The text
Section 10.01. - Fiscal Year.#
The fiscal year of the Town shall begin on the first day of July and end on the last day of June in the following year. As used in this Charter, the term "budget year" shall mean the fiscal year for which any particular budget is adopted and in which it is administered. The fiscal year shall also be the budget year and accounting year.
Section 10.02. - Budget Board.#
There shall be a Budget Board of five (5) regular members and two (2) alternate members appointed by the Town Council. The Director of Finance shall be a non-voting member ex-officio. The Board may choose a chairman, vice-chairman and a secretary from its membership and prescribe its own procedures. The Board/Committee shall keep an accurate record of all proceedings which shall be available for public inspection and shall provide certified copies of the approved minutes of all proceedings to the Town Clerk in accordance with Section 4.02(E).
(Election of 11-8-2022)
Section 10.03. - Appointments, Terms, and Vacancies.#
The regular members of the Budget Board shall serve for three (3) years in a staggered term, and with their compensation set by the Town Council. The alternate members shall be appointed by the Town Council for a term of one (1) year. The Town Council shall fill any vacancy in the Budget Board for the unexpired term within sixty (60) days of the date of vacancy. Members shall be eligible for reappointment.
Section 10.04. - Duties.#
The duties of the Budget Board shall be: (A)
Receive and examine all estimates for capital and operating expenditures submitted by the departments, commissions, offices and agencies of Town Government, including the School Department.
(B)
Hold such hearings as may be necessary to provide opportunity for all department heads, town officials and agencies submitting estimates to appear before the Board to explain and justify their requests. The Board shall provide opportunity for any citizen who desires to do so, to address the Board upon any pertinent matter.
(C)
Submit to the Manager no later than the first Monday in April, its recommendations regarding all the requests for appropriations which have been submitted for its review.
(D)
The Director of Finance shall make available to the Budget Board the services of his/her staff.
Section 10.05. - Budget Schedule and Procedures.#
(A)
All estimates for capital and operating expenditures by the departments, commissions, offices and agencies of the Town Government for the ensuing fiscal year shall be submitted to the Budget Board no later than the second Monday in January.
(B)
The Budget Board shall submit its recommendations to the Manager no later than the first Monday in April.
(C)
The Manager shall review the recommendations of the Budget Board and shall make such changes in the various expenditure requests as he/she may think fit, provided however, that the Manager shall not have the authority to change any item in the School Department expenditure request except the overall total amount, and submit the budget to the Town Council no later than the first Monday in May. Said budget will include separate listings and totals of the capital and operating appropriations requested, respectively; comparisons with expenditures for the current fiscal year; a recommended tax rate for the Town to fund the Town share of the total appropriations; a detailed listing of funds anticipated from the State and Federal government and other sources; together with such explanation of the budget and its several parts as the Manager may provide.
(D)
On the same day that the budget is submitted to the Town Council, there shall be made available a quantity of copies thereof at the Town Hall to be furnished to interested citizens upon request.
(E)
Upon receipt of the budget, the Town Council shall make provision for no less than two (2) public hearings thereon, to be held on separate days, and to be concluded no later than the first Monday in June. Notice of said hearings shall be advertised on at least three (3) separate days in a newspaper or newspapers of general circulation in the Town, the final such advertisement to appear no less than seven (7) days prior to the first hearing date. The Town Council shall also cause to be published in a newspaper or newspapers of general circulation in the Town a summary of major expenditures appearing in the budget with the recommended appropriations compared to current authorized expenditures, said publication to appear no less than seven (7) days prior to the first public hearing.
(F)
The Town Council may make any changes in the budget which it shall think proper, provided however that it shall not have the authority to change any item in the School Department budget except the overall total amount, and provided further that the final budget when adopted shall show a balance between authorized appropriation and anticipated receipts. The Town Council shall adopt its budget no later than June 15th.
(G)
Item veto by Manager: If the Town Council has increased the amount of any item or items, or has added any item or items not included in the budget as submitted by the Manager, the Town Clerk shall forthwith deliver to the Manager, a copy of the portion of the record setting forth such changes. If the Manager disapproves of such change or changes, he/she shall within seventy-two (72) hours of his/her receipt of the record of changes, file with the Town Clerk a message expressing his/her disapproval and giving his/her reasons thereof. The Town Council by affirmative vote of four (4) or more members may override the Manager's disapproval. If the Manager's disapproval is not overridden, the change shall be eliminated.
