Final budget.

(a) Within a reasonable time after the invitation for questions and comments on the tentative budget as provided for in Section 45-48-70.54, but before September 30, the commission shall adopt and approve a final budget for the ensuing fiscal year which budget may not thereafter be amended or revised except by a majority vote of the entire commission. The budget may not provide for a deficit.

(b) The expenditures of no commissioner, office, department, board, institution, commission, or agency shall exceed the amount originally provided for in the final budget unless the same be amended or revised to provide for such expenditure as herein provided. Any officer of the county or department official, including the chair of the county commission, any associate county commissioner, sheriff, coroner, tax assessor, tax collector, or judge of probate, who willfully violates any of the provisions of this budget shall be personally liable for the amount by which the expenditures of his or her district, office, department, board, institution, commission, or agency exceeds the amount set by the final budget or the budget as it may be amended.

(c) If the final budget shall be amended all elected county officials and the heads of all county departments, boards, or agencies receiving funding from the budget shall be immediately notified by the chair in writing of the amendment.

(d) The chair shall regularly review expenditures of all offices, departments, boards, commissions, and agencies receiving funds through the budget and shall forthwith notify any department head or other official in charge when it appears that the office, department, board, institution, commission, or agency will exceed its budget for the year. If the appropriate official or department head fails to take remedial action the chair may not sign further warrants or checks in payments of expenditures of the office, department, board, commission, or agency after the total appropriation of the office, department, board, commission, or agency has been expended.

(e) During that period of the last year of their term of office which is a part of the fiscal year that shall end after their term of office, the chair and the associate members of the commission shall not spend more than 1/8th of any amount budgeted to them. Provided however, this subsection does not apply to any bonded indebtedness regularly and lawfully coming due during that period of time or to any warrants or other obligations for which specific revenue of the county shall have been previously pledged. Any chair or associate member of the commission who shall willfully violate this section shall be personally liable to the county for the amount of the unauthorized expenditure.

(Act 79-466, p. 848, § 6; Act 2000-465, p. 867, § 1.)