First: No commitment shall be incurred against a variable expense line item unless the Budget Control Office of the Ministry of Finance has previously reserved, in the credit account of the respective budget, a sufficient sum to cover such payment.
Requests for special credits and requests for goods or services, at the time of their issuance, shall be signed by the respective budget official and, as applicable, by:
The Senior Chiefs mentioned above may only delegate their authorization to the officials directly responsible for the administrative unit to which the resources are assigned, within the budget programs of the National Budget Law.
No request for a special credit reservation or request for goods or services shall be processed if it does not meet these requirements. For the validity of commitments, the prior approval of the Contraloría General de la República is required.
Second: For the purposes of this law, the budget credits allocated to fixed expenses shall be deemed committed by the mere occurrence of the facts that generate the obligation provided for therein. Consequently, in the case of salaries, the very act of legally earning them constitutes the commitment.
Third: The National Budget constitutes an indivisible whole; therefore, during its oversight, the Executive Branch—by means of a decree that must be previously submitted for study and approval by the Contraloría General de la República—may incorporate into it the revenues and expenses contained in laws enacted that were not contemplated in the draft budget law for each year.
Fourth: The payment agreements for disbursing variable expense items from the budgets of the Legislative and Judicial Branches, the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones, and the Contraloría de la República shall be issued, in their respective areas, by those bodies, after prior approval of the corresponding request for goods or services or of the special credit reservation requests by the competent offices.
Fifth: Budget expenses charged to financing sources derived from public credit may be increased or decreased by decree of the Ministry of Finance, upon prior certification from the National Accounting Office and the Contraloría General de la República regarding the effectively available balance of such sources. In the same manner, the programs necessary to utilize balances from extraordinary budgets approved in previous years and not incorporated into the respective National Budget Law may be created.
Sixth: The Executive Branch is authorized to recodify, by decree, the ordinary and extraordinary budgets incorporated into the National Budget, in accordance with the general codification in effect.
Seventh: The Ministry of Finance may authorize the execution of up to three-twelfths of the expenses approved in the National Budget Law. Requests for special credit reservations and requests for goods or services that imply an expansion of the maximum quota of three-twelfths shall require, in addition to the signatures indicated in the first rule, the signatures of the Minister of Finance and the Tesorero Nacional.
Eighth: The Contraloría General de la República must exercise strict control over the use of funds authorized in the budget through subsidies to various state and private entities and bodies, and over those entities that receive or administer money, exemptions, or public assets on a temporary or permanent basis.
Once the Contraloría General de la República determines the entities that must submit a budget to it in order to access the sums referred to in this rule, it shall notify the Tesorería Nacional so that subsidies are not delivered to those that have not fulfilled said requirement or supplied any information concerning the application of public funds. No later than January 31 of each year, every state or private entity favored with subsidies must submit to the same Contraloría, with a copy to the Oficina de Presupuesto Nacional, the liquidation of the budgets corresponding to the previous year.
Ninth: Modification orders for construction contracts must be previously approved by the Budget Control Office of the Ministry of Finance. This office shall certify that the financial disbursements that the order may cause have economic content within the fiscal year of execution.
For this purpose, ministries must submit to said office a disbursement schedule for line item 5, showing separately the disbursements generated under the original contract from those derived from each requested modification order.
Tenth: The Executive Branch may issue bonds in national or foreign currency, the authorizations for which were previously granted by the Legislative Assembly, as well as those authorized in this law.
Eleventh: Public and private institutions shall receive the bonds that the Government issues to them for the payment of expenditure budget line items that have not been exhausted at the end of the fiscal year.
Twelfth: All line items of the expenditure budget that have not been exhausted at the end of the fiscal year shall be deemed automatically cancelled, in their entirety or in the portion that has not been disbursed or committed, at the close of the fiscal year for which they were approved.
However, all commitments effectively acquired that remain pending from the ending period may be settled or recognized within a term of six months, without the need for the authorization to appear in the new budget in effect.
For the purposes of this rule, commitments that were not acquired through a purchase order issued by the Proveeduría Nacional or through a special credit reservation may not be recognized.
In the event that, as of December 31 of each year, the tenders have been published in "La Gaceta" or distributed, the quotation forms, in the case of private tenders, provisional purchase orders may be issued.
Thirteenth: In the liquidation, as of December 31 of each year, of extraordinary budgets whose revenues originate from lines of credit with foreign organizations, the effective expenses that have not yet been reimbursed by those organizations before that date shall be counted as resources.
Among those reimbursements to be received, the recognized expenses for works that the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes) carries out under its administration, and whose reimbursement can only be requested from the foreign organizations once the works are completed, shall be included.
Fourteenth: The creation of a revolving fund of one hundred thousand colones (¢100,000.00) at the Proveeduría Nacional is authorized for the purpose of operating programs 607 and 608 of the Government of the United States of America, on surplus goods, the agreement for which was signed between the Governments of Costa Rica and the United States on May 9, 1972. The final users of the goods acquired under the mentioned agreement shall pay to the Proveeduría Nacional the proportional share of the transportation, insurance, and per diem costs caused by their importation or final destination, as well as the conditioning expenses, when these are necessary.
