

• Purposes: The functions of the Sinking Fund Commission are continued substantially as at present.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Act of June 25, 1919, P.L. 581, Article XI, Sections 3, 5 and 6; see also the Fiscal Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 343, Sections 301, as amended, and 305.

• Purposes: The City Treasurer is to be the official custodian of City funds for sound financial management requires a separation of this distinct function from that performed by other financial departments of the City government. Moneys collected by the Department of Collections are to be turned over to the City Treasurer and he is to deposit them with depositories designated by the Council. Daily reports are required to be made to the Auditing Department and the Director of Finance of receipts, deposits, and disbursements from the City Treasury for accounting, purposes and so that the day to day flow of City revenues may be known.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Cf. the Fiscal Code of 1929, Act of April 9,1929, P.L. 343, Section 307, as amended.

• Purposes:
  1. Strict accountability for City moneys requires that they be disbursed by check signed by the City Treasurer and that all such checks shall be drawn only upon the order of the City Controller. Section 6-400. Orders are to indicate the purposes of expenditures and the funds or appropriations to be charged so that the City Treasurer may know against what funds he is to draw cheeks.

  2. Payroll checks are to be delivered to the officer or agency on whose requisition they were drawn to assure their delivery to the person who allegedly performed the services and that the services were in fact performed. The delivery of all other checks is made subject to the direction of the Director of Finance so that he can from time to time prescribe that method of delivery which will best protect the interests of the City and the rightful payee. Unless the Director of Finance prescribes otherwise, the Treasurer may deliver or mail checks to payees.

  3. See Section 8-101.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Act of June 25,1919, P.L. 581, Article XI, Section 1.

• Purposes: The City Treasurer is required by statute to perform duties for the County and other governmental agencies and he is authorized to do so, subject to the requirements of the Charter.

1. Approval of Disbursement Requisitions. It shall examine and approve or disapprove all requisitions submitted to it through the Director of Finance by any officer, department, board or commission of the City or other agency to which an appropriation has been made. The Department shall approve a requisition which it finds to be for a purpose comprehended by the appropriation against which it is drawn and in a proper amount. Otherwise the requisition shall be disapproved and returned to the Director of Finance.

2. Orders for the Payment of Money Out of the Treasury. The Department shall issue its order to the City Treasurer authorizing him to issue checks for payments out of moneys in the City Treasury as called for by an approved requisition.

3. Audits of the Financial Affairs of Officers, Departments, Boards, Commissions and Other Agencies. The Department shall audit at least annually the affairs of every officer, department, board, including the accounts of any board of directors of City trusts, and commission of the City and, as far as may be necessary, the accounts of any other agency receiving an appropriation from the City. Audits shall include all collections made on behalf of the City by an officer, department, board, commission or other agency. The accounts of police and firemen's pension funds receiving appropriations from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania shall be audited annually. An audit report shall be made on every audit. Special audits of the affairs of any officer, department, board, commission or agency may be made whenever in the judgment of the City Controller they appear necessary, and shall be made whenever the Mayor shall call upon the City Controller to make them.

   Copies of all audit reports made by the Auditing Department shall be promptly submitted to the Mayor and to the Council.

4. Recommendations. The Department shall from time to time make recommendations to the several officers, departments, boards, commissions or other agencies receiving appropriations from the City for the improved efficiency and economy of their operations involving the expenditure of City funds.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Act of June 25, 1919, P.L. 581, as amended, Article XII, Section 3, as amended; the Fiscal Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 343, Article IV.

• Purposes:
  1. The Auditing Department's approval of disbursement requisitions is required to prevent the improper disbursement of City funds. In the absence of screening at this stage, funds might be improperly disbursed and their recovery at a later date might be difficult and might involve considerable expense to the City. A disbursement is improper if it is not made for a purpose comprehended by the appropriation against which it is drawn. If a requisition is approved, the Department issues its order on the City Treasurer authorizing him to make payment.

  2. The Auditing Department is the official agency of the City for auditing annually every officer and agency, City or otherwise, receiving appropriations from the City. Collections as well as disbursements are to be audited. Special provision made in the case of police and firemen's pension funds receiving appropriations from the Commonwealth because of statutory requirements. Act of June 25, 1919, P.L 581, Article XII, Section 3, as amended. The final step of the auditing process is a report of every audit so that the result will be made known to the Council and to the executive branch.

  3. The Controller is authorized to make special audits wherever he deems them necessary and whenever the Mayor requests him to do so for circumstances may from time to time indicate that an immediate audit is an urgent necessity.

  4. As a result of its audits, the Audits Department will obtain detailed information of the operations of every officer and agency of the City. Such information may enable it to suggest economies and improved methods of operation and the Department is authorized to make recommendation towards this end.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: To enable the City Controller properly to perform his auditing functions, his deputy is required to be a certified public accountant and his auditors certified public accountants or persons with appropriate academic training in accounting this requirement puts Council on notice that appropriations to the Auditing Department must be adequate to compensate such personnel so that the Department may properly perform its functions. See Section 2-300(4).

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Act of June 25, 1919, P.L. 581, Article XII, Section 3(g).

