The fiscal year of the Town government shall begin on the first
day of July and shall end on the last day of June of each calendar
year, unless the Council, by ordinance, shall establish different
dates. Such fiscal year shall also constitute the budget and accounting
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.
It shall be the duty of the Town Manager to prepare estimates
of all Town revenues and expenditures for the ensuing fiscal year.
The head of each department, office or agency of the Town supported
wholly or in part from Town funds or for which a specific Town appropriation
is made, including the Chair of the Town Board of Education, shall,
at least 65 days before the date of the Annual Town Meeting, file
with the Town Manager, on forms provided by the Town Manager, a detailed
estimate of the expenditures to be made by his/her department or agency
and the revenue, other than tax revenues, to be collected thereby
in the ensuing fiscal year.
Not later than 45 days before the date of the Annual Town Meeting,
the Town Manager shall present to the Council:
A. Estimates of revenue, presenting in parallel columns the itemized
revenues collected in the last completed fiscal year and in the first
seven months of the current fiscal year and estimates of revenues,
other than from the property tax, to be collected in the ensuing fiscal
year.
B. Itemized estimates of expenditures, presenting in parallel columns
the actual expenditures for each department, office or agency for
the last-completed fiscal year and for the seven months of the current
fiscal year, the requests of the several departments, offices and
agencies for the ensuing year and, except in the case of the Town
Board of Education, the Manager's recommendations of the amounts
to be appropriated.
Except as provided by §§ C9-6 and C9-7 of this
article, no official, department or agency shall, during any budget
year, expend or contract to expend any money or incur any liability
or enter into any contract which by its terms involves the expenditure
of money, for any purpose, in excess of the amount appropriated for
that department pursuant to this Charter. Any contract, verbal or
written, made in violation of this Charter shall be null and void.
Nothing contained in this section shall prevent the making of contracts
or the spending of money for capital improvements to be financed,
in whole or in part, by the issuance of bonds nor the making of contracts
of lease or for service for a period exceeding the budget year in
which such contract is made, except when such contract is prohibited
by law.
The Town Manager may transfer funds allocated to an account
within a department from that account to another account within the
same department, provided that the total department appropriation
is not exceeded.
In emergencies or under circumstances not reasonably foreseen
at the time the budget was adopted, the Council may transfer funds
allocated to one department from that department to another department,
provided that the total government appropriation is not exceeded.
Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to prevent the
Town Council from approving supplemental appropriations in accordance
with the provisions of this charter.
Except for appropriations for capital improvement, whether financed
from current revenues or from bond issues, all appropriations shall
lapse at the end of the budget year to the extent that they shall
not have been expended. Appropriations for capital improvements shall
lapse only when the project for which funds were appropriated has
been completed or the project is abandoned by a Town Meeting.
It shall be the duty of the Collector of Revenue to prepare
and mail each taxpayer, before the date when taxes and special service
charges are due and payable, a tax bill, the form of which shall be
as prescribed by law or, in the absence of law, by the Council.
Except as specifically provided in this Charter, the assessment
of property for taxation and the collection of taxes shall be carried
on as provided in the general or special laws of the state applicable
to the Town.