Title 24APPENDIX, Title 24APPENDIX: Municipal Charters

§ 24. School District; transfer of fund to The City Council shall annually transfer to the School District a sum from the General Fund as may be realized from the tax required by the Board of School Commissioners, all such monies as shall arise from the State school tax, from Cit…

§ 25. Sale of property The City Council may authorize the sale or lease of any personal or real estate belonging to the City, and all conveyance, grants, or leases of any such real estate shall be signed by the Mayor and be sealed with the City Seal. (Amended 2009, No. M-23 (Adj.…

§ 26. Warrants (a) No money, other than money belonging to the “School Fund,” shall be paid out of the City Treasury except upon warrant approved by the City Council. All purchase approvals and warrants shall be signed by two members of the City Council. The approval of the warra…

§ 27. Taxes; sidewalk, water, and wastewater assessment arrearages The inhabitants, estates, and the owners of those estates within the City of St. Albans shall be held to pay the arrears of taxes, sidewalk, water, and wastewater assessments, and the inhabitants, estates, and the…

§ 28. Construction and maintenance of roads and walks (a) The City Council may lay out, alter, maintain, establish, and change the grade of and discontinue any street, road, lane, alley walk, or sidewalk in the City and appraise and settle damages therefor, causing its proceeding…

§ 29. Borrowing in anticipation of taxes The City Council may borrow money at the most favorable rate of interest it can obtain in anticipation of City revenues to be collected within the fiscal year. (Amended 2009, No. M-23 (Adj. Sess.), § 30, eff. May 20, 2010.)

§ 3. General corporate powers The inhabitants of that territory embraced within the boundaries as established by 1915 Acts and Resolves No. 280 shall continue as a body corporate and politic, under the name of the City of St. Albans; and by that name may sue and be sued, prosecut…

§ 30. Bonding; School District; City (a) The City of St. Albans or the St. Albans City School District at any annual or special meeting when an article for that purpose shall have been inserted in the warning therefor may authorize the issue of notes or bonds for the purpose of p…

§ 31. St. Albans Academy (a) 1892 Acts and Resolves No. 157, the act incorporating the St. Albans Academy and graded school, also known as the St. Albans City School, and all acts amendatory thereof, shall remain in full force with the following modifications: the boundaries of S…

§ 32. Library (a) The City Council of the City of St. Albans shall annually assess upon the ratable estate within the City, whether owned by residents or nonresidents, such tax as the trustees of the St. Albans Free Library shall recommend to the Council for the support of the li…

§ 33. General provisions (a) This charter shall be a public act and may be altered, amended, or repealed by the General Assembly whenever the public good may require. (b) All bylaws and ordinances, rules, and regulations of the City of St. Albans in force on the date when this ch…

§ 4. Form of government The municipal government provided by this charter shall be known as a council-manager form of government. Pursuant to its provisions and subject only to the limitations imposed by the State Constitution and by this charter, all powers of the City shall be …

§ 5. Wards The City Council is empowered to make such changes from time to time, by resolution or ordinance, in the number and boundaries of the several wards of the City as it may deem proper, having regard so far as practicable and convenient, to an equal division of population…

§ 6. City meetings (a) Annually on the first Tuesday of March, a meeting of the legal voters of the City, and of the several wards therein, shall be held for the election of officials, the voting of budgets, and any other business included in the warnings for the meeting, which s…

§ 7. Vacancies (a) If a member of the City Council, during his or her term, removes from the ward that he or she represents, his or her office shall become vacant upon removal from the ward. (b) In case of a vacancy in the office of Mayor, the remaining members of the City Counci…

§ 8. Voting (a) Voting qualifications for the right to vote in any City election or meeting shall be the same as those required by State statutes for municipal meetings. (b) The penalties for illegal voting at any City election shall be the same as those prescribed for illegal vo…

§ 9. Mayor (a) The legal voters of the City shall elect a Mayor who shall be a legal voter in the City. The Mayor shall hold office for a term of two years. (b) The Mayor shall be the Chief Executive Officer of the City. The Mayor shall use his or her best efforts to see that the…

§ 101. Corporate existence retained The inhabitants of the Town of South Burlington, within the corporate limits as now established, shall continue to be a municipal corporation by the name of the City of South Burlington.

§ 102. General law application Except when changed, enlarged, or modified by the provisions of this charter, or by any legal regulation or ordinance of the City of South Burlington, all provisions of the statutes of this State relating to municipalities shall apply provisions to …

§ 103. Powers of the City (a) The City shall have all the powers granted to towns and municipal corporations by the Constitution and laws of this State together with all the implied powers necessary to carry into execution all the powers granted, and it may enact ordinances not i…

§ 104. Ordinances; subjects The general grant of ordinance-promulgating authority in section 103 of this charter shall include the authority: (1) to adopt and enforce ordinances relating to making and installation of local improvements, including curbs, sidewalks, and storm drain…

§ 105. Ordinances; enforcement; adoption (a) The Council may provide penalties for the breach of any ordinance authorized by general law or this charter, may prosecute any person violating the same through the City Grand Juror or police officers who for such purposes shall be inf…

§ 106. Introduction; first and second readings; public hearing (a) Every ordinance shall be introduced in writing. The enacting clause of all ordinances shall be “The Council of the City of South Burlington hereby ordains . . .”. If the Council passes the proposed ordinance upon …

§ 107. Further consideration; final passage After the hearing, the Council may finally pass the ordinance with or without amendment, except that if the Council makes an amendment it shall cause a short, concise one-paragraph description of the effects of the amended ordinance, in…

§ 108. Effective date Every ordinance shall become effective upon passage unless otherwise specified or, if the ordinance be conditioned upon approval of the voters of the City, then upon a favorable vote of a majority of those voting thereon.

