The fiscal year of the town shall begin the first day of July
and end on the 30th day of June.
Not later than the first day of March, each department, office,
board, commission and agency of the town, excepting the Board of Education,
shall submit to the Manager, in such form as the Manager 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
of these estimates.
It shall be the duty of the Manager to present to the Council,
not later than the first Monday in April in each year, the budget
for the ensuing fiscal year. The budget shall contain:
(a)
An estimate of the unassigned fund balance, or the equivalent as
defined by generally accepted accounting principles and the probable
cash deficit or unencumbered cash surplus, as the case may be, at
the end of the current fiscal year;
(b)
Estimates of the revenue cash receipts of the ensuing year; other
than from property taxes;
(c)
Estimates of expenditures for the ensuing fiscal year;
(d)
An estimate of the sum necessary to be raised by taxation to balance
the budget, taking into consideration the surplus or deficit for the
current fiscal year, as provided in (a) above; and
(e)
The limitations or threshold pursuant to sections 309, 310, 311,
713 and 714. These limitations will be restated in the Adopted Budget
using the adopted General Fund appropriation.
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The estimates of receipts shall be detailed by sources and the
estimates of expenditures by departments and the principal subdivisions
thereof, offices, boards, commissions and agencies of the town, and
shall show, for each such unit, the estimated expenditures, broken
down by personal service, contractual service, materials and supplies,
fixed charges and capital outlays. The budget shall also contain the
receipts and expenditures for each item for the last completed fiscal
year; the estimated receipts and expenditures for the current fiscal
year; the estimated receipts and expenditures for the ensuing fiscal
year, together with such other data as the Council may prescribe.
Copies of the budget shall be available for public inspection at the
office of the Town Manager, Town Clerk and Town Library. The budget
shall be printed or otherwise reproduced in a sufficient number of
copies to furnish one (1) to each citizen who shall request the same.
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The school budget shall contain a detailed estimate of expenditures
deemed by the Board of Education to be necessary for the proper conduct
of the public schools, the anticipated receipts from sources other
than the property tax and the amount required to be raised by taxation
to balance the school budget. The budget shall also show an item by
item comparison of the proposed budget with actual receipts and expenditures
for the last completed fiscal year and the estimated receipts and
expenditures for the current fiscal year. Not later than March 15,
the Board of Education shall file its proposed budget for the ensuing
year with the Town Clerk, and the Board of Education shall cause the
same to be printed or otherwise reproduced. Copies of the budget shall
be available for public inspection at the office of the Town Manager,
Town Clerk and Town Library. The Council shall fix a time during the
week following March 15 at which the Board of Education, or a committee
thereof, shall bring before the Council, for discussion, its budget
for the ensuing fiscal year. In acting upon the school budget, the
Council shall have authority only to determine the total amount to
be appropriated, and the Board of Education shall have authority,
in its discretion, to expend the total sum appropriated to it.
There shall be a public hearing at 7:00 p.m. on the third Monday
in April, at a place to be determined by the Council, at least five
(5) days' notice of which shall be given by publication in at
least one (1) newspaper which has a general circulation in the town
or by other alternative means established by the Council by ordinance.
The Town Clerk shall post in a conspicuous public place designated
for the posting of public notices a copy of the notice, and shall
make sufficient copies available to the general public. At such hearing,
any resident or property owner who desires it shall be entitled to
be heard by the Council on the town and school budgets, and the hearing
shall be recessed from day to day until all such persons have been
heard.
After the completion of the hearing and, in any event, by the
15th day in May, the Council shall complete its consideration of the
town budget and adopt the same, with such modifications or amendments
as it may deem necessary, and shall also determine the total appropriation
for school purposes for the ensuing year, provided that the Council
shall, in any event, fix the amount to be raised by taxes, for town
and school purposes combined, so as to preserve a balanced relation
between receipts and expenditures, including any surplus or deficit
from the current fiscal year. The Council shall thereupon fix the
rate of taxation on property at a point sufficient, in its judgment,
to produce such amount.
The adoption of the town budget, as amended, shall be deemed
to constitute the appropriation of each department or, when so indicated
in the budget, a major subdivision thereof, office, board, commission
and agency separately listed in the budget, of the sum estimated in
the budget to be expended by each such unit, respectively.
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 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.
The Council, on the recommendation of the Manager, 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 Council may legally appropriate money, provided that
such a transfer may be made from a contingency account at any time
or from other budget appropriations only in the last three (3) months
of the fiscal year, or at the end of the fiscal year but in no case
later than September 30, and that there shall be attached to the resolution
making the transfer the certificate of the Manager that such transfer
is necessary, with the reasons therefor.
Unencumbered 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 (3) consecutive fiscal years.
The Council, on the recommendation of the Manager or the Board
of Education, may, at any time, appropriate, subject to the limitations
imposed in Chapter III of the Charter, any unappropriated and unassigned
fund balance, or the equivalent as defined by generally accepted accounting
principles, in the town treasury as may exist at the end of each fiscal
year, provided that there shall be attached to the resolution making
such appropriation the certificate of the Director of Finance that
such a balance actually exists, free from encumbrance.
