The council of every city and town shall annually cause to be made up and entered on its journals an account of all sums lawfully chargeable on the city or town which ought to be paid within one year and order the imposition of taxes in such amount as in their opinion is necessary to be raised. Any such governing body may provide that if any taxpayer owns tangible personal property of such small value that the local levies thereon for the year result in a tax of less than fifteen dollars, such tax may be collected as provided by ordinance or such property may be omitted from the personal property book and no assessment made thereon.

The imposition of taxes or the collection of such taxes shall not constitute an appropriation nor an obligation or duty to appropriate any funds by the council of any city or town for any purpose, expenditure, or contemplated expenditure. No part of the funds raised by the general city or town taxes shall be considered available, allocated, or expended for any purpose until there has been an appropriation of funds for that expenditure or purpose by the council either annually, semiannually, quarterly, or monthly. There shall be no mandatory duty upon the council of any city or town to appropriate any funds raised by general city or town taxes except to pay the principal and interest on bonds and other legal obligations of the city or town and to pay obligations of the city or town or its agencies and departments arising under contracts executed or approved by the council, unless otherwise specifically provided by statute. Any funds collected and not expended in any fiscal year shall be carried over to the succeeding fiscal years and shall be available for appropriation for any governmental purposes in those years. This section shall be applicable to all cities and towns in the Commonwealth and the provisions of any charter of any city or town inconsistent or in conflict with this section shall be inoperative to the extent of such inconsistency or conflict.

Code 1950, § 58-844; 1950, p. 317; 1959, Ex. Sess., c. 52; 1971, Ex. Sess., c. 11; 1972, c. 340; 1984, c. 675; 1988, c. 430; 1989, c. 81; 1994, c. 252.