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.