[Adopted as Ch. 4 of the 1996 By-laws; amended 11-18-2013 STM by Art. 16]
[Amended 11-17-2014 ATM by Art. 18]
A. 
The Board of Selectmen, through the Town Manager, shall annually provide for an audit of all financial books and records of each department of the Town, or whenever the Selectmen deem an audit of the whole Town or of any particular Town agency to be necessary, under the supervision of the state division of accounts, as provided in G.L. c.44, § 35. The audit shall be conducted by a certified public accountant, or firm of such accountants, having no interest, direct or indirect, in the affairs of the Town. The annual audit shall be completed within six months after the end of the subject fiscal year.
B. 
Immediately following the dissolution of the Annual Town Meeting, the Town Manager shall select the accountant or firm of accountants to conduct the annual Town audit; provided, however, that the Board of Selectmen may contract with such accountant or firm for up to three consecutive years of auditing services; provided, further, that no person or firm may be selected to perform such audit for more than six years in succession nor for more than six years out of every nine.
[Amended 11-17-2014 ATM by Art. 18]
No monies shall be paid from the Town Treasury except in payment of taxes due the County and the Commonwealth and of notes and interest due thereon without a warrant on the Treasurer-Collector to pay the same, signed by the Director of Finance and the Town Manager and countersigned by at least a majority of the Board of Selectmen or as may otherwise be authorized by the Town Charter.
All officers, boards, departments and committees authorized to expend Town money shall, on or before the 15th day of each month, approve and transmit to the Director of Finance all correctly presented bills, demands, drafts, orders and accounts chargeable to the respective appropriations of which they have the expenditure. Each bill, demand, draft, order or account so approved shall be consecutively numbered and approval shall consist of such number, the date and the signatures of at least two members (or three members where three or more would constitute a majority) of the board, department or committee, or, in the case of a department having but one head or directing officer, the signature of such department head or officer. Each board, department and committee shall have a separate designation and series of numbers.
[Amended 11-17-2014 ATM by Art. 18]
The Director of Finance shall, on or before the 25th day of each month, draw and issue a warrant on the Treasurer-Collector for the payment of each bill, draft, demand, order or account which the Director of Finance finds to be approved as hereinbefore provided. Each such warrant shall bear the number, date and amount of the bill, demand, draft, order or account presented for payment; the name of the creditor to whom such amount is due; the board, department or committee to whose appropriation such amount is chargeable; and shall be signed by the Director of Finance and the Town Manager and countersigned by at least a majority of the Board of Selectmen or as may otherwise be authorized by the Town Charter.
Notwithstanding the provisions of §§ 39-15, 39-16 and 39-17 above, payrolls of Town employees may be prepared, approved and transmitted to the Director of Finance as often as once each week, and when so approved, the Director of Finance may draw and issue warrants for the payment thereof and payments may be made by the Treasurer-Collector.
At the first of any financial year, each department may draw on the Town Treasury for a sum not in excess of $50 for use as an emergency fund and petty cash payments. Whenever any part of this fund is expended, a requisition with voucher numbered and attached shall be at once made on the Director of Finance for an amount equal to the sum expended which when collected by the department making the requisition, shall be placed with such fund so that at all times the amount drawn for said fund will be equal in cash or warrants to the amount originally drawn for said fund.
No money shall be paid from the Town Treasury except by a check made payable to the creditor or order. The number of each warrant issued by the Director of Finance shall be endorsed on the margin of the check issued in payment thereof.
[Amended 11-17-2014 ATM by Art. 18]
No officer, board, department or committee having the disbursement of an appropriation shall make purchases of supplies or materials or contract for services to be rendered the Town without issuing a written purchase order therefor or prescribed form; provided, however, that the provisions of this section shall not apply to the salaries or wages of officers and persons regularly or temporarily employed by the Town. One copy of every purchase order, which shall contain the amount of the expenditure, shall be sent to the Director of Finance on the day the purchase order is delivered to the vendor. Whenever any appropriation shall have been expended or whenever, in the judgment of the Director of Finance, it appears that the liabilities incurred against any appropriations may be in excess of the unexpended balance of said appropriation, the Director of Finance shall immediately give notice to the Town Manager and to the board, committee, head of department, or official authorized to make expenditures from said appropriation, and no claim against such appropriation shall be allowed nor any further liability be incurred until the Town makes provision for the payment of same.
[Amended 11-17-2014 ATM by Art. 18]
The Director of Finance shall at regular intervals and at least as often as once each month send to the Town Manager and to each officer, board, department and committee having the disbursement of an appropriation, a statement of the amount of orders approved and warrants drawn on behalf of said officer, board, department or committee during the preceding month together with a statement of the unexpended balance of each such appropriation.
No money appropriated for a general or special purpose shall be applied to any other use unless by a vote of the Town, and all unexpended balances of annual appropriations in the Treasury on June 30th of each fiscal year shall be transferred to an account designated the Excess and Deficiency Account. All unexpended balances of special appropriations shall be transferred only by vote of the Town.
The Treasurer-Collector shall collect all accounts due the Town except interest and dividends on investments of trust funds, and the Town Collector shall in the collection of such accounts, have the same powers of collection as those granted by law to the Collector of Taxes. The Treasurer-Collector shall be authorized to use all means of collecting taxes which a Treasurer may use when appointed a collector of taxes.
