6-01 BOND REPAYMENT
Every resolution for the issue of bonds shall provide for a tax levy for each year to meet all serial installments of principal and interest and such amounts shall be included in a tax levy for each year until said bond shall have been paid in full.
6-02 ANNUAL AUDIT
The Legislative Council shall annually designate an independent, certified public accountant or his firm to audit the books and accounts of the Town as required by the General Statutes.
6-10 THE ANNUAL BUDGET PROCESS
6-11 PREPARATION OF THE ANNUAL BUDGET
(a) At such time and in such manner as the Board of Selectmen may require, not later than February 1st, every department supported wholly or in part by Town revenues, or for which a specific Town appropriation is or may be made, except the Board of Education, shall present to the Board of Selectmen an itemized estimate of the expenditures to be made by such departments and all revenue other than Town appropriations to be received by it for its use during the next ensuing fiscal year. The estimates shall be accompanied by such other reports and information as the Board of Selectmen may require. The Board of Selectmen shall then revise the estimates as it deems desirable and prepare a proposed general government Town budget for all such departments for submission to the Board of Finance.
(b) Not later than February 14th, in such form and with such supporting data as the Board of Finance shall require,
(1) the Board of Selectmen shall submit to the Board of Finance an itemized estimate of the proposed general government Town budget, other than for schools and education, during the next ensuing fiscal year; and
(2) the Board of Education shall submit to the Board of Finance an itemized estimate of 22 expenditures proposed for the maintenance of Town public schools and an itemized estimate of all revenue other than Town appropriations to be received by the Board of Education for its use during the next ensuing fiscal year.
(c) Prior to the final adoption of the budget by the Legislative Council, the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Education may amend the budgets originally submitted to the Board of Finance. Such amended item or items, if approved by the Board of Finance, shall be considered part of the original budgets and be submitted to the Legislative Council for approval subject to the provisions of Section 6-13.
6-12 DUTIES OF THE BOARD OF FINANCE
(a) The Board of Finance shall conduct a public hearing, not later than the first Wednesday in March on the budgets proposed by the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Education and at said meeting or any adjournment thereof it shall hear all electors or taxpayers who may desire to be heard relative to the proposed budget.
(b) The Board of Finance shall, not later than five (5) days prior to the hearing provided in Section 6-12 (a), cause to be published in a newspaper having a circulation in the Town the budget proposed by (1) the Board of Selectmen including in parallel columns, for each item, the sum budgeted for the current fiscal year, the sum expended for the prior fiscal year and the sum proposed by the Board of Selectmen; (2) the Board of Education including in parallel columns, for each item, the sum budgeted for the current fiscal year and the sum expended for the prior fiscal year; the sum proposed by the Board of Education; and (3) the estimated tax rate to the extent possible.
(c) The Board of Finance shall hold working sessions and shall revise the estimates as it deems desirable and prepare a recommended Town budget, which shall be a complete financial plan for the current operations of the Town and its agencies for the next ensuing fiscal year. It shall contain at least the following:
(1) A simple, clear, general summary of the contents of the budget, showing estimated revenues and total appropriations equal in amount;
(2) The proposed expenditures in detail including provisions for any audited cash deficit for the prior fiscal year, for debt service requirements, and for all other expenditures for the next ensuing fiscal year, including an appropriation for contingencies to be met from current revenues. All proposed expenditures shall be classified in such manner as the Board of Finance deems desirable;
(3) Miscellaneous revenues and the amount required from taxes. The estimated miscellaneous and tax revenues shall be the amounts expected to be received in cash during the next ensuing fiscal year;
(4) An itemized comparative statement by classification of all actual expenditures and receipts during the last completed fiscal year and the budget appropriations for the current fiscal year as revised to a recent specified date, together with estimated revenues for the current fiscal year.
(d) The Board of Finance shall consider the budgets proposed by the Board of Selectmen and Board of Education and shall act upon said proposed budgets. It shall:
(1) Adopt and approve the budgets proposed by the Board of Selectmen and Board of Education; or
(2) Make such changes in any estimates or appropriations contained in the proposed budgets as it shall deem proper; and/or
(3) Add appropriations or receipt items not contained in the proposed budgets.
