Electors of the Town, acting at the Annual Town Budget Meeting
and referendum, shall have the sole power to amend and adopt the annual
budget of the Town of Winchester as set forth in this Article.
The Manager shall require each department, office or agency
of the Town supported wholly or in part by Town funds, or for which
a specific Town appropriation is made, to set forth, in narrative
or such other form as the Manager may prescribe, a program or programs
showing services, activities and work accomplished during the current
fiscal year. Said program shall also show the number of positions
for each job classification authorized and positions actually filled
during the current fiscal year and to be authorized and filled during
the new fiscal year.
The Chairman of the Board of Education shall have the same duties
and follow the same form and procedure with respect to the budget
of the Board of Education as provided in this Charter for departmental
estimates. The Chairman of the Board of Education shall also set forth
the pupil enrollment at each school during the current fiscal year
and the projected pupil enrollment during the new fiscal year, and
he shall itemize his revised estimates of expenditures for the current
fiscal year and his proposed expenditures for the new fiscal year
for each individual school. Those expenditures which cannot be so
allocated shall be set forth separately by category.
The Manager shall compile preliminary estimates for the annual
budget. The head of each department, office or agency of the Town,
except for the Chairman of the Board of Education shall, on or before
the first day of March each year, file with the Manager on forms prescribed
and provided by him a detailed estimate of the expenditures to be
made by his Department or Agency and the revenue, other than tax revenues,
to be collected thereby in the current fiscal year, and such other
information as may be required by the Board or the Manager. The Chairman
of the Board of Education shall, on or before the fifteenth day of
March each year submit its departmental estimate in the manner set
forth in this section.
Not later than the fifteenth day of March each year, the Manager
shall present to the Board of Selectmen 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, as revealed
by the annual audit, and budget estimates of receipts for the current
year as budgeted, and proposed estimates of receipts;
C. Itemized estimates of expenditures, presenting in parallel columns,
the actual expenditures for each department, office, agency, or activity,
including the Board of Education, for the last completed fiscal year,
as shown by the annual report, the adopted budget figures for the
current fiscal year, the Manager's revised estimates for the
current fiscal year, and the Manager's recommendations of the
amount to be appropriated for the new fiscal year, for all items,
and such other information as may be required by the Board of Selectmen.
The estimates, as presented to the Board of Selectmen, shall be supported
by such information relative to programs as described in Sections
1104 and 1105 of this Article. The Manager shall present reasons for
all his recommendations, and in particular shall explain all significant
changes from the revised estimate for the current year to his new
year recommendations.
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 Commission, in accordance with Section 8-24
of the General Statutes, as amended, concerning municipal improvements,
of proposed capital projects for the current fiscal year and for the
four (4) 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 Board of Selectmen those projects to be undertaken
during the current fiscal year, and the method of financing the same.
The Board of Selectmen shall hold two (2) or more public hearings,
including at least one (1) such hearing devoted exclusively to the
budget of the Board of Education, which may, at the option of the
Board of Education, be held jointly with the Board of Education within
thirty (30) days of the receipt of the Manager's proposed budget
at which any elector or taxpayer may have an opportunity to be heard
regarding appropriations. Following the holding of such public hearings,
the Board of Selectmen shall recommend a budget to the Annual Town
Budget Meeting of the Town. Sufficient copies of said annual budget
shall be made available for general distribution in the office of
the Town Clerk and the Manager at least fifteen (15) days prior to
said Annual Town Budget Meeting, and the Board of Selectmen shall
cause to be published on the Town's website, a summary of the
budget showing revenues by major sources and proposed expenditures
by function or department, in the same columnar form as prescribed
for budget estimates in Section 1106 of this Article, at least seven
(7) days prior to said Annual Town Budget Meeting; and shall also
show the amount to be raised by taxation. The Town Clerk will also
have the Summary available for public inspection.
Upon adoption of the budget by town meeting, the Board of Selectmen
shall fix the amount of revenues to be raised by taxation for town
and school purposes combined, so as to preserve a balanced relation
between receipts and expenditures including any estimated cash surplus
or cash deficit from the current fiscal year. After the budget is
adopted, the Board of Selectmen shall, as soon as practical, fix the
rate of taxation on the last property grand list 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 to 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.