The fiscal year shall commence on July 1 and
shall end on June 30.
The Manager shall compile preliminary estimates
for the annual budget. The head of each department, office or agency
of the Town, including the Chairman of the Board of Education, shall,
at least one hundred twenty (120) days before the end of the fiscal
year, file with the Manager on forms prescribed and provided by the
Manager a detailed estimate of the expenditures to be made by each
department or agency and the revenue other than tax revenue to be
collected thereby in the ensuing fiscal year and such other information
as may be required by the Council or the Manager.
[Amended 11-2-2004]
The Council shall hold one (1) or more public hearings not later than April 15, at which any elector or taxpayer may have an opportunity to be heard regarding appropriations for the ensuing fiscal year. Following the receipt of the estimates from the Manager and the Chairman of the Board of Education and the holding of such public hearing or hearings, the Council shall prepare a budget and shall recommend the same for a referendum vote pursuant to §
C8-5. Following the public hearing or hearings, the Council shall make such revisions in the proposed budget as it deems desirable. Sufficient copies of said annual budget shall be made available for general distribution in the office of the Town Clerk and the Manager, and at least ten (10) days prior to the referendum pursuant to §
C8-5, the Council shall cause to be published in a newspaper having a circulation in the Town a summary of the budget showing revenues by major sources and proposed expenditures by function or department in the same columnar form as prescribed for budget estimates in §
C8-3, and shall also show the amount to be raised by taxation. Appropriations for construction or for other permanent improvements, from whatever source derived, shall not lapse until the purpose for which the appropriation was made shall have been accomplished or abandoned, provided that any project shall be deemed to have been abandoned if three (3) fiscal years shall elapse without any expenditure from or encumbrance of the appropriation therefor.