(e) The Board of Finance shall, in any event, not later than March 14th submit to the Legislative Council its recommended budget for the next fiscal year.
6-13 DUTIES OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
(a) Upon receipt of the budget recommended by the Board at Finance for the ensuing fiscal year, the Legislative Council shall cause sufficient copies thereof to be made available for general distribution in the office of the Town Clerk and shall hold a public hearing thereon not later than the last Wednesday in March each year. At least five (5) days prior to said hearing, the Legislative Council shall cause to be published, in a newspaper having a circulation in the Town, a notice of the public hearing together with a summary of the budget recommended by the Board of Finance showing proposed expenditures, anticipated revenues by major sources, and the amount of revenue to be raised by general taxation.
(1) The Legislative Council shall consider the budget recommended by the Board of Finance and shall adopt a budget not later than the second Wednesday in April.
(2) If the Legislative Council shall not have adopted a budget on or prior to said date, then the budget recommended by the Board at Finance shall be deemed to have finally been adopted by the Legislative Council as of said date.
(b) The Legislative Council shall have the following powers with respect to any item in the budget recommended by the Board of Finance:
(1) It shall have the power to reduce any item in the budget recommended by the Board of Finance by a majority vote of the Legislative Council members present and voting; and
(2) It may increase any item in said budget or add items to said budget only on a two-thirds affirmative vote of the entire membership of the Legislative Council provided, however, that items may be added by the Legislative Council only to the extent that such items were included in the budgets proposed by the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Education and provided further that any increase in said budget shall not be in excess of the amount for said item in the budgets proposed by the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Education.
(c) If the Board of Finance shall fail to act, as set forth in Section 6-12, on the budgets proposed by the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Education or shall have failed to submit a recommended budget to the Legislative Council within the timeframe as set forth in Section 6-12 (e), then the budgets proposed to the Board of Finance by the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Education shall be considered by the Legislative Council. The Legislative Council shall hold a public hearing 24 on the budgets proposed by the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Education after giving notice, all as set forth in Section 6-13 (a). The Legislative Council shall have, when considering and acting upon the budgets proposed by the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Education the same powers granted to the Board of Finance under the provisions of
Section 6-12 (d), and shall exercise said powers by the vote of a simple majority of its members present and voting.
6-14 ANNUAL BUDGET REFERENDUM
(a) The proposed Town budget shall be submitted for adoption at the Annual Budget Referendum to be held on the fourth Tuesday of April between the hours of 6:00 A.M. and 8:00 P.M. Notice of the Annual Budget Referendum and the proposed budget, together with the mil rate estimated to be necessary to fund the proposed budget, shall be filed by the Legislative Council with the Town Clerk and published in a newspaper having a circulation in the Town at least five (5) days prior to the Annual Budget Referendum. At the Annual Budget Referendum, the proposed budget shall be approved as a whole by a majority of those voting who are lawfully entitled to vote or rejected as a whole by a majority of those voting who are lawfully entitled to vote. The question on the budget shall be as follows: Shall the sum of $ ______________ be appropriated as the
annual Town budget for the fiscal year?
(b) Failure to Adopt.
In the event that the majority of those voting reject the proposed budget, the Legislative Council shall reconsider and recommend a Town budget within seven (7) calendar days after said Annual Budget Referendum. Said proposed Town budget shall be filed with the Town Clerk and presented for adoption by a second Referendum to be held between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. no earlier than ten (10) days and no later than fourteen (14) days following the date the proposed Town budget is filed with the Town Clerk. Notice of the second Referendum and the proposed budget, together with the mil rate estimated to be necessary to fund the proposed budget, shall be filed by the Legislative Council with the Town Clerk and published in a newspaper having a circulation in the Town at least five (5) days prior to the second Referendum. At the
second Referendum the proposed budget shall be approved as a whole by a majority of those voting who are lawfully entitled to vote or rejected as a whole by a majority of those voting who are lawfully entitled to vote and the question on the budget shall be as follows:
Shall the sum of $__________ be appropriated as the annual Town budget for the fiscal year?