The Minister of Finance shall disburse the one hundred thousand colones for this fund to the Proveeduría Nacional from the Treasury funds.
Once the agreement is finalized, if it is not extended, the funds shall be returned in their entirety to the Treasury, the one hundred thousand colones for that fund.
Once the agreement is finalized, if it is not extended, the funds shall be returned in their entirety to the Tesorería Nacional. The Contraloría General de la República shall supervise the operations implicit in the program.
Fifteenth: For the operation of the Dirección de Adaptación Social, the Executive Branch is authorized to establish, through the Tesorería Nacional, a revolving fund up to the sum of one million colones, to facilitate the timely attention of the supply, goods, and services requirements of the Directorate that are indispensable for its functioning. This fund shall be managed in a checking account in a State bank, against which checks may be drawn only with the joint signatures of the Minister of Justice or their designee and the Accountant General of that Ministry.
The General Audit Office of the Ministry of Justice (currently in the Programa de Adaptación Social, according to the position schedule for 1979) is responsible for the control of the fund referred to in this rule, without prejudice to the external oversight vested in the Contraloría General de la República. This latter body shall dictate the regulations it deems pertinent for the operation of this fund.
Sixteenth: The Executive Branch is authorized to establish, at the Proveeduría Nacional, a revolving fund up to the sum of ten million colones, of which two million shall serve for the operation of the Almacén Nacional Escolar, through which payments for the purchases of materials and general services that constitute the normal purpose of its operation shall be made, and the proceeds from the sale of school supplies and materials that it carries out shall be reimbursed. The balance, eight million colones, shall serve to facilitate the timely attention of the requirements for furniture and office equipment, goods, and contractual services of the Public Administration. The Proveeduría Nacional may only provide goods and services acquired with the resources of this revolving fund when it receives requests for goods duly approved by the offices indicated in the first rule.
These funds shall be managed in a special checking account in a State bank, against which checks may be drawn only with the joint signatures of the Proveedor Nacional and the Minister of Finance. The Contraloría General de la República shall audit the movement of these funds periodically and at intervals not exceeding six months.
Seventeenth: The resources from the "GOCR-AID" two-stage fund that are allocated for the financing of a Periodic Household Survey Plan ("Plan Periódico en Encuesta de Hogares") shall be deposited in a checking account in one of the banks of the National Banking System, to the order of the Commission responsible for the execution of this program.
Eighteenth: The additional data to the budget line items approved in this law have the purpose of informing about the objective and goals intended to be achieved with the use of government resources, and do not constitute the body of this law.
Nineteenth: From the line items for foreign travel tickets and travel expenses, only expenses incurred by persons holding a continuous and effective position within the Government shall be covered, except in the cases of technical advisors from international organizations and official missions.
Twentieth: In accordance with the provisions of Article 51 of the Law of the Financial Administration of the Republic No. 1279 of May 2, 1951, all public revenues or resources detailed in this law, whatever their nature and the source from which they come, constitute the fund with which the expenses of the Public Administration shall be covered. In accordance with that same article, all products of revenues with a special purpose, according to the detail contained in this National Budget Law, are automatically transformed into subsidies.
Twenty-first: All sums approved for presentation expenses, as well as those for the food service of the Presidential House, shall be disbursed as fixed expenses and the submission of receipts shall not be required. The same procedure shall be followed for processing the expenses of consular offices, chancellery office expenses, and the expenses of the Economic Office in Washington.
Twenty-second: Increases or modifications to the salaries assigned to positions covered by the Civil Service Regime (Régimen de Servicio Civil) may not be decreed nor made effective except through the procedures established by the classification and evaluation system for positions of the same Regime, with the prior approval of the Dirección General de Servicio Civil.
Twenty-third: Personnel who have been providing their services in the educational institutions of the Compañía Bananera that have been transferred to the State shall be incorporated automatically into the Civil Service Regime (Régimen de Servicio Civil), when its members meet the minimum requirements established by the Descriptive Manual of Positions for the position they have been performing, except where the employees are interim employees or hold temporary appointments.
Members of the teaching staff who do not meet said requirements, but who as of the effective date of this rule have worked during the five immediately preceding years and whose services have been rated with a minimum mark of GOOD, shall also be considered regular employees.
Educators who find themselves in any of the preceding circumstances shall be declared available, in accordance with the regulation contained for such purpose in the Teaching Career Regulations (Reglamento de la Carrera Docente) and shall maintain said condition in the manner and for the term established by that regulation.
Both Teaching and Administrative personnel shall be remunerated by the Public Administration in accordance with the evaluations established by the Dirección General de Servicio Civil for the positions they effectively perform.
The benefits established through this rule shall produce the corresponding legal effects, including the recognition of annual seniority increases for all the immediately preceding years of uninterrupted service.
Twenty-fourth: The Executive Branch may not increase, by decree, the number of positions contemplated in the position-salary schedules for fixed positions and day laborers. The same limitation shall apply regarding the number of teaching hours and the positions in the position schedule of the educational centers of the Ministry of Public Education (Ministerio de Educación Pública).