§ 109. Filing The City Clerk shall prepare and keep in the City Clerk’s office a book of ordinances that shall contain each ordinance finally passed by the Council together with a complete index of the ordinances according to subject matter.

§ 110. Annual City report The annual City report shall be made available to the legal voters of the City and School District not later than 20 days prior to the annual City and School District meeting. (Amended 2009, No. M-19 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. May 5, 2010.)

§ 1101. Membership (a) There shall be a Steering Committee, the members of which shall be the City Manager, the Superintendent of South Burlington School District, the members of the Council, and members of the Board of School Directors. (b) The Committee shall elect a Chair and …

§ 1102. Powers and duties (a) The Steering Committee shall hold public meetings on the City and School District budgets as set forth in this charter. The Committee shall review proposed programs to be implemented by the City and the School District in the next fiscal year, or for…

§ 111. Reservation of powers to the City Nothing in this charter shall be so construed as in any way to limit the powers and functions conferred upon the City of South Burlington and the Council of said City by general or special enactments in force or effect or hereafter enacted…

§ 1301. Fiscal year The fiscal year of the City and the City School District shall begin the first day of July and end on the last day of June of each calendar year. The fiscal year shall constitute the budget and accounting year as used in this charter.

§ 1302. Preparation and submission (a) The City Manager and Superintendent of Schools shall prepare the budgets for the City and School District, respectively, and submit same to the Council and Board of School Directors at such time as required by said boards. The budgets shall …

§ 1303. City and School District annual meeting warning and budget The proposed budgets of the City and School District shall be made available to the legal voters of the City and School District at least 20 days before the annual City and School District meeting. Not more than 4…

§ 1304. Amount to be raised by taxation (a) Budgets for the City and the South Burlington School District shall be adopted when approved by the voters. Upon adoption of the budgets for the City and the South Burlington School District, the amounts stated therein as the amount of …

§ 1305. Appropriation From the effective date of the budgets, the several amounts stated therein become appropriated to the several agencies and purposes therein named. (Amended 2007, No. M-14, § 7, eff. Nov. 11, 2007.)

§ 1306. Departmental budget The budget for all departments shall include all proposed expenditures, and the Council and Board of School Directors shall make a gross appropriation for each department for the ensuing fiscal year. The gross appropriation for each department of the C…

§ 1307. Transfers of appropriations The Manager and School Superintendent, respectively, may at any time transfer an unencumbered appropriation balance or portion thereof between general classifications of expenditures within an office, department, or agency under his or her juri…

§ 1501. Taxes on real and personal property Taxes on real and personal property shall be due and payable in no fewer than three equal installments on such dates of each tax year as shall be determined annually by the City Council. (Amended 1999, No. M-4, § 4, eff. April 27, 1999.…

§ 1502. Penalty A late charge of eight percent will be added to any tax not paid on or before the dates specified in section 1501 of this subchapter. In addition, interest at the rate of one percent per month will be added to any tax not paid on or before its due date, for each m…

§ 1503. Waiver of penalty (a) The City Manager may waive the penalty incurred by any taxpayer because of the late payment of the installment of real and personal property taxes, but only when all of the following requirements have been met: (1) the total amount of such installmen…

§ 1504. Business inventory and business personal property (a) The City shall exempt business inventory as defined in 32 V.S.A. § 3848 from the property tax. (b) Business personal property as defined in 32 V.S.A. § 3618(c) shall be appraised in accordance with the provisions of 32…

§ 1505. Tax stabilization agreements Notwithstanding any other provisions of this charter or the requirements of the general law of the State of Vermont, the City Council is authorized and empowered to negotiate and execute agreements between the City and taxpayers regarding asse…

§ 1506. Sales, rooms, meals, and alcoholic beverages tax (a) The City Council may impose a tax on those transactions in the City involving sales, rooms, meals, and alcoholic beverages that are subject to taxation by the State of Vermont. The authority of the City Council to impos…

§ 1701. Appointment and removal (a) All City employees not elected by the voters shall be appointed, supervised, and removed by the City Manager unless otherwise specified in this charter. There shall be no discrimination in employment on account of race, religion, or political a…

§ 1702. Personnel rules and regulations (a) The City Manager or his or her appointee shall be the Personnel Director. He or she shall prepare personnel rules and regulations protecting the interests of the City and of the employees. These rules and regulations must be approved by…

§ 1703. Ethical guideline The City Council shall further define business conduct and ethics in an approved guideline document to include at least the following: (1) No person in the service of the City shall either directly or indirectly give, render, pay, or receive any service …