[Added 5-15-2017 STM by Art. 2; amended 11-13-2017 ATM by Art. 10]
The Treasurer-Collector shall serve Notice by certified mail and by first class mail on all real property tax accounts deferred pursuant to G.L. c. 59, § 5, clause 41A, or similarly deferred tax accounts, upon notification of the death of the taxpayer or the failure to annually apply for the continued exemption. Said Notice shall include the statutory citation for the exemption, total deferred amount due, interest accrued, and the current rate of interest charged on all deferred amounts. Notwithstanding the foregoing, failure to provide the notice as set forth hereunder shall not relieve the taxpayer or the tax account of any obligations otherwise required by law.
If it shall seem advisable to the Treasurer-Collector that suit should be instituted on behalf of the Town for the establishment or collection of any account due the Town, he shall so notify the Selectmen, and he shall report to them from time to time, as they may direct, upon all uncollected accounts in his hands. The Selectmen shall take such action with respect to all such accounts as they may deem expedient and consistent with the interests of the Town.
[Amended 11-17-2014 ATM by Art. 18]
The Treasurer-Collector shall forthwith upon receipt pay over to the Town Treasury all money received by the Treasurer-Collector on every such account, including any sums received as interest on money received by the Treasurer-Collector on such accounts in any bank. Every other officer of the Town shall pay into the Treasury of the Town all amounts received on behalf of the Town, except as otherwise provided by law, and shall make a true return thereof to the Director of Finance stating the accounts upon which such amounts were received. The Treasurer-Collector shall furnish such officer with a receipt for such amount so paid into the Treasury and shall forward a duplicate thereof to the Town Manager. Notwithstanding any prior provision of this section, Collection Fees, as described in G.L. c.60, § 15(10) and (11), shall be paid directly to the Deputy Tax Collector or other collecting officer.
Except as otherwise provided by law, the Treasurer-Collector shall have custody of all deeds, bonds, insurance policies, securities, evidences of indebtedness and other similar documents owned by the Town, except that bonds given to the Town by the Treasurer-Collector and the Town Clerk shall be in the custody of the Selectmen. The Director of Finance shall have custody of contracts of the Town where provided by law.
A. 
There shall be a Mitigation Funds Committee which shall advise and make recommendations to the Finance and Warrant Committee and Town Meeting as to expenditure of funds on deposit in a mitigation stabilization fund. Said committee shall consist at all times of five voters of the Town and shall be appointed as provided in this section. Except as hereinafter specifically provided, no person, other than a Town Representative, holding an elective or appointive office in the Town nor any employee of the Town shall serve on such committee. The members of the committee shall serve without compensation and may, with the approval of the Town Manager, employ clerical or other assistance subject to available appropriation. The Committee shall choose its own officers.
[Amended 11-17-2014 ATM by Art. 18]
B. 
The Moderator shall appoint three of the original members of said committee, who shall serve terms of one, two and three years respectively, as the Moderator shall designate; and annually thereafter, immediately following the dissolution of the business session of the Annual Town Meeting, the Moderator shall appoint one new member to said committee who shall succeed the member appointed by him whose term then shall have expired and who shall serve for a term of three years.
C. 
One member of said committee shall be appointed annually by the Board of Selectmen and such member may but need not be a member of the Board of Selectmen; and one member shall be appointed annually by the Planning Board and such member may but need not be a member of the Planning Board. Members so appointed shall serve terms of one year from the time of the Annual Town Meeting at which they are appointed.
D. 
Whenever any vacancy shall occur in the office of the committee, whether by reason of death, resignation, removal from the Town, appointment or election to Town office, being hired as a Town employee, or other cause, such vacancy shall be filled by the appointing authority which appointed the member whose position shall have become vacant for the remainder of the unexpired term. A copy of such appointment shall be sent by the appointing authority to the Town Clerk and to the Secretary of the Committee.
E. 
For the purposes of this section, a mitigation stabilization fund shall be a special purpose stabilization fund established pursuant to G.L. c.40, § 5B into which are deposited payments made by developers or parties to an agreement with the Town for a particular purpose or for unrestricted use, including mitigation payments, infrastructure charges or other payments made by a private party in connection with a regulatory activity or a municipal contract, permit application, or by-law. It shall be the duty of the committee to confer with the Finance and Warrant Committee and the Director of Finance to determine the amount and availability of mitigation stabilization funds and to confer with Town boards, commissions, committees, officers, employees, and other agencies and departments of the Town, all of which shall cooperate with the committee in arriving at recommendations for expenditure of such funds for the purposes designated in the grant of such funds or, if unrestricted, for general municipal purposes; and all such agencies and departments or other authorities of the Town shall furnish to the committee no later than the fourth Friday in October in each year in which mitigation stabilization funds are available detailed estimates of the expenditures necessary for improvements under their jurisdiction for the ensuing five years. The committee shall prepare, in each year in which mitigation stabilization funds are available, a recommendation of expenditures for mitigation stabilization funds, including recommendations for the scheduling of such expenditures, to the Town Manager, Board of Selectmen and Planning Board by the last Friday in January. In conjunction with the submission of the annual budget message, the Town Manager shall propose a plan for the expenditure of such mitigation stabilization funds and the probable impact of such expenditures on the tax rate of the Town and shall furnish such report and recommendations to the Finance and Warrant Committee.
[Amended 11-17-2014 ATM by Art. 18]