Twenty-fifth: The Executive Branch, at the request of the Court and by means of executive decrees drafted by the Oficina de Presupuesto Nacional, shall make the necessary modifications to the Budget of the Judicial Branch, in everything related to the changes of posts and new posts that are indispensable for the application of the Code of Criminal Procedure, as well as to meet the expenses of the offices that it is necessary to create for the same purpose. The budget resources shall be taken from the sub-line item of salaries for fixed positions, final part, reserved for that purpose, and from the sub-line items modified by the decrees that may be issued.
Twenty-sixth: The educational centers that appear included in the National Budget Law, in the position schedule, and listed in the Forty-first Rule of the 1974 Budget, shall maintain their status quo regarding their governance by the religion teaching staff.
As for the appointment of new teaching staff, they shall be chosen by the respective administrations of those schools, from lists of five names to be provided by the Ministry of Public Education (Ministerio de Educación Pública) for each candidate.
The Ministry of Public Education shall request the respective rosters from the Teaching Department of the Civil Service, which shall form them through the respective public competition.
The teaching, administrative-teaching, and administrative staff in service, and those appointed in accordance with the preceding paragraph, are included and protected by the provisions of Law No. 2248 of September 5, 1958, and its amendments, and Law No. 4565 of May 4, 1970.
Twenty-seventh: The sums that the Ministry of Education pays to teaching staff for "alternating schedules" established by Article 118 of the Education Code, as well as the amounts established for "overload of functions," "zonaje," or other "supplementary wages," may only be increased by means of an executive decree, issued jointly by the Ministries of Public Education and Finance, with a prior favorable opinion from the Oficina de Presupuesto Nacional. Custodians and administrative staff of educational institutions are included in the provisions established in Article 118 of the Education Code.
Twenty-eighth: The Executive Branch, by decree of the Ministries of Finance and Public Education, the latter through and with the judgment of the Vice Minister, may modify the position schedules in programs 505, 506, 507, and 508 for the following purpose:
- a)To carry out transfers or changes of posts and teaching hours among the country's educational centers and among programs 505, 506, 507, and 508, provided the needs derive from the effective enrollment in the different educational centers.
- b)To create the educational centers it deems convenient, according to the needs of the different communities of the country, but only through the transfer of posts.
- c)To carry out transfers or changes of custodian posts among educational centers.
The decrees that derive from this rule may only create a number of positions or teaching hours equal to those that are reduced.
The transfer or change of posts shall be carried out without prejudice to the rights acquired by the employees appointed, in order to avoid overdrafts in the expense sub-line items. As a consequence of the application of this rule, the decrees shall include the changes corresponding to the base salaries, plus the supplementary remunerations.
For the correct application of this rule, the Ministry of Public Education must carry out, without prejudice to the rights acquired by the employees, the personnel adjustments caused by the decrease in enrollment in the various cycles, for which purpose it shall conduct a budget control in March on the position schedule of all educational institutions.
Likewise, transfers may be made in the variable expense items of the different budget programs of the Ministry of Education, from the amounts of those teaching posts that are not occupied by permanent or interim holders, as a result of the rationalization and internal redistribution of the education budget.
Twenty-ninth: The statute of limitations terms set forth by the Labor Code and the Regulations of the Civil Service Statute shall not begin to run for employees of the teaching career with respect to their claims or formal actions for payment of legal benefits, salaries, differences, or supplementary wages, except from the moment the Department, expressly by certified mail, communicates the significance of the action or that the corresponding payment is not feasible ex officio or through the ordinary payroll process, of which a written record shall always be kept. In any case, said claims or actions must refer to the school terms of the two years prior to the effective date of the National Budget Law of each year, and the personnel actions or resolutions must be duly approved, for which the Ministry of Public Education is authorized under this rule.
Thirtieth: When one or more disbursements are unduly issued in favor of the holder of a teaching, administrative-teaching, or administrative post who has been interimly substituted by another employee, such circumstance shall not be an impediment to issuing the corresponding disbursements to the latter. The Ministry of Finance shall take the necessary measures to secure the reimbursement of the sums unduly disbursed.
Thirty-first: Only the wages of laborers, artisans, workers, foremen, and master builders may be disbursed from the line items for day laborers authorized in the budgets. Administrative officials may not be paid from the teaching staff sub-line items.
Thirty-second: The maximum salaries recorded for the professional staff of the National Customs Service (Servicio Aduanero Nacional) may only be recognized for officials who meet the academic requirements that the Dirección General de Servicio Civil shall establish. The current employees who occupy positions subject to professionalization without meeting said requirements shall retain the right of ownership in their positions, but not the right to receive the revaluation arising from the fact of elevating the requirements of the respective position classes to a professional level. Should any vacancy occur in any of these positions, compliance with such requirements shall be mandatory for the new officials who occupy them.
