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.
A. 
The Annual Town Budget Meeting shall be held on the second Monday in May at 7 p.m., which shall be adjourned from time to time until the annual budget is adopted.
B. 
Prior to adjournment to budget referendum, the electors at the Annual Town Budget Meeting shall review the budget as presented by the Board of Selectmen and the electors shall have the power to amend, but not increase, any line item of the budget. Voting on line items shall be by machine or confidential ballot.
C. 
The Annual Town Budget Meeting shall be adjourned to an 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. referendum to be held on a date not less than fourteen (14) days and not more than twenty-one (21) days following the Annual Town Budget Meeting.
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.
A. 
The budget shall become effective when approved at the referendum by machine vote, following the Annual Town Budget Meeting as provided in Section 1102, and an official copy shall be filed with the Town Clerk. If the budget is not adopted at the referendum, the Annual Town Budget Meeting shall be rescheduled to a date, no less than fourteen (14) days nor more than twenty-one (21) days from the date of the referendum. At the resumption of the meeting, the Board of Selectmen shall submit an annual budget as set forth in this Article. This process shall be repeated until a budget is adopted.
B. 
At any Annual Town Budget Meeting the Board of Selectmen shall present an estimate of the tax rate in mills that shall be levied on the taxable property in the town for the new fiscal year.
C. 
In the event that the Annual Town Budget Meeting fails to adopt a budget, the town shall operate on a budget equal to that of the preceding fiscal year, until such time as the Annual Town Meeting at referendum shall approve a budget.
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.