• Purposes: The Department is empowered to investigate the propriety of any requisition so that it may be able to perform its auditing functions.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: The Auditing Department is authorized to consult private certified public accountants whenever the City Controller deems it necessary so that it may obtain expert advice to aid it in the performance of its duties. This provision puts Council on notice that it must provide the Auditing Department with funds to compensate accountants engaged for this purpose by the Department. See Section 2-300(4).

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes:
  1. The Charter requires Council to make provision for at least a triennial examination by an independent firm of certified public accountants of the manner in which the Auditing Department is performing its duties. See Section 2-300(5). The Auditing Department is required to furnish to any accountants appointed by Council for this purpose all of its records and to cooperate with such accountants.

  2. Whenever the examination of the records of the Auditing Department indicates that the independent accountants ought to inspect the records of other departments or agencies, the Auditing Department is required to exercise all of its powers to aid such inspection to the extent that the Council authorizes the Auditing Department to do so.

  3. An independent triennial audit of every officer and agency of the City was not required by the Charter for two reasons. It would involve great expense to the City and it would duplicate the work of the Auditing Department if that Department were properly performing its auditing functions. Independent accountants, when they examine the manner in which the Auditing Department is performing its duties, should be able to tell whether particular officers and agencies have been properly audited. If they have been so audited by the Auditing Department, the purpose of the independent examination has been met. If they have not been audited properly, the independent auditors will report that fact to the Mayor and the Council.

  4. Reports of independent auditors are to be made to the Mayor and to the Council so that they will be informed of the results.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: The City Controller is given the right of. access to the records of every officer and agency receiving appropriations from the City so that he may properly fulfill the functions of his office.

1. Procurement.
   1. Except as otherwise provided in this charter, it shall purchase, and when feasible store and distribute all personal property to be procured with funds from the City Treasury. It shall establish and maintain City storehouses, develop and operate therein a uniform, modern system of stores control based upon perpetual inventory and maintain a sufficient stock of staple commodities on hand to supply the estimated current needs of all departments, boards and commissions of the City and other governmental agencies for whom such commodities are procured with funds appropriated from the City Treasury. All purchases, other than purchases for stock and all deliveries from such stock shall be made only upon proper requisition. For the purpose of exercising its procurement functions more efficiently and economically, the Department shall classify all items of personal property subject to procurement by it; maintain a laboratory for testing and inspecting such property; adopt as standards the minimum number of qualities, sizes and types of such items consistent with efficient operation; and prepare, promulgate and enforce, written specifications for all such standard items.

   2. The Department shall procure at the cost of the City good and sufficient bonds, to be approved by the City Solicitor and filed with the Department of Records, to meet the requirements of law, in the case of all City officers and employees required to give surety bonds to the City, for the faithful performance of their official duties or to account for City funds or property in their possession. When authorized by the Administrative Board. it shall also procure liability insurance, covering liability of the City and its officers and employees. It shall also procure any other kind of insurance which it may be lawful for the City or any officer, department, board or commission of the City to carry and for which an appropriation has been made to the Department.

   3. The Department shall let all contracts for utility services which are required by any department, board and commission of the City and other governmental agencies and which are to be paid for with funds from the City Treasury.

   4. The Department shall from time to time notify the chief clerk of the Council, the Mayor, the several officers, departments, boards and commissions of the City and other governmental agencies whose procurement requirements are to be purchased with funds appropriated from the City Treasury, respectively, to furnish, at such time as it may require, lists of all requirements that may be needed by each of such officers, departments, boards, commissions and agencies for such periods as the Department shall prescribe, excepting only perishable food stuffs for City institutions. Upon receipt of such lists, the Department shall, as far as practicable, consolidate and classify the requirements named therein, and shall prepare annual, semi-annual, or quarterly schedules thereof, as deemed for the best interest of the City. The Department shall have the power to make such changes in the schedules as may be deemed proper, and may standardize any or all requirements therein. The schedules as finally prepared, shall be used by the Department for procuring the requirements specified therein.

   5. In the performance of its procurement functions, the Department shall consult with and consider recommendations of the Council, the Mayor, the officer, department, board or commission of the City or other governmental agency, whose requirements it is procuring.

   6. Whenever the Department shall procure any item which is to be paid for out of an appropriation made to another department, board or commission of the City or to any other government agency or from a special fund, the Department shall act as agent for such department, board, commission or agency.

   7. The Department may permit any officer, department, board or commission of the City or other agency to make a particular purchase or class of -purchases directly, but in any such case the Department shall first approve in writing the specifications for such purchase.

2. Printing and Publications.
   1. The Department shall furnish by contract or otherwise all printing and binding, engraving and publications required by the City.

   2. The Department shall distribute all printed matter of the City. It may sell, at prices to cover the cost of publication, any printed matter which it distributes. The Department shall compile, edit and publish annually a City Manual. It shall copyright, in the name of the City, all City publications which it regards desirable to have copyrighted.

3. Contracts. After advertising and the receipt of competitive bids, the Department shall let all contracts to be paid for with funds appropriated from the City Treasury for which competitive bids are required, including contracts for concessions whether or not the specifications were prepared and the performance of the contract is to be supervised by another department, or by a board, commission or other governmental agency.