Thirty-third: Notwithstanding the provisions of this law regarding the payment of salaries for the staff of Colegio San Luís Gonzaga in Cartago, the Junta Administrativa of that institution shall continue with the attributions that have always pertained to it, including the free appointment and removal of the administrative-teaching staff.
Thirty-fourth: The Ministry of Governance (Ministerio de Gobernación) is authorized to transfer the Telegraph Line Guard Corps to the Guardia de Asistencia Rural, appointing its members as auxiliaries of the latter, in the jurisdictions where it provides its services, without abandoning the functions they have been performing, to which they shall give priority.
Thirty-fifth: Any suspension, movement, or dismissal of Public Administration employees must be reported immediately to the Tesorería Nacional, with a copy to the Pagaduría Nacional and the corresponding personnel department.
The Pagaduría Nacional shall withhold the respective disbursements until the personnel office or Ministry and the Treasury carry out the settlement of the case. The official or employee who carries out the dismissal, suspension, or movement is under the unavoidable obligation to communicate such fact, no later than twenty-four hours after it has been agreed upon.
The same principle shall prevail for officials and employees of the Deaths Department of the Civil Registry regarding the death and change of civil status of State pensioners and those of its institutions.
If the communication is not made, the disbursements or sums that the State overpays for that reason must be assumed and paid by the employee or official responsible for the omission, regardless of their hierarchical level. Any person subject to the foregoing provisions must communicate it immediately to the Contraloría General de la República, in order to determine the responsibilities of the case.
Thirty-sixth: In the programs where the line item for per diem allowances (dietas) is contemplated, except for that of the Legislative Assembly, the members of the boards of directors may not earn more than four ordinary and two extraordinary per diem allowances per month.
For these purposes, the Tribunal de Servicio Civil shall govern itself in accordance with the provisions of Article 56 of the Regulations of the Civil Service Statute. The limitation established by this rule shall not apply to the Consejo Nacional de Salarios during the time of year when it must address a salary setting process.
Thirty-seventh: The salaries of the personnel paid through the "Servicios Especiales" sub-line item of the ministries shall in no case be higher than those earned by personnel incorporated into the Civil Service Regime (Régimen del Servicio Civil) performing similar functions, and they must meet the requirements demanded by the latter. The appointments of personnel paid through "Servicios Especiales" must be limited to what is indicated in the position schedule of each ministry; in cases where these details are not specified, they must be issued by Executive Decree. The same procedure shall apply to appointments made against the "Day Laborers" (Jornales) sub-line item of the ministries. These details of "Servicios Especiales and Jornales" may be modified by Executive Decree of the Ministry of Finance. The Dirección General de Servicio Civil shall be responsible for compliance with this rule and for the classification of the positions appearing in the special services position schedule.
Excepted from the foregoing are the labor contracts of the staff of program 509-Development of Technical Education (Convenio MEP-BID) of the Ministry of Public Education, until their expiration. New contracts, as well as extensions of existing ones, must comply with the provisions of the first paragraph of this rule.
Thirty-eighth. - The personnel appointed for the surveillance and maintenance of public order shall perform exclusively the functions inherent to their position.
The Contraloría General de la República shall oversee the exact fulfillment of this article.
Thirty-ninth: Persons who have substituted, or who substitute, on an interim basis for ambassadors, ministers, counselors, or chargés d'affaires shall be entitled to receive the sum that, in each case, is allocated for presentation expenses, which sum may be reduced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores), with prior approval from the Contraloría General de la República, provided that the official is in the respective country and the expenses are incurred there.
Fortieth: The Oficina Técnica Mecanizada, in collaboration with the Dirección General de Servicio Civil, shall present no later than April first of each year, to the Oficina de Presupuesto Nacional, with copies for the Ministries, the other two Branches, and the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones, the position schedules of the Central Government. These shall comprise the classification and evaluation as of that date, as well as the projections for the immediately following year requested by the aforementioned Oficina de Presupuesto Nacional, provided the computer programs in use permit it.
The Oficina de Presupuesto Nacional shall deliver to the Oficina Técnica Mecanizada the "Position Roster (Listin de puestos)" for the immediately following year no later than December 18 of each year.
The Oficina de Presupuesto Nacional shall incorporate into the Draft Budget Law for the following year those changes in the classification and evaluation of the positions that have been officially communicated to it by the Dirección General de Servicio Civil before July first of the current year, in the case of employees covered by said regime.
Forty-first: The sums that appear detailed in the Position Schedule shall be understood as maximum salaries; therefore, a lower remuneration may be agreed upon if deemed necessary, which shall not give rise to any claim against the State.
For employees protected by the Civil Service Statute, the base salary for each position shall be understood to be that indicated by the Dirección General de Servicio Civil, after conducting the study of classification and evaluation of positions, as ordered by the cited Statute and the Salary Law of the Public Administration.
The Dirección General de Servicio Civil shall not approve appointments in vacant posts that are duly classified and assigned to the Salary Scale of the Salary Law of the Public Administration.
Forty-second: The Executive Branch, by decree of the Ministry of Finance, may:
- a)Make transfers among line items for the public debt service, creating the sub-line items that are necessary.
