P.R. Laws tit. 21, § 4354
The obligation and disbursement of municipal public funds shall only be done to commit or pay for services, supplies of materials and equipment, claims or any other items authorized by laws, ordinance or resolution approved to such effects and by the regulations adopted by virtue thereof.
(a) Credits authorized for the attention of a specific fiscal year shall be applied exclusively to the payment of expenses legitimately obligated and incurred during the respective year, or to the payment of obligations legally contracted and duly entered in the municipality’s books during said year.
(b) No amounts whatsoever may be spent or obligated in a fiscal year that exceed the appropriations and funds authorized by ordinances or resolutions for said year. Nor shall the municipality be committed in any way through any contract or negotiation for the future payment of amounts that exceed the appropriations and the funds. Leasing agreements for chattels and real property and services shall be excluded from the provisions of this subsection.
(c) Grants, gifts, legacies and other similar donations received by the municipality destined to specific municipal works and services shall only be used to attend to the purposes for which they are granted or given, unless they are surpluses which were not provided for when the grant was made.
(d) All disbursements made by the municipality shall be made directly to the persons or entities that rendered the services or furnished the supplies or materials, except in those cases that there is a contract for the assignment of the credit and the regulatory requirements of the Commissioner have been met.
(e) It is hereby prohibited for the municipalities to use the contributions or quotas withheld from to municipal employees for purposes other than those for which they have been authorized by said employees or by law. The those withholding and use of the contributions and quotas of municipal employees shall not exceed the term established by the laws that authorize such withholdings, with which the municipality shall promptly comply, in such a manner that the remittance of these funds to the different entities shall be carried out diligently.
(f) The use of credit cards as disbursement mechanisms to defray official expenses is hereby limited and restricted exclusively to the mayors and presidents of the municipal legislatures.
No disbursement whatsoever shall be authorized with regard to contracts without the evidence that the contract was sent to the Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico as provided in 97 et seq. of Title 2 and its regulations.
History —Aug. 30, 1991, No. 81, § 8.004; Oct. 29, 1992, No. 84, § 36; May 21, 2002, No. 66, § 1; Aug. 26, 2005, No. 103, § 2, eff. 30 days after Aug. 26, 2005.