There shall be an appointed Finance Committee
comprised of seven members, each serving for a term of three years,
which shall end on June 30. Terms shall be staggered such that the
terms of no more than three members shall expire in any one year.
Members of the Finance Committee shall be appointed
by the Town Moderator, the Chairman of the Board of Selectmen, and
the Chairman of the Finance Committee (or in the absence of a Chairman,
the then senior member of the Finance Committee) acting jointly at
a meeting posted for the purpose of filling existing or pending vacancies
on the Finance Committee.
At any time prior to the expiration of the fiscal
year, the current Finance Committee Chairman (or in the absence of
a Chairman, the then senior member of the Finance Committee) shall
cause the Finance Committee to reorganize and thereby elect a Chairman,
a Vice Chairman, a Secretary and any other officers deemed necessary
for the ensuing fiscal year or to fill a vacancy in any such office
should one occur in the current fiscal year.
No member of the Committee shall be in the employ
of the Town or hold any other elected office in Town.
Any member who shall remove from the Town shall,
upon such removal, cease to be a member of said Committee.
The Finance Committee shall have authority to
investigate the accounts of any department of the Town. Upon written
request, the departments shall, within 48 hours, make available to
the Committee those finance records requested.
It shall be the duty of the Finance Committee
to consider all articles in any Warrant for the Town Meeting which
call for the appropriation of money and to recommend appropriate action
to the voters of the Town. The Committee shall investigate the cost
of maintenance and the expenditures of the different departments of
the Town service and recommend in detail the amount to be appropriated
for each department for the ensuing year.
The departments shall submit to the Selectmen
on or before January 1, each year, an estimate of the expenditures
for the ensuing year, which shall specify the amount estimated for:
salaries and wages; other department costs; new equipment, if any;
and out-of-state travel expenses, together with tabulated expenditures
of the past year.
On or before January 15 of each year, the Board
of Selectmen shall present to the Committee an estimate of the expenditures
of each department for the ensuing year, together with the tabulated
expenditures of the two preceding years. Copies of all petitioned
articles to be inserted in the Warrant shall be transmitted to the
Finance Committee on or before January 1. Copies of all other articles
shall be transmitted to the Finance Committee within 10 days subsequent
to the closing of the Warrant.
Copies of all articles to be inserted in the
Warrant for a Special Town Meeting shall be transmitted to the Finance
Committee a minimum of 14 days prior to the date of said meeting.
The Finance Committee shall, at least seven
days prior to the holding of the business session of an Annual or
Special Town Meeting, make public its recommendations regarding the
articles to be considered at said meeting. In making its recommendations
for the operation of all Town departments, the Committee shall specify
the amount recommended for: salaries and wages; other department costs;
new equipment, if any; and out-of-state travel expenses.
The Board of Selectmen shall, within 10 days
of receipt of report of the Audit of the Municipal Accounts, transmit
a copy thereof to the Finance Committee Chairman. Such report shall
be available to all members of the Committee.
All expenditures on budgets which are approved
by the Townspeople must be spent only on the items listed in the budget.
Any unexpended amounts are to be returned to the Town Treasury. Extraordinary
or unforeseen expenditures on items may be made only from the reserve
fund, but only after due consideration of the request indicates that
the transfer is for extraordinary or unforeseen expenditures.