- b)Recodify the position schedule of program 081- Foreign Service (Servicio Exterior), for the purpose of adapting it to the needs of the different political and economic situations that demand it, and may increase the number of positions provided that their cost does not exceed the monthly quota authorized for that purpose in the National Budget Law.
Similarly, it may recodify the details referring to the sub-line items of "Presentation expenses (Gasto de representación)," "Consular office expenses (Gastos de oficinas consulares)," "Economic office expenses," and "Chancellery office expenses (Gastos de oficinas de cancillerías)" of the cited program.
- c)Transfer surpluses of salaries for fixed positions to the Public debt service, and to the line items for the payment of pensions charged to the Central Government, for the purpose of covering shortfalls.
Forty-third: In the second semester of the year, transfers may be ordered among the expenses authorized in the National Budget Law by Executive Decree, except those relating to transfer programs.
In budgets financed with resources from external credit, transfers from personal services to variable expenses or vice versa shall be permitted by Executive Decree.
Transfers may be ordered, creating a new type of expense without thereby modifying the total amount of resources assigned to the program, when it proves indispensable for its better execution.
However, the sums that the National Budget Law authorizes for confidential expenses may not be increased by Executive Decree, nor may transfers be made from expenses authorized with different financing sources.
Requests for transfers between items of the same program must be submitted in writing and duly justified by the heads of the budget programs, authorized by the respective hierarchical superior. In addition, the corresponding budget officer shall certify the available balance of the sub-items being reduced.
The aforementioned transfers may be made at any time to address emergency or public calamity situations, previously declared by agreement of the Executive Branch.
Forty-fourth: The Executive Branch is authorized to allocate equipment, materials, and services obtained through the appropriations set forth in the Ordinary and Extraordinary Budgets, to the execution of public benefit works or activities, which may be carried out jointly with municipalities, social protection boards, education boards, school administrative boards, or community development associations.
It may also deliver those materials and services to the aforementioned institutions as collaboration for executing works and may directly contract with them for the construction, maintenance, and improvement of public buildings, highways, roads, bridges, and all kinds of public works, as well as furniture for any of the aforementioned official entities, covering the expenses that such contracts cause, charged to the items designated for force-account works.
Forty-fifth: All real property (bienes inmuebles) that the State, the municipalities, or the autonomous institutions acquire, through this budget, are exempt from the payment of registration fees and all types of taxes.
Forty-sixth: The acquisition, by fire departments, of all necessary equipment to fulfill their work, which is not produced in the country, is exempted from the payment of all kinds of taxes.
Forty-seventh: The taxes and fees that encumber the registration of public and private documents in the General Traffic Comptroller’s Office (Contaduría General de Tránsito), in which the sale, exchange, donation, or transfer of a vehicle is recorded, shall be paid by deposit in the Main Revenue Administration (Administración Principal de Rentas), according to the actual value of each vehicle, except for the fiscal stamp tax, when it has been satisfied in the respective probate proceeding for the adjudication of the vehicle and is so recorded in the respective public deed under the notary's attestation.
Forty-eighth: Part of the resources from banana export duties, created by Law No. 5515 of April 19, 1974, shall be allocated to constitute a “Banana Development Fund” (Fondo de Fomento Bananero) which shall be administered by the Asociación Bananera Nacional S.A. (ASBANA) for the operation of the Banana Development Plan (Plan de Fomento Bananero), which seeks to provide the adequate conditions to ensure that the banana activity achieves and maintains high levels of productivity and thereby strives for an increase in exportable banana production.
Forty-ninth: The Administrative Board of the National Directorate of Communications (Junta Administrativa de la Dirección Nacional de Comunicaciones) shall recognize a monthly increase of ¢300.00 (three hundred colones) to those pensioners whose allotments are between ¢700.00 and ¢1,200 per month.
Fiftieth: Article 1 of Law No. 313 of August 23, 1939, and its amendments, is added with a final paragraph that shall read:
“Those persons who held the condition of First Lady shall have the right to a full pension equal to that of the widows of former presidents or former vice presidents of the republic.” Fifty-first: The sum allocated to the administration of the National Teachers’ Pensions (pensiones del Magisterio Nacional) shall be charged to the Pension and Retirement Fund (Fondo de Pensiones y Jubilaciones), affecting the payments of public servants of national education, active or retired, at a rate of one per thousand.
Fifty-second: The Technical Council (Consejo Técnico), governing body of the Research and Development Center for Technical Education (C.I.P.E.T.) of the Ministry of Public Education (Ministerio de Educación Pública), in addition to the constitution, functions, and powers indicated in Decree No. 2002-E of May 6, 1976 (amended by No. 258-E of July 29 of the same year), shall exercise and hold the functions and powers that the Education Code (Código de Educación) (Title III, Articles 406 to 409) grants to the Administrative Boards of secondary educational institutions.