(c) Failure to Adopt After Second Referendum
In the event that the majority of those voting reject the proposed budget, the Legislative Council shall reconsider and recommend a Town budget within seven (7) calendar days after said Referendum. Said proposed Town budget shall be filed with the Town Clerk and presented for adoption by vote at a Town Meeting to be held no earlier than ten (10) days and no later than fourteen (14) days following the date the proposed Town budget is filed with the Town Clerk. Copies of the proposed budget shall be available at least 48 hours before such meeting at the office of the Town Clerk, and elsewhere as the Legislative Council may prescribe, and shall be published in a newspaper having a circulation in the Town at least five (5) days prior to the meeting. The meeting shall have the power to decrease or delete any line item, but it may not increase
or add to any line item or establish any additional line item. When a budget is approved by the Town Meeting, the action is final and not subject to referendum pursuant to Section 7-100 of this Charter.
In the event that the Town Meeting fails to pass the budget, the Legislative Council shall meet and, upon due deliberation, shall file and publish a recommended budget to be considered at the next Town Meeting called in the same manner and in accordance with the schedule described above. This procedure shall be repeated until a budget is passed.
Whenever a Town Meeting is called to vote upon a proposed annual Town budget, the budget may be brought to referendum by a petition signed by those entitled to vote at the Town Meeting. Said petition shall be presented to the Town Clerk for validation of signatures no later than the close of business on the seventh day following the day the Legislative Council files the proposed budget with the Town Clerk. The total number of signatures required on said petition shall be 5% of the total number of electors as determined by the last completed registry of the Town. The Town Clerk shall present the petition to the Town Meeting, which shall set the date for the referendum in accordance with the General Statutes and within 10 days of the Town Meeting.
6-20 LAYING OF TAXES
(a) Following the adoption of the budget for the next ensuing fiscal year, the Legislative Council shall meet and, with due provision for estimated and uncollectible taxes, abatements and corrections, shall lay such tax on the last completed Grand List as shall be sufficient, with the income from other sources, not only to meet the estimated expenses of the Town for the next ensuing fiscal year, but also to absorb the revenue deficit, if any, at the beginning of such year. The tax laid shall be based on facts known and estimates made at the time the Legislative Council acts and may be different from the rate estimated prior to the Annual Budget Referendum or any subsequent Town Meeting or referendum even though the budget adopted is the same as the budget recommended to the Annual Budget Referendum or any subsequent Town meeting or
referendum.
(b) The Tax Collector shall then collect the tax in accordance with the General Statutes. Property tax bills of $50 or more in the Town shall be due and payable in 2 semi-annual installments, July 1 and January 1. Taxes shall be delinquent and interest charged in accordance with Section 12-146 of the General Statutes and any amendments thereto. Taxes amounting to less than $50 shall be due and payable July 1. 26
6-30 SPECIAL AND EMERGENCY APPROPRIATIONS
(a) Definitions
A “Special Appropriation” is any request for an appropriation of funds that is made during a fiscal year for which an annual budget has been adopted without such funds being appropriated. An “Emergency Appropriation” is a special appropriation required for any purpose arising from some unforeseen or unusual or extraordinary event, such as the destruction of public property by fire, flood, or such other calamity, or from the necessity of erecting, altering or repairing public buildings, bridges, structures or other public works, or from some unusual demand made upon the Town by the State; such emergency shall be found to exist by the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the entire authorized membership of the Legislative Council.
(b) Initiation.
A request for a special or emergency appropriation may be initiated by the Board of Selectmen, a Town department head or the Legislative Council. The request shall include an estimate of the funds required, the reasons therefor, and a proposed method of financing. Methods of financing include, without limitation, issuing notes or bonds of the Town or laying a special tax on the Grand List last completed.