4. Sales of Unserviceable Personal Property. The Department shall receive from departments, boards and commissions of the City and other governmental agencies, unserviceable personal property owned by the City or acquired with funds appropriated from the City Treasury and, if no other department, board or commission of the City or other governmental agency supported by funds appropriated from the City Treasury is able to make use of it presently, dispose of it by sale, either at public auction or private sale, or by transfer, exchange or otherwise after public advertisement or other appropriate public notice and receipt of bids.

ANNOTATION

• Sources:The Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Sections 2403-2406, 2409, as amended; Act of June 25, 1919, P.L. 581, Article XXIV, Section 3, as amended.

• Purposes:
  1. All procurement functions of the City are centralized in a Procurement Department to facilitate financial controls and to promote efficiency and economies. See Section 8-202.

  2. The Procurement Department is to purchase and when necessary store and distribute all personal property to be procured with City funds. It is to run City storehouses, maintain an adequate inventory accounting system, and keep stores of staple commodities to supply current needs. Part of this procurement process is to include the standardization of purchases and the adequate testing and inspection of materials procured. For accounting purposes, all deliveries from City stores are to be made only on proper requisitions.

  3. All bonds required to be furnished by City officers and employees are to be procured by the Procurement Department but the City is to pay for the cost of such bonds. The Department is also to purchase all insurance needed and authorized by the City for its employees.

  4. The Department is to let all contracts for utility services required by the City and to be paid for with City funds.

  5. To enable the Department to make purchases in quantity and to standardize purchases in the interest of economy and efficiency, a procedure is devised for the scheduling of requirements based upon regular information supplied to it by all the officers and agencies of the City. However, the Department is required in the performance of its procurement functions to consult with the various officers and agencies so that items procured although standardized as far as may be possible, will still meet particular needs.

  6. As a general rule, appropriations for the procurement of personal property are to be made directly to the Procurement Department. However, even where such an appropriation may be made to any other officer or agency, the Department is to make the purchases although it acts as the agent for such officer or agency.

  7. In order to enable an officer or agency to meet emergencies or to make a specialized type of purchase, the Department may, upon request, permit a direct purchase by any officer or agency. However, the Department's approval must be obtained in writing and the specification for the purchase must be first approved so that such exceptions will remain subject at all times to control by the department responsible for procurement.

  8. All printing, binding, and engraving and publications required by the City are to be furnished by the Procurement Department.

  9. The Department is to distribute all printed matter of the City to the public and to City agencies. This requirement should serve the convenience of the public since there will be only one agency where City printed matter may be procured. It should also minimize the wasteful distribution of City printed matter.

  10. A City Manual giving complete information about the various City officers and agencies and their functions and of the operations of the City government is to be compiled, edited, and published by the Procurement Department. Such a manual should serve the convenience of the public and of City officers and employees.

  11. The Procurement Department is to let all contracts, which are to be paid for from City funds for which competitive bids are required even though specifications may have been prepared and performance is to be supervised by another agency of the City. See Section 8-200 as to when competitive bidding is required. Included in this category are contracts awarding City concessions. See Section 8-201. These requirements are necessary to standardize contract procedures and for the convenience of bidders and the effecting of economies for the City.

  12. The Department is to be the City agency for the disposal of unserviceable City property so that any property for which there is a use, will be used, and property for which there is no use, will be disposed of. See Section 8-203. Before disposing of any property, the Department must determine whether any other agency supported by funds from the City Treasury can use it. If use cannot be made of the property and it is unserviceable, the Department is authorized to dispose of it by -sale or otherwise only after advertisement or public notice and receipt of bills. If the property is not resalable, the Department may destroy it.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: The Department is to maintain complete property records so that there will be complete accountability for all property owned by the City.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: A fair and actuarially sound pension and retirement system for all City officers and employees is a pressing City need. See Annotation to Section 2-308. The Board of Pensions and Retirement which is established to administer such a system is required to prepare legislation providing for such a system within one year after the effective date of this Charter and to submit it for Council's consideration and enactment. Since many City employees are presently covered by some form of pension or retirement system, any new system is not to impair or diminish their rights. City policemen and firemen belong to privately organized corporations which provide them with certain pension and retirement benefits. Such associations are supported by funds from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from taxes paid on premiums by foreign casualty and fire insurance companies. Any over-all system would have to take account of such private pension and retirement systems and separate systems for firemen and policemen are authorized as long as the State's contributions render it desirable.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes. The City pension and retirement system is to be administered by a separate agency, the Board of Pensions and Retirement, for it will be a vast and complex operation. The Board could not be given jurisdiction as a matter of law to administer private pension and retirement systems unless the City had some direct interest in such systems, such as through appropriations made to them. However, since there is no established City policy in this respect, and since City appropriations may constitute but a small part of the income of private pension and retirement systems, the only requirement imposed is that the Board shall examine such systems and make recommendations as to their administration. Such recommendations may be made mandatory by ordinance as a condition of receiving City appropriations.