Political Constitution of Colombia (1991)

The councils have the following competences:

To regulate the functions and efficient delivery of the services for which the municipality is responsible.

To adopt the appropriate plans and programs of economic and social development and of public works.

To authorize the mayor to make contracts and exercise temporarily specific functions among those for which the council is responsible.

To vote for taxes and local expenditures in accordance with the Constitution and the relevant statute.

To dictate the organic budgetary regulations and issue annually the budget of revenues and expenditures.

To determine the structure of the municipal administration and the functions of their dependencies; the scales of remuneration appropriate to the various categories of employees; create at the initiative of the mayor public institutions and industrial or commercial enterprises and authorize the formation of mixed [public-private] companies.

To regulate the uses of the land and, within the limits determined by statute, oversee and control the activities connected with the construction and sale of housing slated for residences.

To elect a representative for the period determined by statute and the other functionaries that the latter stipulates.

To dictate the regulations necessary for the control, preservation, and defense of the ecological and cultural patrimony of the municipality.

Other competences which the Constitution or statutes assign them.

To summon and invite the secretaries of the office of the mayor to attend the sessions of the council in the capitals of the departments and the municipalities with more than twenty-five thousand inhabitants. The summons must be made not less than five days prior to a session and be formulated in the form of a written questionnaire. In case the secretaries do not attend, without an excuse accepted by the district or municipal council, the latter may table a motion of censure. The secretaries must be heard at the session for which they were summoned, without prejudice to the possibility that the discussion continues at subsequent sessions following a decision of the council. The discussion may not extend to other issues than those in the questionnaire and shall be placed at the top of the session’s agenda.

The councils of the other municipalities may summon and invite the secretaries of the office of the mayor to attend the sessions of the council. The summons must be made not less than five days prior to a session and be formulated in the form of a written questionnaire. In case the secretaries do not attend, without an excuse accepted by the district or municipal council, any of its members may table a motion with observations which may not lead to the resignation of the respective official. Its approval shall require the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members of the body.

To table a motion of censure with respect to the secretaries of the office of the mayor for matters related to their official functions, or for ignoring the requests or summons of the district or municipal council. The motion of censure must be tabled by one half of the members of the district or municipal council plus one. The vote shall take place between the third and 10th day following the end of the discussion, with a public hearing of the respective official. Approval of the motion shall require the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members of the relevant body. Once the motion is approved, the official shall be relieved of his/her functions. If it is voted down, no new motion of censure may be proposed on the same matter unless it is supported by new facts. The resignation of the official against which the censure motion has been tabled does not prevent the latter from being approved in accordance with the provisions of this Article.