The fiscal year of the Town shall begin on the first day of July and end on the last day of the following June, provided however, that the Financial Town Meeting, upon recommendation of the Town Council, may change the dates of the fiscal year.
[Reso. 7/20/00; approved at election 11/7/00; Reso. 7/11/02; approved at election 11/5/02; Reso. 7/6/06; approved at election 11/7/06; approved at election 11/4/14]
A. 
There shall be a Budget Committee of five (5) members, elected at the Financial Town Meeting for two (2) year terms. However, their terms shall be staggered, such that two (2) members shall be elected in each even numbered year and, three (3) members shall be elected in each odd numbered year. Members of the Town Council and members of the School Committee shall be ineligible to serve as members of the Budget Committee. When elected and qualified the members of the Committee shall elect one of their number as chairman and another as clerk.
B. 
The Budget Committee shall have primary responsibility for the evaluation of all requests for appropriation by the Financial Town Meeting or by any special Town Meeting, and for presenting a proposed budget to the Annual Financial Town Meeting. The Committee shall have the authority to recommend the increase, decrease or elimination of any request for appropriation or line item therein, including those requests contained in citizen petitions pursuant to Section 306 above, provided however, that all requests shall be placed in the Budget Committee Report with indication of the Committee's recommendation. Regarding the request for appropriation from the School Committee, the Budget Committee shall have the authority to recommend increase or decrease of the total request only. The Budget Committee shall also have the authority to:
1. 
Demand, subject to State and federal laws concerning privacy and access to public records, any and all books, records, and correspondence relative to the expenditure of Town monies in the custody of any department of the Town which in its opinion are necessary to properly prepare a budget for the expenditure of Town funds;
2. 
Recommend changes in compensation for any elected official of the Town to that official by February 1st. The Budget Committee shall seek a recommendation of the Town Council on compensation for the Town Clerk;
[Approved at election 11/8/2022]
3. 
Review a capital expenditure program for the Town, pursuant to the provisions of Section 505 of the Charter and applicable ordinances.
[Approved at election 11/8/2022]
[Reso. 7/6/06; approved at election 11/7/06; approved at election 11/8/2022]
All budget requests shall be submitted to the Budget Committee not later than March 1st through the Town Clerk, provided however, that all such requests from appointed Town officials, departments, boards, committees, and agencies under the jurisdiction of the Town Council shall first be submitted to the Town Administrator upon such date prior to January 31st as the Council shall determine. Each such request shall be accompanied by a breakdown of its proposed expenditures with appropriate supporting information and, if applicable, estimates of revenues during the fiscal year. All such budget requests, as well as any "citizen strokes" submitted pursuant to Section 306, shall be transmitted to the Town Clerk to the Town Administrator, for the purposes of preparing and organizing the Budget Committee Report in coordination with the Budget Committee, as provided in Section 304. The Town Administrator shall assist the Budget Committee to assemble the budget. The budget prepared by the Committee shall show its proposed appropriations for each official, department and agency by line item, and the total revenue that will be required to fund the budget. During its deliberations the Committee shall invite the sponsor of each request for appropriation to explain and justify such requests. At an appropriate point or points in the process the Budget Committee shall invite the Council to meet with it to consider the overall budget, revenue prospects, and such detailed questions as either body may care to raise.
[Approved at election 11/2/04; approved at election 11/4/14; approved at election 11/6/18]
The Budget Committee, with the Council in attendance, shall hold a public hearing on its preliminary recommended budget prior to final adoption for presentation to the Financial Town Meeting, which hearing shall take place no more than twenty-five (25) nor less than nineteen (19) days prior to the date for said meeting. At least ten (10) days prior to the date for the Financial Town Meeting the Council shall cause to be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the Town a summary of the proposed budget as adopted for presentation to the Financial Town Meeting, as prescribed in the State Property Tax and Fiscal Disclosure Law. The Council shall insure that all other provisions of said Law, and the provisions of State law pertaining to the maximum tax which towns may levy, as the said laws may be amended from time to time, are complied with. Copies of the Budget Committee report as it is to be presented to the Financial Town Meeting shall be mailed to the electors of the Town and posted on the website of the Town no later than ten (10) days prior to the date of said meeting.
[Reso. 7/6/06; approved at election 11/7/06; approved at election 11/8/2022]
The Council shall provide by ordinance for the orderly preparation by the Town Administrator of a multi-year program for capital expenditure by the Town. Such ordinance shall provide for projections and planning by Town departments, offices, boards, commissions and other agencies, and adoption by the Council after public hearing.
