[HISTORY: Adopted by the Special Town Meeting
of the Town of Griswold 2-7-1984. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Amended 5-22-2017 STM; 3-26-2019]
The total budget expenditures for any given year shall not be
increased over the preceding annual Town budget year by an actual
dollar amount in excess of revenue generated by the projected increase
in the grand list, the receipt of state and federal income in excess
of the amounts of such income received in the preceding fiscal year
and other miscellaneous income. The increase in monies generated from
an increase in the grand list shall be calculated by using the previous
year's mill rate. This revision is subject to the following:
A.
In the event that the long-term bonding debt and associated
debt service or long-term public obligation shall increase the budget
as the result of Town Meeting action or public referendum, the budget
may be increased by this amount and the additional funding may be
raised by taxation.
B.
In the event that a specific revenue account, other
than property taxes, is projected to decrease, the limit on total
budget expenditures shall be reduced by the amount of the projected
decrease unless the service is funded with the proviso that the Board
of Selectmen recommend such funding as necessary to protect the public
health, safety or welfare and the same is approved by the Board of
Finance as per Section 7-348 of the Connecticut General Statutes and
approved by simple majority of the electors and voters voting in a
Special Town Meeting or referendum called for that purpose.
C.
In the event of an increase in the grand list due
to revaluation, the actual dollar amount of increase in the projected
budget shall be limited to the dollar amount of increase in the previous
year's budget or the average amount of increase of the previous three
years' budgets, whichever is larger.
D.
This limitation on budget expenditures for any fiscal
year shall not apply to any expenditure necessary to pay:
(1)
Deficits or projected deficits from any prior year's
budget or notes given to pay the same.
(2)
Expenditures and appropriations for special projects
that will be funded by bonds, notes or other forms of borrowing.
(3)
Debt service on bonds, notes or other obligations
of the Town.
(4)
Judgments or settlements of claims against the Town.
(5)
Expenditures mandated by the state and federal government in excess
of the mandated expenditures included in the annual Town budget adopted
for the preceding fiscal year.
(6)
Expenditures occasioned by natural disasters, civil
disorders or other definable emergencies, provided that the Board
of Finance, upon recommendation of the Board of Selectmen, determines
that such expenditure is necessary to alleviate a serious condition
endangering the public health, safety or welfare.
(7)
Expenditure increases which will be paid solely from
grants, gifts or revenues other than property taxes.
[Added 12-10-1987 STM; amended 9-11-2003 STM]
Whenever an Annual or Special Town Meeting is
duly warned and called for the purpose of voting on any of the Town's
budgetary/fiscal matters, including but not limited to supplemental
appropriations thereto, involving amounts in excess of $10,000, the
substantive vote on said budgetary/fiscal matters shall be by secret
ballot. The secret ballot vote required hereunder shall not apply
to ministerial or procedural matters that may arise during the course
of a meeting or to supplemental appropriations to the extent such
appropriations are to be funded by state, federal or other grants
or donations that have previously been approved by the relevant agencies.
[Added 12-12-1991 STM; amended 6-2-2000 STM; 5-14-2008 referendum; 11-15-2016 ATM; 5-22-2017 STM; 3-26-2019]
The Annual Budget Meeting shall be held no later than the second
Monday of the month of June immediately preceding the fiscal year.
In accordance with Section 7-344 of the Connecticut General Statutes,
as it may be amended, the Board of Finance shall hold a public hearing
not less than two weeks before the Annual Budget Meeting. At such
hearing, the Board of Finance will present itemized estimates of the
expenditures of the Town for the ensuing fiscal year and shall allow
all persons to be heard with respect to such appropriations as they
are desirous that the Board of Finance should recommend or reject.
Following such hearing, the Board of Finance shall hold a public meeting
at which it shall adopt a final budget report to be submitted to the
Annual Budget Meeting as required by Section 7-344 of the Connecticut
General Statutes, as it may be amended. The Board of Finance shall
submit such report to the Board of Selectmen and the Town Clerk in
a sufficiently timely fashion to allow publication of the report on
a date prior to the date of the Annual Budget Meeting. Upon completion
of any and all other business that may properly come before the Annual
Budget Meeting and after a reasonable opportunity for discussion of
and action on the Board of Finance's recommended appropriations,
the Annual Budget Meeting shall be adjourned to a referendum to be
held on a date not less than seven days nor more than 14 days thereafter.
At such referendum, the question of whether to approve the proposed
total appropriation for the Board of Education shall be voted on separately
from the question of whether to approve the promised Town operating
budget, as each may have been reduced by the Annual Budget Meeting.
The date of such referendum shall be set by the Annual Budget Meeting
or, if the Meeting does not set a date, by the Board of Selectmen.
The hours of such vote shall be between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. In
the event that the proposed appropriation is defeated, the Board of
Finance shall promptly prepare a revised proposal which will be considered
and adjourned to a referendum to be held on a date not less than seven
nor more than 14 days thereafter. As authorized by said Section 7-344
of the Connecticut General Statutes, as it may be amended, budget
referendum ballots may contain nonbinding, advisory questions to inquire
whether the Town portion of the budget is too high or too low, and
whether the Board of Education portion of the budget is too high or
too low.
[Added 12-12-1991 STM]
The approval of an additional appropriation
for any department as provided for in Section 7-348 of the Connecticut
General Statutes, which appropriation, together with the sum of any
other additional appropriations made for said department within the
same fiscal year, exceeds $50,000 shall require the affirmative vote
of a majority of those qualified voters voting in a referendum called
for such purpose. No request for an additional appropriation shall
be submitted to a referendum by the terms of this section without
first having been submitted to the Board of Finance for its recommendations
and to the Town at an informational Town Meeting (for such amendments
as may be adopted at such a Town Meeting) called by the Board of Selectmen.
A.
Nothing contained herein shall affect any contract
and/or appropriation made under Section 7-348 of the Connecticut General
Statutes relating to the repair of highways, bridges, sidewalks and
water and sewer systems and the care of the Town poor.
B.
The date of any such referendum shall be set by the
Board of Selectmen no longer than 30 days nor less than five days
after said informational Town Meeting.
C.
The provisions of this section requiring a referendum
vote shall not apply to any request for a supplemental appropriation
to the extent such appropriation is to be funded by one or more state,
federal or other grants or donations that have previously been approved
by the relevant agencies, officials or organizations.
[Added 9-11-2003 STM]