Fifty-third: The Administrative Board of the Quepos Wharf (Junta Administrativa del Muelle de Quepos) is authorized to directly manage the income from the operation of said wharf, all subject to the provisions of the Financial Administration Law (Ley de la Administración Financiera), allocating the resources to the administration, operation, maintenance, and improvements of its facilities. This article shall be applicable until the respective decree by which the Pacific Ports Institute (Instituto de Puertos del Pacífico) assumes the Quepos Wharf enters into force.
Fifty-fourth: The municipalities of the country are authorized to dispose of, free of taxes, all vehicles and equipment with five or more years of use and that need to be renewed in accordance with the procedures of the Financial Administration Law of the Republic (Ley de la Administración Financiera de la República).
Fifty-fifth: When two or more educational institutions work in the same school building, each one shall have the right to use all of the physical facilities, including workshops, libraries, laboratories, etc., in their corresponding shifts.
The director and the teachers shall be responsible for their care during the corresponding workday.
Fifty-sixth: The municipalities of the country are authorized to pay maximum salaries to municipal executives, according to the following table:
| with | budget | up to | Of | ¢ | 1,000,000 | a maximum | salary | of | ¢ | 3,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Of | ¢1,000,001 | Up to | Of | 1,500,000 | a maximum | salary | of | 3,500 | ||
| Of | 1,500,001 | Up to | Of | 2,000,000 | a maximum | salary | of | 4,000 | ||
| Of | 2,000,001 | Up to | Of | 3,000,000 | a maximum | salary | of | 4,500 | ||
| Of | 3,000,001 | Up to | Of | 4,000,000 | a maximum | salary | of | 5,000 | ||
| Of | 4,000,001 | Up to | Of | 5,000,000 | a maximum | salary | of | 5,500 | ||
| Of | 5,000,001 | Up to | Of | 7,500,000 | a maximum | salary | of | 6,000 | ||
| Of | 7,500,001 | Up to | Of | 10,000,000 | a maximum | salary | of | 8,500 | ||
| Of | 10,000,001 | Up to | Of | 20,000,000 | a maximum | salary | of | 9,500 | ||
| Of | 20,000,001 | Up to | Of | 40,000,000 | a maximum | salary | of | 10,500 |
The Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic (Contraloría General de la República) and the Institute for Municipal Development and Advisory (Instituto de Fomento y Asesoría Municipal) shall set the salaries of municipal executives, based on the amount of the municipal budgets referred to in this article.
Fifty-seventh: The Executive Branch is authorized to pay the thirteenth-month year-end bonus (aguinaldo decimotercer mes) for the year 1980, charged to the corresponding expense items of the 1981 National Budget.
Fifty-eighth: Municipalities whose annual budget is up to ¢2,000,000 (two million colones) are authorized to pay their councilors (regidores) for only six sessions per month. Those with a budget from ¢2,000,001 (two million one colones) up to ¢3,000,000 (three million colones) may pay up to eight sessions; those with a budget from ¢3,000,001 (three million one colón) up to ¢10,000,000 (ten million colones) may pay up to ten sessions; and those with a budget greater than the last indicated figure may pay up to fifteen sessions.
Fifty-ninth: Any construction, expansion, or improvement carried out in buildings intended for official educational centers, whether classrooms, dining halls, gymnasiums, workshops, etc., with funds from this budget, from international loans, and other public funds, shall be considered property of the State and must be registered in the name of the Ministry of Public Education (Ministerio de Educación Pública). The same criterion shall be applicable to the purchase of properties destined for education.
The Ministry of Public Education shall have the authority to authorize the use of all official educational facilities, taking into consideration the general interests of education and culture and the particular interests of the community.
Sixty-first: The Ministries of Public Works and Transport (Obras Públicas y Transportes) and of Agriculture and Livestock (Agricultura y Ganadería) are authorized to contract the services of vehicles owned by their officials, using for payment the sums included in the corresponding budget line. The contracting of the services of those vehicles must be done in accordance with the regulation prepared by the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic.
Sixty-second: Municipalities, autonomous institutions, and semi-autonomous institutions must submit their budgets to the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic with a copy for the National Budget Office (Oficina de Presupuesto Nacional), according to the recommendations of the former regarding budget definitions (revenues or expenditures) and the formal presentation of the corresponding budget. The contracting of the services of those vehicles must be done for each year; they shall define and quantify the objectives and goals of the budget programs.
Sixty-third: Only those employees and officials referred to in the Civil Service Statute (Estatuto del Servicio Civil) itself and specific laws shall be excluded from the Civil Service regime (régimen de Servicio Civil).
Sixty-fourth: The following paragraph is added to Article 13 of Law No. 148 of August 23, 1943, and its amendments: “Former members of the Supreme Branches (Supremos Poderes), covered by this regime, or their widows, shall have the right to a pension of no less than five thousand colones per month, provided they have no other income that allows them to live with decorum.” Sixty-fifth: The application of the job classification and evaluation studies (estudios de clasificación y valoración de puestos) carried out by the General Directorate of Civil Service (Dirección General de Servicio Civil) in accordance with Standard 37 of the 1978 Ordinary Budget is suspended, and these positions, as well as those created in the 1979 and 1980 Budgets, are maintained excluded from the Civil Service until the new Organic Law of the General Directorate of Social Adaptation (Dirección General de Adaptación Social) is approved, currently under study with a majority report from the Government and Administration Committee. Once the Organic Law is approved, the Civil Service shall conduct a comprehensive study to assign all positions that will form the new structure of the General Directorate of Social Adaptation.
