The fiscal year of the Town shall begin on the first day of
July and end on the 30th day of June.
Not later than the first day of February each department, office,
board, commission and agency of the Town, excluding the Board of Education,
shall submit to the Manager in such form as he may prescribe its estimates
of receipts and expenditures for the ensuing fiscal year. Each such
department, office, board, commission and agency shall be entitled
to an opportunity to be heard by the Manager in respect to these estimates.
The Board of Education shall furnish to the Manager, by the
15th day of February, a budget for the operation of the schools containing
a detailed estimate of expenditures deemed by said Board to be necessary
for the proper conduct of the public schools, in the manner and form
designated by the Manager.
No later than the second Monday in March the Manager shall present
to the Town Council a budget consisting of: (a) a budget message outlining
the financial policy of the Town and describing in connection therewith
the important features of the budget plan; (b) estimates of revenue,
presenting in parallel columns the itemized receipts collected in
the last completed fiscal year, the receipts collected during the
current fiscal year prior to the time of preparing the estimates,
total receipts estimated to be collected during the current fiscal
year and estimates of the receipts, other than from the property tax,
to be collected in the ensuing fiscal year; (c) itemized estimates
of expenditures, presenting in parallel columns the actual expenditures
for each department, office, agency or activity for the last completed
fiscal year and for the current fiscal year prior to the time of preparing
the estimates, total expenditures as estimated for the current fiscal
year, the requests of the several departments, offices and agencies
for the ensuing fiscal year and the Manager's recommendations
of the amount to be appropriated for the ensuing fiscal year for all
items, and such other information as may be required by the Town Council.
The Manager shall present reasons for all recommendations. The Superintendent
of Schools shall have the same duties as the Manager and follow the
same form and procedure with respect to the budget of the Board of
Education as provided in this chapter for departmental estimates;
(d) as part of the annual budget or as a separate report attached
thereto the Manager shall present a program, previously considered
and acted upon by the Town Planning and Zoning Commission in accordance
with § 8-24 of the General Statutes, concerning municipal
improvements, of proposed capital projects for the ensuing fiscal
year and for the four fiscal years thereafter. Estimates of the cost
of such projects shall be submitted by each department, office or
agency annually in the form and manner prescribed by the Manager.
The Manager shall recommend to the Town Council those projects to
be undertaken during the ensuing fiscal year and the method of financing
the same.
The Town Council shall hold one or more public hearings not
later than 30 days before the annual budget meeting at which any elector
or taxpayer may have an opportunity to be heard regarding appropriations
for the ensuing fiscal year. Following the receipt of the estimates
from the Manager and the Chairperson of the Board of Education and
the holding of such public hearing or hearings, the Town Council shall
prepare a budget and shall render the same to the annual budget meeting
of the Town. The Town Council shall hold at least one or more public
hearings not sooner than 20 days and not later than 25 days prior
to the annual budget meeting. The purpose of this meeting is to have
the Chairperson of the Town Council and the Chairperson of the Board
of Education communicate to the public what changes were made to the
Town Manager's and the Board of Education's proposed budgets.
After presentation by the Chairpersons of the changes to the proposed
budgets, the hearing shall be open for public comment on the budget.
Sufficient copies of said annual budget shall be made available for
general distribution in the office of the Town Clerk and the Manager,
not less than five days prior to said public hearing. Sufficient copies
of the annual budget as revised after said public hearing shall be
made available for general distribution in the office of the Town
Clerk and the Manager not less than five days prior to the annual
budget meeting. Further, not less than five days prior to the annual
budget meeting, the Town Council shall cause to be published in a
newspaper having a circulation in the Town a summary of the budget
as revised after the public hearing, showing revenues by major sources
and proposed expenditures by function or department in the columnar
form, and shall also show the amount to be raised by taxation. The
budget shall become effective when approved by the annual budget meeting
as provided in this Charter and an official copy shall be filed with
the Town Clerk. Within 30 days after the annual budget meeting the
Town Council shall fix the tax rate in mills which shall be levied
on the taxable property in the Town for the ensuing fiscal year. Upon
the approval of the Town Meeting the Town Council may levy annually,
at the same time as the regular annual taxes for Town expenses are
levied, a tax not to exceed two mills to be assessed upon the taxable
property in the Town for the benefit of a fund to be known as the
"Capital and Non-Recurring Expenditures Fund" to be used solely to
pay the cost of capital improvements. The Town Council shall have
the power to transfer from time to time to this fund any portion of
the general fund cash surplus not otherwise appropriated. With the
exception of the Land Acquisition Trust Fund, appropriations for construction
or for other permanent improvements, from whatever source derived,
shall not lapse until the purpose for which the appropriation was
made shall have been accomplished or abandoned, provided that any
project shall be deemed to have been abandoned if three fiscal years
shall elapse without any expenditure from or encumbrance of the appropriation.
There shall be a Town Meeting solely for the purpose of voting
on the budget on the last Tuesday of April at such polling places
as the Council shall determine. Voting at the Town Meeting shall commence
at 6:00 a.m. and cease at 8:00 p.m. There shall be a separate vote
on the Town budget and the Board of Education budget. Voting shall
be by way of a "Yes" or "No" vote on voting machines, as that term
is defined by the state statutes, with the voting machine ballot labels
provided by the Town Clerk. The Town Clerk and such assistants shall
conduct and moderate the vote. The Town budget and the Board of Education
budget shall be adopted separately by a majority vote of those attending
and entitled to vote.