(H)
In the event that no budget shall have been adopted by the start of the fiscal year, the departments, commissions, offices and agencies of the Town shall have the authority to continue making expenditures at the rates authorized in the budget of the previous fiscal year until such time as a new budget shall have been approved.
(I)
Participation by voters: Any departmental budget, excluding funds appropriated to pay debt, in the formats adopted by the Town Council, may be subject to amendment by referendum of the electors of the Town in the following manner:
1)
Commencement of Budget Amendment Proceedings; Petitioners; Committees; Affidavit.
Any five (5) qualified voters may commence a proceeding to amend the budget by filing with the Town Clerk an affidavit stating who will constitute the petitioners' committee within ten (10) days of the final adoption of the budget by the Town Council and be responsible for circulating the budget amendment petition and filing it in proper form, stating their names and addresses and specifying the address to which all notices to the committee are to be sent and setting out in full the proposed budget amendment or amendments.
2)
Petitions.
a.
Number of signatures. All papers of a petition must be signed by qualified town voters equal in number to at least fifteen (15) percent of the total number of persons registered to vote at the last regular election.
b.
Form and content. All papers of a petition shall be uniform in size and style and shall be assembled as one (1) instrument for filing. Each signature shall be executed in ink or indelible pencil and shall be followed by the address of the person signing. Petitions shall contain or have attached thereto throughout their circulation the amendment or amendments setting forth the increases or decreases proposed to the budget as adopted by the Town Council.
c.
Affidavit of circulator. Each paper of a petition shall have attached to it when filed an affidavit executed by the person circulating, stating the number of signatures thereon and affirming that he/she personally circulated the paper, that all the signatures were affixed in the presence of the circulator, and that he/she believes them to be genuine signatures of the persons whose names they purported to be.
d.
Time for filing budget amendment petitions. Budget amendment petitions must be filed with the Town Clerk within fourteen (14) days after the Clerk's issuance of the blank petition.
3)
Procedure after filing.
a.
Certification of petition. The Town Clerk shall forthwith refer the filed budget amendment petition to the Board of Canvassers and Registration which shall, within ten (10) days, prepare a certificate as to its sufficiency, specifying if it is sufficient and specifying if it is insufficient, the particulars wherein it is defective. The Board of Canvassers and Registration shall promptly send a copy of the certificate to the petitioners' committee by return mail. In reviewing the petition, the Board shall accept every signature as valid if it can be identified to be the signature of the voter it purports to be; and provided, further, that variation of the voter's signature by the insertion or omission of identifying titles or by the substitution of initials for the first or middle names or both shall not itself be grounds for the invalidation of such signature. Any voter who is unable to write may sign by making his/her mark (X) on the petition in the presence of two (2) witnesses who shall subscribe their names on the paper as witnesses to the signing.
b.
Court review. A determination as to the sufficiency of a petition shall be subject to court review.
4)
Submission to voters. The vote of the Town on a budget amendment petition shall be held not later than thirty (30) days from the date that the Board of Canvassers and Registration certified the petition as sufficient.
5)
Continuation. Upon the certification of any such petition for a referendum by the canvassing authority pursuant to subsection 10.05 (I) 2 and 3 of this article, if such petition calls for the reduction or elimination of an item or items in the budget as adopted, expenditures shall continue to be made at the same rate in accordance with subsection 10.04 (k) of this article, until the referendum thereon has been held and the issue resolved; provided however, that in the case of a petition calling for a reduction in the total School Department budget, the School Department may continue to spend and/or obligate funds until the referendum is resolved, so long as the rate of expenditure and/or obligation does not exceed that of the previous fiscal year during the same period of time.
6)
Results of election. Upon certification of the election results, the Director of Finance shall amend the budget as adopted by the Town Council to reflect the results of the election.
(Elec. of 11-8-2016; Res. of 06-22-2022 (1))
Section 10.06. - General Fund.#
There shall be a general fund, which must be budgeted to have an audited unreserved, undesignated balance at the beginning of each fiscal year, that is not less than five (5) percent of the subsequent year's budget.