The Board of Finance shall have the powers, duties and responsibilities
conferred upon it by this Charter and, except to the extent otherwise
provided in this Charter, all powers, duties and responsibilities
conferred upon Boards of Finance by the General Statutes, applicable
Special Acts and ordinances, and shall perform all the functions of
that Board. It shall, to the extent not inconsistent with this Charter,
applicable Special Acts, ordinances and resolutions of meetings of
the Town Meeting, prescribe the method by which and the place where
all records and books of accounts of the Town or any department or
subdivision thereof shall be kept. The Board of Finance may also request
from time to time copies of such records and books of accounts of
any official, board, or commission which shall be necessary to fulfill
its statutory duty and responsibility for estimating anticipated revenues
from all sources. The Board shall further set the date and times of
its meetings.
The fiscal year of the Town shall begin on the first day of
July and shall end on the 30th day of June.
On or before December 1, the Board of Finance shall provide
all offices, boards, commissions and similar bodies supported wholly
or in part by Town funds, or for which a special Town appropriation
is or may be made, with budget guidelines for the upcoming fiscal
year, and said offices, boards, commissions and similar bodies shall
furnish the Board of Finance, not later that the first day in February
on forms provided by the Board of Finance, an itemized estimate of
expenditures for the ensuing fiscal year together with the corresponding
approved budget for the current fiscal year.
In addition, where applicable, the budget shall be accompanied
by a Capital Improvements Plan for the ensuing fiscal year and five
years thereafter, together with proposed methods of financing same.
As part of the budget request, the Board of Finance may require an
estimate of revenues to be received by any office, board, commission
or similar body during the ensuing fiscal year together with estimates
of any unexpended balances for the current year.
The Board of Finance may require meetings with the Chairman
and/or members of offices, boards, commissions or similar bodies to
explain their requests and any Chairman and/or member of any office,
board, commission or similar body shall be entitled to be heard by
the Board in respect to estimates submitted.
The Board of Finance shall make such revisions in budgets or
Capital Improvements Plans submitted as it deems advisable and shall
then prepare the overall Town Budget, on forms prescribed by the state,
to be recommended to the Annual Budget Meeting.
The Annual Budget Meeting, hereinafter called the "Budget Meeting,"
shall be held on the third Tuesday of May. Not less than two weeks
before the date of the Budget Meeting, the Board of Finance shall
hold a public hearing. At the public hearing, any elector or taxpayer
may be heard regarding the budget recommendations for the ensuing
fiscal year. At least five days before such public hearing, the Board
of Finance shall publish in a newspaper having a general circulation
in the Town a notice of the time and date of such public hearing.
Sufficient copies of the proposed budget shall be made available for
general distribution before such public hearing. Following the public
hearing, the Board of Finance shall meet to act on suggestions and
recommendations made at the public hearing and shall thereafter recommend
the proposed budget, as amended, if amended, to the Budget Meeting.
The notice of the Budget Meeting and the proposed estimated budget
for the ensuing fiscal year shall be published at least five days
before such meeting in a newspaper having a general circulation in
the Town. Sufficient copies of the proposed estimated budget shall
be made available for general distribution in the Town Office Building
before and at the Budget Meeting. Nothing in this section shall preclude
the right to petition for a referendum vote, as is prescribed in Sections
7-7, 7-9 and 7-9a of the Connecticut General Statutes as amended from
time to time. If there is a petition for referendum, the Budget Meeting
shall be for the purposes of discussing the entire proposed budget
and setting the hours of referendum. The Budget Meeting shall be adjourned
to a referendum vote to be held 14 days after the Budget Meeting.
If no valid petition for referendum is filed, the Budget Meeting shall
consider and discuss the budget as submitted by the Board of Finance
and may take action as follows:
A. Appropriations shall not be made exceeding that for the same purpose
recommended by the Board of Finance, or for any other purpose not
recommended by the Board of Finance.
B. Any individual appropriation may be reduced to a sum less than that
recommended by the Board of Finance by an affirmative vote of a majority
present and entitled to vote at such meeting. After due consideration
of the proposed budget and action thereon has been completed, the
procedure for adopting the Annual Budget shall be by vote of the Annual
Budget Meeting, by a majority of qualified voters present and voting.
Such vote shall be taken by paper ballot provided by the Clerk of
the Meeting. In the event the proposed budget, as may have been amended,
is not adopted by the Annual Budget Meeting, the meeting shall establish
the hours and adjourn to a referendum vote to be held in 14 days.
