390                               LAWS OF MARYLAND                        [CH. 258

(i) Do such other things in relation to the fiscal or financial af-
fairs of the town as the mayor or the council may require or as may
be required elsewhere in this charter.

45.   (Bond of Clerk-Treasurer.) The clerk-treasurer shall provide
a bond with such corporate surety and in such amount as the council
by ordinance may require.

46.    (Fiscal Year.) The town shall operate on an annual budget.
The fiscal year of the town shall begin on the first day of July and
shall end on the last day of June in each year. Such fiscal year shall
constitute the tax year, the budget year, and the accounting year.

47.   (Budget.) The mayor, on such date as the council by ordinance
shall determine, but at least thirty-two days before the beginning of
any fiscal year, shall submit a budget to the council. The budget shall
provide a complete financial plan for the budget year and shall contain
estimates of anticipated revenues and proposed expenditures for the
coming year. The total of the anticipated revenues shall equal or
exceed the total of the proposed expenditures. The budget shall be
a public record in the office of the clerk-treasurer, open to public
inspection by anyone during normal business hours.

48.    (Budget Adoption.) Before adopting the budget the council
shall hold a public hearing thereon AFTER TWO WEEKS NOTICE
THEREOF IN SOME NEWSPAPER OR NEWSPAPERS HAVING
GENERAL CIRCULATION WITHIN THE MUNICIPALITY.
The council may insert new items or may increase or decrease the
items of the budget. Where the council shall increase the total
proposed expenditures it shall also increase the total anticipated
revenues in an amount at least equal to such total proposed expendi-
tures. The budget shall be prepared and adopted in the form of an
ordinance. A favorable vote of at least a majority of the total elected
membership of the council shall be necessary for adoption.

49.    (Appropriations.) No public money may be expended with-
out having been appropriated by the council. From the effective date
of the budget, the several amounts stated therein as proposed ex-
penditures shall be and become appropriated to the several objects
and purposes named therein.

50.    (Transfer of Funds.) Any transfer of funds between major
appropriations for different purposes by the mayor must be ap-
proved by the council before becoming effective.

51.    (Over-expenditure forbidden.) No officer or employee shall
during any budget year expend or contract to expend any money or
incur any liability or enter into any contract which by its terms in-
volves the expenditure of money for any purpose, in excess of the
amounts appropriated for or transferred to that general classifica-
tion of expenditure pursuant to this charter. Any contract, verbal
or written, made in violation of this charter shall be null and void.
Nothing in this section contained, however, shall prevent the making
of contracts or the spending of money for capital improvements to be
financed in ivhole or in part by the issuance of bonds, nor the making
of contracts of lease or for services for a period exceeding the budget