The people shall vote only to adopt the budget(s) as presented.
Each budget vote shall include an advisory question relative to the
budget as presented.
The adoption of the budgets shall be deemed to constitute the
appropriation to each department or when so indicated in the budgets
a major subdivision thereof and to each office, board, commission
and agency separately listed in the budgets of the sum estimated in
the budgets to be expended by each such unit respectively.
Should the Town Meeting fail to adopt a budget at the first
meeting called on the last Tuesday in April, the Town Council in conjunction
with the Manager shall revise the rejected budgets in accordance with
the majority results from the advisory question. A second Town Meeting
to adopt the revised budgets shall be called on the second Tuesday
in May for final approval.
Should the Town Meeting fail to adopt one or both budgets after
the second meeting, the Town Council in conjunction with the Manager
shall revise the rejected budget in accordance with the majority results
from the advisory question, which shall be deemed finally adopted
by the Town Meeting and expenditures shall be made in accordance therewith.
The Council may conduct such public hearings and/or informational
meetings, as it may deem necessary.
Pursuant to Section 7-6 of the General Statutes, as amended,
the following individuals are eligible to vote in any Town Meeting:
any person who is an elector of the Town of Plainville and any United
States citizen who is at least 18 years of age who, jointly or severally,
is liable to the Town of Plainville for taxes assessed against him
or her on an assessment of $1,000 or more on the last completed grand
list of the Town of Plainville, or who would be so liable if not entitled
to an exemption as outlined in Section 7-6 of the General Statutes.
The Town Council may transfer the whole or any part of the unencumbered
balance of any appropriation, except the appropriation to the Board
of Education, to any other purpose for which the Town Council may
legally appropriate money provided that such a transfer may be made
from budget appropriations only in the last three months of the fiscal
year and that there shall be attached to the ordinance making the
transfer the certificate of the Manager that such transfer is necessary
with the reasons therefor.
No money shall be expended or obligation for such expenditure
incurred by any department, office, board, commission or agency of
the Town except in accordance with an appropriation by the Town Council.
No contract, work order, purchase order or other authorization to
spend money by any department, office, board, commission or agency,
except the Board of Education, shall be valid until there has been
attached thereto the certificate of the Director of Finance that there
is an unexpended and unencumbered balance of an appropriation applicable
thereto sufficient to meet the estimated cost thereof, provided that
the Board of Education shall set up its own system of budgetary control.
It shall further be the duty of the Director of Finance after signing
such certificate to immediately encumber the appropriation in question
with such estimated cost.
With the exception of the Land Acquisition Trust Fund, appropriations
shall lapse at the end of the fiscal year for which they were made
and any balance shall be credited to the general fund, provided that
an appropriation for a capital outlay shall not lapse until the object
for which the appropriation was made has been accomplished or no expenditure
from or encumbrance of the appropriation has been made for three consecutive
fiscal years.
All supplies, materials and equipment required by all departments,
offices, boards, commissions and agencies of the Town, hereafter referred
to in this chapter as "buying units," except in respect to items or
services that are peculiar to the Board of Education or Library Board,
shall be purchased by the Purchasing Agent who until the Town Council
shall otherwise determine by ordinance shall be the Manager. All purchases
shall be made on requisitions describing the kind and quantity of
goods or services required, provided that it shall be the duty of
the Purchasing Agent at the beginning of each fiscal year to request
requisitions and of all buying units to prepare and deliver to the
Purchasing Agent such requisitions covering their normal requirements
for the year so that wholesale purchases may be made on behalf of
the Town. No requisition shall be honored unless it bears the certificate
provided for in Section 8 of this chapter.
Purchases and contracts for services, including contracts for
the construction of public works, shall be made under such rules and
regulations as may be established by ordinance.[1]
No payroll, bill or other claim against the Town, including
those of the Board of Education, shall be paid until the same has
been audited for the correctness and legality by the Director of Finance,
and all payments shall be made by check drawn on a Town bank account,
signed by the Director of Finance and countersigned by the Town Treasurer
as provided in Chapter III, Section 1, of this Charter. All payrolls,
bills or other claims against the Board of Education shall be audited
as such Board may provide. To avoid unnecessary delay in the transaction
of Town business the Director of Finance and Town Treasurer shall
each designate a deputy, covered by a surety bond, who may affix their
respective signatures to certificates, payrolls, bills, claims and
checks.
All fees collected by Town officers and employees of the Town
in their official capacities shall be paid into the Town treasury,
provided that this shall not apply to subpoena fees.
The Town shall purchase fidelity and/or surety bonds, in amounts
deemed appropriate, for the faithful performance of the duties of
the Town officials and employees. These officials and employees shall
include, but not be limited to, the Town Manager, Director of Finance,
Treasurer, Revenue Collector(s), Town Clerk(s) and Constables. Such
bonding review and filing of bonds shall be the responsibility of
the Insurance Commission. The Insurance Commission shall annually
notify the Town Council and Town Manager of the positions and amounts
bonded and shall consider any recommendations which the Town Council
may wish to submit.
Any person who makes or causes to be made any payment from Town
monies in violation of the provisions of this chapter or who receives
such a payment shall be jointly and separately liable to the Town
for the full amount of such payment. Violation of any of the provisions
of this chapter by any officer or employee of the Town shall be ground
for his removal.
The Town Council shall designate annually an independent certified
public accountant or firm of independent certified public accountants
to audit the books and accounts of the Town, including the Board of
Education, as provided in the General Statutes.
