CHAPTER II: Commitment of expenditure and authorising officer's accounts (R)

In accordance with the provisions of Article 1 of Decree no. 2012-1246 of 7 November 2012 on public budgetary and accounting management, the fundamental principles contained in Title I of the said decree are applicable to communes and their public establishments.

The revenue and expenditure of the communes may only be made in accordance with the budget for each financial year or the amending decisions.

At the beginning of each year the mayor has a period of one month to proceed with the issue of collection vouchers and mandates corresponding to rights acquired and services rendered during the previous year or years. The accountant has the same period in which to record the collection vouchers and mandates issued by the mayor. In the event of special circumstances, a time limit may be extended for a…

Products of communes, communal and inter-communal public establishments and any public body resulting from an agreement between communes or between communes and any other public body or public establishment, which are not assessed and liquidated by the State tax departments in execution of the laws and regulations in force, are recovered: – either by virtue of enforceable judgments or contracts; – or by virtue of revenue orders or tax rolls…

Expenditure may only be paid from the appropriations allocated to each of them; these appropriations may not be used by the mayor for other expenditure.

No expenditure may be disbursed unless it has first been authorised by the mayor from an appropriation that has been duly opened.

Any mandate shall state the financial year and the appropriation to which the expenditure applies; it shall be accompanied, for the establishment of the debt and the regularity of the payment, by the documents indicated by articles D. 1617-19 to D. 1617-21.

Mayors remain responsible, under their own responsibility, for the remittance to beneficiaries of mandates ordered by them and payable in cash.

Beneficiaries of payment orders issued in settlement of sums owed by the commune may obtain payment of the sums shown on these vouchers as long as the claim has not been extinguished by the forfeiture or limitation periods applicable to it.

Expenditure commitment, authorisation and settlement operations are recorded in the administrative accounts, in accordance with the procedures laid down by order of the Minister for the Interior and the Minister for Finance.