The referendum shall be submitted to the qualified voters for a "Yes"
or "No" vote on the voting machines. The proposed budget for the referendum
shall be the entire estimated budget as amended by the Budget Meeting,
or, if not amended, as recommended by the Board of Finance. The voting
machine labels shall be provided by the Town Clerk. The budget shall,
if approved by a majority of those voting, be adopted. Should the
vote, by referendum or paper ballot, reject the budget, the Moderator
shall reconvene additional referenda at fourteen-day intervals until
the budget is adopted. If the 14th day falls on a legal holiday, the
referendum shall be held on the following day. Before any additional
referenda, the Board of Finance may hold a public hearing and may
revise the rejected budget. A summary of any revisions made by the
Board of Finance to the rejected budget shall be available before
any additional referenda. The summary shall also be posted at the
polling places for the referendum. If the budget is not approved before
the end of the fiscal year, the Town shall operate on the budget of
the fiscal year then ending until a new budget is approved. In the
event the budget is not adopted by June 20, the Board of Selectmen,
with the approval of the Board of Finance, may call one or more Special
Town Meetings and appropriate funds by way of tax anticipation notes
to meet necessary obligations at budget levels then in effect, from
the first day of July to the approval of the budget.
|
Immediately upon approval of the budget, the Board of Finance
shall set the tax rate and notify the Tax Collector forthwith. An
official copy of the budget as finally approved shall be filed by
the Board of Finance with the Town Clerk within five days of approval.
|
A. The estimate of expenditures submitted by the Board of Finance to
the Budget Meeting shall include a recommendation for a contingency
fund, which shall not exceed 2% of the total expenditures for the
current fiscal year. No expenditure or transfer may be made from this
fund without the approval of the Board of Finance.
B. Transfers. Upon request by an office, board, commission or similar
body, except the Board of Education, the Board of Finance may transfer
unexpended balances from one line item to another within the approved
budgets. No amount appropriated for any purpose on the budgets submitted
shall be used or appropriated for any other purpose unless approved
by the Board of Finance. Upon request of any office, board, commission
or similar body during the last 60 days of the fiscal year, the Board
of Finance may transfer any unencumbered appropriation, balance or
portion thereof from one office, board, commission or similar body
to another; provided, however, that this provision shall not apply
to the Board of Education. No transfer shall be made from any appropriation
for debt service and other statutory charges.
C. Supplementary appropriations. Upon request of any office, board,
commission or similar body that additional funds in excess of what
had been provided in the budget or, if funds are required for which
no provision was made in the budget, the Board of Finance, after inquiry
into and review of the request, may approve an amount not exceeding
$10,000 from any cash surplus available or from the contingency fund.
The amount requested and approved shall not exceed $10,000 for any
one office, board, commission or similar body in any one year without
Town Meeting approval.
Except when included in the Annual Town Budget, any capital
expenditure exceeding $200,000 approved by the Board of Finance, together
with authorization to issue bonds or notes in the same amount, shall
be submitted to a referendum for acceptance or rejection after being
reviewed at a public hearing. Such a referendum shall be conducted
on a date and time fixed by the Board of Selectmen, not less than
10 nor more than 30 days after said public hearing. The Town Clerk
shall cause to be published in a newspaper having a circulation in
the Town, the date, time and reason for such referendum.
If a declaration of public emergency in accordance with Section
406 is in effect, the Board of Finance or the Town Meeting shall make
the appropriation to meet the emergency in the amount not to exceed
$25,000.
No expenditure and no commitment to make an expenditure shall
be made, caused to be made, or authorized by any officer, agent, or
agency of the Town, or by any board or commission of the Town unless
an appropriation shall have been made covering such expenditure or
commitment in accordance with the provisions of this Charter. Any
person willfully violating this provision shall be prosecuted by the
Town.
Any portion of an annual appropriation remaining unexpended
or unencumbered at the close of the fiscal year shall lapse; provided,
however, appropriations for construction or for other capital improvements,
from whatever source derived, shall not lapse until the purpose for
which the appropriation was made shall have been accomplished or abandoned;
provided further that any such project shall be deemed to have been
abandoned if three fiscal years shall elapse without any expenditure
from or encumbrances of the appropriation therefor.
The Board of Finance shall annually designate an independent
public accountant, or firm of independent public accountants, to audit
the books and accounts of the Town as required by General Statutes
and may periodically designate such accountant to make special audits
of the books and accounts of any office, board, commission or other
similar body. Any board, commission, agency or similar body not included
in the Town audit, receiving funds from the Town and/or other sources,
upon request by the Board of Finance shall cause an audit of its financial
condition to be conducted by a certified public accountant, licensed
by the State of Connecticut, and shall submit the results of said
audit to the Board of Finance prior to, or together with, the submission
of its budget requests for the upcoming year.
The Treasurer shall receive all money belonging to the Town,
pay it out on the order of the proper authority, keep accurately the
records required by law, and have such other powers and duties as
are prescribed in the General Statutes. The procedural regulations
established by the Treasurer's office shall conform to the regulations
as outlined in this Charter.
The Tax Collector shall collect taxes in accordance with the
provisions of the General Statutes, except that such taxes, together
with interest, penalties, and lien fees thereon, shall be turned over
to the Town Treasurer within four calendar days of collection. Taxes
shall be due and payable in semiannual installments on July first
and January first of each year unless otherwise fixed by ordinance.
The Tax Collector shall issue monthly reports to the Town Treasurer
or periodically on demand.