Sixty-sixth: Any of the banks of the National Banking System (Sistema Bancario Nacional) is authorized to purchase from the National Treasury (Tesorería Nacional) bonds denominated “Centro Cívico Nacional 10% 1977” up to the sum of ¢6,000,000, as contemplated in Article 6 of Law No. 5232, so that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores) may expropriate or acquire by any other legal mechanism the land adjacent to the Casa Amarilla. The State Notary’s Office (Notaría del Estado) shall be responsible for processing the property transfers, and the Public Property Registry (Registro Público de la Propiedad) shall make the registrations, which shall be exempt from all fees and taxes.
Sixty-seventh: The Board of Directors of the Municipal Theater of San José (Junta Directa del Teatro Municipal de San José) is authorized to transfer to the National Buildings Directorate (Dirección de Edificaciones Nacionales) of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport the balance that may exist from the item allocated in its favor in Law No. 6305 of 12/27/78, Program 765, code 664-254-01-132-28, for operation and administration expenses, which shall be allocated to the reconstruction works of the Teatro Raventós.
Sixty-eighth: The Education Board of Los Ángeles de Cartago (Junta de Educación de los Ángeles de Cartago) is authorized to sell part of its property, registered in the Cartago Registry Section, Volume 1149, Folio 450, Entry E, No. 30,777, to the Association of Retired Educators of Cartago (Asociación de Educadores Pensionados de Cartago), which shall build on said land the House of Retired Educators of Cartago.
Sixty-ninth: With prior authorization from the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic, the University College of Cartago (Colegio Universitario de Cartago) is authorized to use the balances in its possession of resources transferred by the General Directorate of Family Allowances (Dirección General de Asignaciones Familiares) to cover the expenses of the Community Health degree program in other administrative and teaching expenses.
Seventieth: The Ministry of Government and Police (Ministerio de Gobernación y Policía) is authorized to transfer to the Social Culture Center of the Canton of San Ramón (Centro de Cultura Social del Cantón de San Ramón) the lot where the facilities of the Cantonal Delegation of the Rural Guard are located. This transfer shall be made once the new facilities of the Rural Guard are completed and shall be exempt from the payment of all types of taxes.
Seventy-first: The Institute of Lands and Colonization ITCO (Instituto de Tierras y Colonización ITCO) is authorized to donate to the Building Board of El Humo de Pejibaye (Junta Edificadora de El Humo de Pejibaye), canton of Jiménez, a lot for the construction of the Catholic temple.
Seventy-second: The Ministry of Public Security (Ministerio de Seguridad Pública) is authorized to transfer, at no cost, to the Ministry of Culture, Youth, and Sports (Ministerio de Cultura, Juventud y Deportes) the facilities where the Cartago Barracks (Cuartel de Cartago) are currently located, to be used for a cultural theater, museum, and other strictly cultural activities.
The transfer shall become effective from the moment the Executive Branch duly installs two police stations that guarantee order and surveillance in the city of Cartago.
Seventy-third: The Municipality of the canton of El Guarco is authorized to exempt, on a one-time basis, the Building Board (Junta Edificadora) from the payment of construction fees for the new parish temple of Tejar.
Seventy-fourth: In the second semester of the year, the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic may authorize the change of purpose of the specific items included in the current budget law, and starting from January 1st of the current year, the items included in the budget law of the preceding fiscal year. For this purpose, the request made to the Comptroller’s Office must be submitted in writing with the legal formalities, and be backed by formal agreements of the agency or entity to which the resources had been assigned. In the agreement it adopts to accept the request, the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic must indicate that it specifically and fully accepts the reasons that support the requested change.
Given the accumulated surplus from unused specific items and due to the great need for resources suffered by many entities, the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic is empowered to authorize changes in the purpose of specific items assigned before December 31, 1978. In these cases, only the existence of the agreement adopted by the entity or agency that held the funds shall be required.
Seventy-fifth: The Board of the National Archive (Junta del Archivo Nacional) is authorized to donate to the Roblealto Association for Child Welfare (Asociación Roblealto Pro-Bienestar del Niño) a lot of 1,500 square meters to be segregated from property No. 110,015, registered in Volume 1578, Folio 446, Entry 4, for the construction of a childcare center and its dependencies.
Seventy-sixth: The validity of Transitory Provision I of the Organic Law of the National Production Council (Consejo Nacional de Producción) No. 6050 of March 14, 1977, is extended so that it covers the period from August 1, 1979, to August 31, 1980.