The Town Manager shall designate a person to act as the Purchasing
Agent for the Town. 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," shall
be purchased by the Purchasing Agent. The Board of Education and the
Library Board, the latter only in respect to purchases of materials
peculiar to libraries, shall be exceptions to the above; however,
either body may elect to use the services of the Purchasing Agent.
All purchases shall be made on requisition describing the kind and
quantity of goods or services required, provided that it shall be
the duty of the Purchasing Agent, prior to the annual bid, 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 708.
Purchases shall be made under such rules and regulations as
may be established, by ordinance, provided that if any purchase or
contract for purchasing, including a continuing order or contract
for the purchase of the same commodity over a period of time, involves
the expenditure of 0.03% of the appropriated General Fund expenditures
for the current fiscal year or more, the Purchasing Agent shall invite
sealed bids or proposals, giving at least ten (10) days' public
notice thereof, by at least one (1) publication in a newspaper which
has a general circulation in the town or by other alternative means
established by the Council, and the Council shall let the purchase
or contract to the lowest responsible bidder thereon or shall reject
all such bids and proposals. All such sealed bids or proposals shall
be opened publicly.
It shall not be necessary to call for sealed bids for the following
supplies, materials, equipment, goods, services, commodities or construction:
(a)
That furnished by a monopoly utility.
(b)
That providing a creative product or requiring special skill and
knowledge or a profession such as the following services: legal, accounting,
auditing, medical, architectural, engineering, design, systems analysis,
computer programming, planning, technical advice and management assistance.
This section shall not apply to the Town Attorney who shall be retained
in accordance with Section 503 of this Charter.
The Council shall by Ordinance establish rules, which shall
apply to all town contracts for creative products or professional
services. Said ordinance shall include procedures and criteria for
selecting the most suitable sources for supplying such services.
(c)
That having a single source of supply.
(d)
That needed to cope with an emergency situation reported as such
to the Council or declared as such by a competent authority.
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Awards for items in (b) and (c) above shall be made by the Council
if the amount of the contract exceeds the sum of 0.03% of the appropriated
General Fund expenditures for the current fiscal year.
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No transaction essentially a unit shall be divided for the purpose
of evading the provisions of this section. Records of all bids, formal
and informal, and of the successful bidder shall be kept in the office
of the Purchasing Agent, where they shall be open to public inspection.
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Contracts for the construction of streets, sewers, buildings
and other public works shall be made under such rules and regulations
as may be established, by ordinance, provided that if any such contract
involves the expenditure of 0.03% of the appropriated General Fund
expenditures of the current fiscal year or more, the Purchasing Agent
shall invite sealed bids or proposals, giving at least ten (10) days'
public notice thereof by at least one (1) publication in a newspaper
which has a general circulation in the town or by other alternative
means established by the Council. The Council shall let the purchase
or contract to the lowest responsible bidder thereon or shall reject
all such bids and proposals. All such sealed bids or proposals shall
be opened publicly. No transaction essentially a unit shall be divided
for the purpose of evading the provision of this section. Records
of all bids shall be open to public inspection.
No payroll, bill or other claim against the town, except those
of the Board of Education, shall be paid until the same has been audited
for correctness and legality by the Director of Finance, and all payments
shall be made by check, or wire transfer, (or other electronic transfer),
drawn on a town bank account, authorized and signed by the Director
of Finance and countersigned by the Town Treasurer, as provided in
Section 502 of this Charter. All payrolls, bills or other claims against
the Board of Education shall be audited as such Board may provide,
and payments shall be made by check signed by the Chairperson or the
Secretary of the Board of Education and countersigned by the Town
Treasurer. To avoid unnecessary delay in the transaction of town business,
the Manager shall designate a Deputy of the Director of Finance, and
the Council shall appoint a Deputy of the Treasurer, each of whom,
in lieu of the principal, may sign certificates, payrolls, bills,
claims and checks.
All fees collected by officers and employees of the town in
their official capacities shall be paid into the town treasury, provided
that this shall not apply to the fees of Constables or witness fees
payable to police officers. Detailed records of such transactions
must be maintained within each office and be available for auditing
purposes.
The Manager, Director of Finance, Tax Collector, Treasurer and
such other officers and employees of the town as the Council may determine,
by ordinance, shall file with the Town Clerk a surety bond or surety
bonds in such amounts as may be designated in such ordinance, conditioned
upon the faithful performance of their respective duties. The premiums
of such bonds shall be paid by the town.
Any person who knowingly and intentionally makes or causes to
be made any payment from town moneys 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 grounds for removal.
The Council shall designate, annually, an independent public
accountant or firm of independent public accountants, to audit the
books and accounts of the town, including the Board of Education,
as provided in the General Statutes.
