N.Y. Second Class Cities Law § 79: Contracts and expenditures prohibited

§ 79. Contracts and expenditures prohibited. No officer, board, or

department shall, during any fiscal year, expend or contract to be

expended any money or incur any liability, or enter into any contract

which, by its terms, involves the expenditure of money for any of the

purposes for which provision is made in the annual estimate in excess of

the amounts appropriated in said estimate, as adopted by the common

council, for such officer, board, department or purpose, for such fiscal

year. Any contract, verbal or written, made in violation of this section

shall be null and void as to the city, and no moneys belonging to the

city shall be paid thereon, provided, however, that nothing herein

contained shall prevent the making of contracts for light or water, the

collection and disposal or the disposal of garbage, the collection and

removal of rubbish and ashes, the cleaning of streets, or the sprinkling

of streets or public places by railway cars, for periods exceeding one

year.

Nothing herein contained, however, shall be held to prohibit the

expenditure of such sums as may be made available, pursuant to section

seventy-six of this chapter or section 29.00 of the local finance law.