(c) Action By The Legislative Council
The Legislative Council shall consider any request for a special or emergency appropriation, provided such request is properly noticed and appears on the agenda of a regular or special meeting of the Legislative Council. Special appropriations, shall be accompanied by a recommendation of the Board of Finance concerning whether or not such appropriation should be made, provided, however the Legislative Council may act on a request for a special appropriation without a recommendation from the Board of Finance if the Board of Finance has failed to provide such recommendation within 30 days of the appearance of the special appropriation on the agenda of the Council meeting. The Legislative Council shall act upon requests for special and emergency appropriations that do not exceed the limits of the Legislative Council’s authority as set
forth in Section 7-80 of this Charter. The Legislative Council shall determine the method of financing for such special or emergency appropriation. The Legislative Council may recommend to a Town Meeting requests for special or emergency appropriations that exceed the Legislative Council’s authority. In such case, the Legislative Council shall recommend a method of financing the special or emergency appropriation that shall be included by the Board of Selectman in the warning of the special Town Meeting. When, in the opinion of the Legislative Council, a special or emergency appropriation requires a larger expenditure of money than can reasonably be raised by taxation in a single year, the Legislative Council may provide or may recommend to a special Town Meeting a method of financing such expenditures over a period of years through the issuance of bonds or notes of the Town.
6-50 ACTION BY TOWN MEETING
When a special or emergency appropriation is recommended to a Town Meeting said appropriation may be decreased by the Town Meeting but may not be increased. The Town Meeting shall have no authority to act concerning special appropriation of any amounts that are necessary to implement agreements reached through the process of collective bargaining.
If a special or emergency appropriation is voted for a purpose requiring the expenditure or encumbrance of funds during a fiscal year for which an annual budget has been adopted but the tax has not yet been laid in accordance with Section 6-20 (a) of this Charter, it shall be financed by being included in the appropriations of the Town for which the tax is laid.
6-60 NON-RECURRING EXPENDITURES
If any expenditure other than a recurring expenditure recommended by the Legislative Council is of so large an amount that the tax laid to pay it would make the total tax so high as in the judgment of the Legislative Council to be inconsistent with the public welfare, the Town Meeting or Referendum, on recommendation of the Legislative Council, may direct the Legislative Council to apportion the tax for such expenditure over a period of not more than 5 years and the amount apportioned each year shall be thereafter included in the budget as a fixed charge until such time as the total amount of such expenditure has been paid. If the Town Meeting or Referendum votes to issue bonds, the interest on such bonds and an annual appropriation for a sinking fund sufficient to pay the same on maturity shall be included in the budget as a fixed
charge. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any expenditure which is to be met by the proceeds of a bond issue and which has been authorized by vote of the Town Meeting or Referendum. The phrase “recurring expenditure” as used herein means an expenditure for a purpose for which an appropriation was made in each of the 3 preceding fiscal years.
6-70 TRANSFERS
(a ) During the first 335 days of any fiscal year, the First Selectman and Financial Director may transfer unexpended and unencumbered balances of any appropriations within a department to another appropriation for the same department, which shall not exceed the sum of $50,000.00. All transfers within a department that exceed the sum of $50,000.00 shall require the approval of the Board of Finance.
Upon the request of the Board of Selectman, the Board of Finance may transfer any unencumbered appropriation, balance or portion thereof from one department to another, which shall not exceed the sum of $200,000.00. When transfers between departments are proposed which exceed $200,000.00, the proposed transfers require a recommendation by the Board of Finance and the approval of the Legislative Council. The Legislative Council shall not consider such proposed transfers unless accompanied by a recommendation from the Board of Finance or unless the Board of Finance shall have failed to make such a recommendation within fifteen (15) days after notification by the First Selectman of the action taken by the Board of Selectmen. All appropriations or transfers from a contingency fund 28 require a recommendation by the Board of Finance and the
approval of the Legislative Council.
(b) During the remainder of any fiscal year, upon request of Town departments, the Board of Finance shall have the power to transfer, without limitation, the unexpended and unencumbered balances of any appropriation for one department to an appropriation for another department with the approval of the Legislative Council.
6-80 EDUCATION SPECIAL APPROPRIATIONS AND TRANSFERS FUNDING
(a) The provisions of sections 6-30, 6-60, and 6-70 shall not be a limitation on the power of the Town to issue bonds or other obligations for appropriations or indebtedness in excess of $10,000 in accordance with the General Statutes and this Charter.
(b) Nothing contained in Section 6-70 of this Charter shall affect any appropriation contained in, or transfers within, the budget of the Board of Education.
6-90 EXPENDITURES AND ACCOUNTING
(a) The fiscal year of the Town shall begin on July 1st and end on June 30th of the following calendar year, starting July 1, 1965,
(b) The system of accounts used by the Town departments shall be that prescribed by the General Statutes as supplemented by regulations adopted by the Board of Finance and approved by the Legislative Council and in accordance with generally accepted accounting practice.