The Council shall appoint a purchasing agent for the Town, and may do so by designating a present Town official to assume this additional responsibility. The Council shall also provide by ordinance policies and procedures to govern the making of purchases by and on behalf of the Town, in conformity with Title 45, Chapter 55 of the General Laws relating to the award of municipal contracts, and other applicable provisions of State law. Such policies and procedures shall be designed to insure that Town funds are expended in the most efficient and economical manner possible, and to provide maximum value per dollar expended in all purchases of goods and services.
A. 
The purchasing procedures shall require that all purchases and contracts executed on behalf of the Town in excess of one thousand dollars ($1,000) be made pursuant to a written requisition from the head of the office, department or agency whose appropriation will be charged and no contract or order shall be issued until the Treasurer shall have certified that there is sufficient appropriation balance as of last posting to the credit of such office, department or agency to pay for the supplies, material, equipment or contractual services for which the contract or order is to be issued. The Council shall not authorize final payment in any such instance until it is satisfied that proper procedures have been followed and payment is in order.
B. 
All applicable requirements of State law, specifically Title 45, Chapter 55 shall be observed by the Town and shall be incorporated into its formal purchasing procedures, provided however, that all purchases for a single item or order in an amount exceeding five thousand dollars ($5,000), or for a single construction project to cost an amount exceeding five thousand dollars ($5,000), shall be made or the contract let through the sealed bid process or one of the alternative procedures provided in the chapter cited above. Purchases in amounts of less than five thousand dollars ($5,000) may be made pursuant to such small purchases regulations as the Council shall adopt.
Every appropriation, except those for capital expenditure, or those authorized from specially dedicated funds, shall lapse at the close of a fiscal year and any unexpended or unencumbered balance revert to the general fund. An appropriation for a capital expenditure shall continue in force until the purpose for which it was made has been accomplished or abandoned.
To meet a public emergency as defined in Section 411 A above, the Council may make emergency appropriations using the emergency ordinance procedure set forth in Section 411. To the extent that there are not available unappropriated revenues to meet such appropriations, the Council may by emergency ordinance authorize the issuance of emergency notes, which may be renewed from time to time, but shall be liquidated not later than the end of the fiscal year next succeeding that in which the emergency appropriation was made.
All fees received by any office or employee of the Town shall belong to the Town and shall be recorded, receipted for and conveyed at such intervals as the Council may require to the Town Treasurer for deposit in the general fund or in such specifically designated funds as may have been established by the Financial Town Meeting, except as otherwise provided in this Charter.
[Reso. 7/20/00; approved at election 11/7/00]
Upon the request of any department head, office, commission or other unit of Town government, other than a unit not under the jurisdiction of the Town Council, the Town Council may, during the last quarter, move no more than ten (10) percent of any line item to another line item within said department's budget to cover a shortage of funds. Any such transfers will be reported in the yearly reports of both the Town Treasurer and Town Auditor.
[Reso. 7/20/00; approved at election 11/7/00]
There shall be included by the Budget Committee in the budget to be proposed to the Financial Town Meeting a line item to provide a discretionary fund to be used by the Council to meet unanticipated expenses for which there is no provision or insufficient provision in the budget as adopted, or to meet emergency needs for expenditure which might arise during the fiscal year.
[Reso. 7/20/00; approved at election 11/7/00]
There shall be established by the Financial Town Meeting a fund to be designated the Reserve Fund into which there may be transferred from time to time by vote of the Town meeting the whole or any portion of the surplus funds which the Town may have at the end of any fiscal year, or to which direct appropriations may be made. The purpose of the Reserve Fund shall be to make moneys available for temporary borrowings in anticipation of taxes, or to meet a budget shortfall caused by emergency or unforeseen circumstances, or for capital expenditures, but for no other purpose. The Council may authorize borrowing from the Reserve Fund in anticipation of taxes or to cover a departmental shortfall within such limits as the Financial Town Meeting shall have set, provided however, that such borrowings shall be repaid to the Fund at the latest by appropriation at the next Financial Town Meeting. Moneys from the Reserve Fund may be used for capital expenditures only with the specific authorization of the Financial Town Meeting. The Town Treasurer shall have the authority, with the approval of the Council, to make such prudent investments of the moneys in the Fund as may seem appropriate.