No subdivision or taxing unit shall:
In addition to providing the certification for expenditures as specified in this division, a subdivision also may make expenditures, issue orders for payment, and make contracts or obligations calling for or requiring the payment of money made and assumed for specified permitted purposes from a specific line-item appropriation account in a specified fund for a sum of money upon the certification by the fiscal officer of the subdivision that this sum of money has been lawfully appropriated, authorized, or directed for a permitted purpose and is in the treasury or in the process of collection to the credit of the specific line-item appropriation account in the specified fund free from previous and then-outstanding obligations or certifications; provided that the aggregate sum of money included in and called for by the expenditures, orders, and obligations shall not exceed the certified sum. The purposes for which a subdivision may lawfully appropriate, authorize, or issue such a certificate are the services of an accountant, architect, attorney at law, physician, professional engineer, construction project manager, consultant, surveyor, or appraiser by or on behalf of the subdivision or contracting authority; fuel oil, gasoline, food items, roadway materials, and utilities; and any purchases exempt from competitive bidding under section 125.04 of the Revised Code and any other specific expenditure that is a recurring and reasonably predictable operating expense. Such a certification shall not extend beyond the end of the fiscal year or, in the case of a board of county commissioners that has established a quarterly spending plan under section 5705.392 of the Revised Code, beyond the quarter to which the plan applies. Such a certificate shall be signed by the fiscal officer and may, but need not, be limited to a specific vendor. An itemized statement of obligations incurred and expenditures made under such a certificate shall be rendered to the fiscal officer for each certificate issued. More than one such certificate may be outstanding at any time.
In any case in which a contract is entered into upon a per unit basis, the head of the department, board, or commission for the benefit of which the contract is made shall make an estimate of the total amount to become due upon such contract, which estimate shall be certified in writing to the fiscal officer of the subdivision. Such a contract may be entered into if the appropriation covers such estimate, or so much thereof as may be due during the current year. In such a case the certificate of the fiscal officer based upon the estimate shall be a sufficient compliance with the law requiring a certificate.
Any certificate of the fiscal officer attached to a contract shall be binding upon the political subdivision as to the facts set forth therein. Upon request of any person receiving an order or entering into a contract with any political subdivision, the certificate of the fiscal officer shall be attached to such order or contract. "Contract" as used in this section excludes current payrolls of regular employees and officers.
No district authority shall, in transacting its own affairs, do any of the things prohibited to a subdivision by this section, but the appropriation referred to shall become the appropriation by the district authority, and the fiscal officer referred to shall mean the fiscal officer of the district authority.
R.C. § 5705.41