(c) The Board of Finance shall keep under review the expenditures of Town departments and shall by regulation prescribe periodic reports of expenditures for which purpose said Board of Finance shall have access to the books and records of any such department.
(d) The regulations adopted by the Board of Finance and approved by the Legislative Council shall also designate the forms and procedures for purchase orders to be drawn on the Financial Director by the Board of Education and the Board of Selectmen.
(e) All sums not in excess of $50,000 which may become due and payable to the Town or any of its departments by virtue of any loss or damage suffered by persons or property entrusted to the care, supervision or management of any such department shall be deposited in a special account and segregated by the Financial Director from the general fund of the Town. Thereafter, the Financial Director shall use such sums so segregated to pay any bills incurred in the course of repairing or replacing such loss or damage by the Town department in question, but such payments shall not exceed the lesser of the amount of money so deposited or the cost of repair or replacement. Any such money which is not so expended within one year from the date of its deposit shall cease to be segregated and shall be deposited in the general fund of the Town, unless
the Town department which has incurred the loss or damage, notifies the Financial Director in writing before the expiration of said year that such repairs or replacements have been commenced or will be commenced within 90 days and will be completed on a date which will be specified in the aforesaid written notice, not to exceed 18 months. 29
(f) Neither the Board of Selectmen nor the Board of Education shall draw any order upon the Financial Director unless there is sufficient money appropriated to pay for the object for which such order is drawn and each order shall designate the object for and the account upon which it is drawn. Said Financial Director shall not pay any order unless there are sufficient funds appropriated and available for such object. This section shall not limit in any way the power of the Board of Education to make transfers within its own budget. The Board of Education shall report transfers within its budget in writing monthly to the Financial Director.
(g) No officer or department of the Town shall expend or vote to incur any liability or expense by contract or otherwise, or enter into any contract, which would obligate the Town to expend in excess of an approved departmental line item appropriation. For the purpose of this Charter, a line item means any expenditure for the current fiscal year to which the Board of Finance has assigned an appropriation account number. Any officer or member of a Town department who, without authority from this Charter or the General Statutes, expends or causes to be expended any money of the Town, except in payment of final judgments rendered against the Town, shall be liable in a civil action in the name of the Town, as provided in the General Statutes.
(h) Whenever money is borrowed by the Town to fund an appropriation, whether a special appropriation or an appropriation in the annual Town Budget to be funded by borrowing, interest earned on the money borrowed prior to its expenditure shall be used to reduce the principal amount of the debt, unless the Legislative Council subsequently votes to increase the amount of the appropriation and use some or all of said interest earned to fund the increase.
6-100 IMPACT STATEMENTS
(a) Whenever an appropriation for a capital project is proposed by the Board of Selectmen or a department other than the Board of Education in an amount to be established by regulation of the Legislative Council, whether to be funded from Town taxes, a state and/or federal grant or gift or bequest and, whenever a gift of real or tangible personal property is offered to the Town a financial impact statement shall be prepared by the Financial Director for the Board of Finance and Legislative Council. The Legislative Council in its regulations shall designate the form of the financial impact statement. No appropriation shall be made for such capital project, no grant shall be applied for and no gift of real or tangible personal property shall be accepted until the Board of Finance and Legislative Council have received said financial impact
statement.
(b) If the Board of Education proposes a capital project in an amount to be established by regulation of the Legislative Council to be funded by a special appropriation, a financial impact statement shall be prepared and submitted to the Board of Finance and Legislative Council. No such special appropriation shall be made until a financial impact statement has been received by the Board of Finance and Legislative Council.
(c) The Legislative Council may by regulation require the Board of Selectmen, the Financial Director and the department requesting an appropriation to be funded in part or wholly by financial assistance from the State of Connecticut or the United States to submit to the Legislative Council for approval, the application for such financial assistance and any supporting data concerning the impact of the conditions and commitments of the request for financial assistance on the present and future Town Budgets, plans for Development and Capital Improvement Plans. The Legislative Council may by regulation, permit the Board of Selectmen to file any application for financial assistance without first submitting it to the Legislative Council. 30
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