Seventy-seventh: The banks of the National Banking System are authorized to grant a loan to the Government of the Republic, represented by the Administrative Board of the National Registry (Junta Administrativa del Registro Nacional), up to the sum of twenty million colones, which shall be allocated to the construction of a building to house the different departments of the National Registry, secured by a first-degree mortgage on properties number 135,526, registered in Volume 1,500, Folio 568, Entry 1; number 87,384, Volume 1070, Folio 163, Entry 7; number 87,382, registered in Volume 1070, Folio 38, Entry 3; number 116,660, registered in Volumes 1354-1872, Folios 241-437, and Entries 1-2, all lands of the Property Registry.
Furthermore, properties number 49,977, registered in Volume 823, Folios 505 and 541, Entries 8 and 13; number 49,971, registered in Volumes 823, Folios 503 and 479, and Entries 7 and 16, expropriated from Arabela Carvajal Solano and others. Property number 49,879, registered in Volume 823, Folio 507, Entry No. 9, expropriated from Inés Barboza Flores, and finally the lot segregated through an expropriation process from the property owned by Haciendas Unidas S.A., number 245,640, registered in Volume No. 2424, Folio 319, Entry No. 1, according to cadastral map No. 23,529-75, these latter ones pending registration in the name of the State, all in the San José Registry Section, it is understood that the current legal limitations do not apply for the granting of this credit. For the payment of the respective operation, the funds from the Administrative Board of the National Registry shall be used.
Seventy-eighth: The Administrative Board of the National Registry is authorized during 1980 to transfer to the Single Fund of the Government of Costa Rica (Caja Única del Gobierno de Costa Rica) the sums of one million one hundred twenty thousand five hundred twenty-nine colones, two million six hundred thirty-two thousand colones, and two million ninety-two thousand five hundred twenty-seven colones, corresponding to the years 1978, 1979, and 1980, respectively, for the purpose of satisfying the budget commitment of program 783 "Administration of the National Registry." Seventy-ninth: The Executive Branch is authorized to make, by decree, the necessary adjustments in the Budget of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, so that the personnel paid under the sub-item for day-laborers (jornales) receive the salary corresponding to Sundays.
Eightieth: The General Directorate of Civil Service must carry out a comprehensive study of the different salary systems existing in the public sector and present it, with the corresponding report, to the Fiscal Affairs Committee of the Legislative Assembly (Comisión de Asuntos Hacendarios de la Asamblea Legislativa), no later than February 1, 1980. In addition, it must present a draft bill establishing a uniform salary system for general application to the public sector.
Eighty-first: The Technical Council for Social Medical Assistance (Consejo Técnico de Asistencia Médico Social) is authorized to donate, from the funds from the Social Protection Board of Liberia (Junta de Protección Social de Liberia), the sum of ¢300,000 to the Education Board of Liberia (Junta de Educación de Liberia), which shall invest said sum in the construction of the library.
Eighty-second: Law No. 6305 of 12/18/78 is amended in Title 30, Program 875, so that where it says “National Highway Beautification Committee” (Comité de Embellecimiento de Carreteras Nacionales), it shall read “National Highway Safety and Beautification Association” (Asociación de Seguridad y Embellecimiento de Carreteras Nacionales).
Eighty-third: Law No. 6305 of 12/18/78 is amended in Title 30, Program 879, code 731-375, so that where it says “Joint Institute of Social Assistance, purchase of land and construction of a housing plan for the canton of Tibás,” it shall read “for the purchase of garbage collection vehicles for the canton of Tibás and miscellaneous expenses, ¢1,000,000.” Eighty-fourth: The General Directorate of Social Development and Family Allowances (Dirección General de Desarrollo Social y Asignaciones Familiares) is authorized to contract with the Temporalities of the Church (Temporalidades de la Iglesia) for the use of the Casa Cural of San Francisco de Calle Blancos de Goicochea to install a Childcare Center (Guardería Infantil) for a period to be agreed upon, and to pay as consideration the maximum sum of two hundred thousand colones, for the construction of a dwelling on land belonging to those temporalities to be used as a Casa Cural.
Eighty-fifth: The circumstance that the position roster of the Program “National Customs Service” (Servicio Nacional de Aduanas) has not been divided by Departments and Units, and that a set of positions of the same class has been grouped under a single subsection, does not authorize that the servants occupying such positions may be transferred, to their detriment, to a different place or dependency without their consent.
Eighty-sixth: On a one-time basis, the Municipality of the Central Canton of San José is authorized to allocate, from the proceeds of Law No. 6282 of August 14, 1979, the sum of ¢3,261,835 to make effective the salary increases agreed upon in the collective bargaining agreement that was ratified by said municipal corporation.
Eighty-seventh: The Executive Branch is authorized to budgetarily dispose of unused bond issues and the balances of other equally unused issues, which have been previously authorized by the Legislative Assembly, up to the sum of three hundred fifty million colones. The issues used under this authorization shall be specifically destined to finance investment works in accordance with the general plans of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, or to finance sports facilities serving the different communities of the country in accordance with the plan presented by the Ministry of Culture, Youth, and Sports, and, in this case, up to an amount of ¢5,000,000. The Executive Branch is authorized to make the budget breakdown by Executive Decree.
Eighty-eighth: Article 1 of Law No. 5867 of December 15, 1975, is amended to read as follows: