Town Bylaws: Chapter Three- Budget Preperation

 

 

There shall be a Finance Committee, appointed by the Moderator as hereinafter provided, which shall consist of one (1) legal voter from each district in the Town and two (2) from the Town at large where there is an odd number of Districts, and three (3) from the Town at large when there is an even number of Districts. No more than two (2) members shall be appointed from any one district. No elective or appointive town officer or town employee shall be eligible to serve on said Committee.

 

The terms of the members of the Finance Committee shall be for three years, the term of each member expiring at the dissolution of the third Annual Town Meeting after his appointment except a member appointed to fill a vacancy for an unexpired term. As soon as practicable after each Annual Town Meeting the Moderator shall appoint members to succeed the members whose terms have expired. A member may be appointed to succeed himself. Said committee shall choose its own officers and shall serve without pay.

 

The Finance Committee shall cause to be kept a true record of its proceedings. Said committee shall appoint a secretary who shall not be a member thereof nor have a vote therein.

 

Any member of the Finance Committee, other than a member appointed at large, who removes from one district to another, or is so removed by a revision of districts, shall thereupon cease to be a member of said committee. The Moderator shall fill any vacancy which may occur in the membership of said committee, as a result of the death, resignation, removal from the town, removal from a district, or any other cause, and shall send an attested copy of such appointment to the Town Clerk and to the secretary of said Committee. If any member is absent from five (5) consecutive meetings of said committee, except in the case of illness, the Chairman of the Committee shall give notice thereof to the Town Clerk, and upon the giving of such notice the position shall become vacant, and the Moderator shall appoint another member to complete the unexpired term.

 

All articles which are to be considered at the business session of an Annual Town Meeting or at any Special Town Meeting shall be referred to the Finance Committee for its consideration. The Selectmen, after drawing any such warrant, shall transmit immediately a copy thereof to each member of said committee. A public hearing shall be held at least one month before the business session of an Annual Town Meeting and two weeks before a Special Town Meeting upon all articles to be considered at such meeting, except budget articles and articles upon which a public hearing by some other tribunal is required by law, and notice of such hearing shall be given by posting in one or more public places in each district and by publishing the same at least once in a newspaper having a general circulation in the Town. Said committee shall, after due consideration of the subject matter of such articles, report thereon in writing as provided in Chapter Two, Section 5, such recommendations as it deems best for the interests of the Town and its citizens.

 

It shall be the duty of the Finance Committee annually to consider the expenditures in previous years and the estimated requirements for the ensuing year of the several boards, officers and committees prescribed by said committee. The said committee shall add to such statement of expenditures and estimates another column, giving the amounts which in its opinion shall be appropriated for the ensuing year, and shall further add thereto such explanations and suggestions relating to the proposed appropriations as it may deem expedient, and shall report thereon as provided in Section 5 above.

 

Said committee shall have free access to all books of record and accounts, bills and vouchers on which money has been or may be paid from the Town Treasury. Officers, boards and committees of the Town shall upon request furnish said committee with facts, figures and any other information pertaining to their several activities.

 

It shall be the duty of the Capital Expenditure Committee to make an annual report which shall be filed with the Finance Committee to be included in its report.

 

a.)    There shall be a Capital Expenditures Committee which shall perform the duties set forth in this section and be governed by the provisions thereof and shall advise and make recommendations to the Finance Committee on all matters relating to expenditures for capital improvements in the Town. Said committee shall consist at all times of five legal voters of the Town and shall be appointed as provided in this section. Except as hereinafter specifically provided, no person, other than a Town Representative, holding an elective or appointive office in the Town nor any permanent member of a Town Department shall serve on such committee. The members of the committee shall serve without compensation and may employ clerical or other assistance subject to available appropriation. The Committee shall choose its own officers.

b.)   The Moderator shall appoint three of the original members of said committee, who shall serve terms of one, two and three years respectively, as the Moderator shall designate; and annually thereafter, immediately following the dissolution of the business session of the Annual Town Meeting, the Moderator shall appoint one new member to said committee who shall succeed the member appointed by him whose term then shall have expired and who shall serve for a term of three (3) years.

c.)    One member of said committee shall be appointed annually by the Chairman of the Finance Committee and such member may but need not be a member of the Finance Committee; and one member shall be appointed annually by the Chairman of the Planning Board and such member may but need not be a member of the Planning Board. Members so appointed shall serve terms of one year from the time of the Annual Town Meeting at which they are appointed.

d.)   Whenever any vacancy shall occur in the office of the committee, whether by reason of death, resignation, removal from the Town, appointment or election to Town office or other cause, such vacancy shall be filled by the appointing authority which appointed the member whose position shall have become vacant. A copy of such appointment shall be sent by the appointing authority to the Town Clerk and to the Secretary of the Committee. Any person so appointed to fill that vacancy shall hold office for the unexpired term of the person whom he succeeds.

e.)    For the purposes of this section, a capital improvement is defined as a physical betterment, including but not limited to the construction of new buildings or facilities and the alteration of buildings or facilities now or hereafter existing, the purchase of land, or items of equipment, provided that any such physical betterment having a cost of less than ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00) and which in the judgment of the committee is not of an unusual or non–recurring nature shall not be considered a capital improvement. It shall be the duty of the committee to ascertain annually what expenditures for capital improvements, as herein defined, will be required by the Town during the ensuring five years, and in making its determination shall confer with the Finance Committee and the Director of Finance, any Town boards, commissions, committees, officers, employees, and other agencies and departments of the Town involved in making expenditures for capital improvements in the Town, all of which shall co–operate with the committee; and all such agencies and departments or other authorities of the Town authorized by law to make such expenditures shall furnish to the committee on the second Friday in September in each year detailed estimates of the expenditures necessary for capital improvements under their jurisdiction for the ensuing five years. The committee shall prepare annually a recommendation of expenditures for capital improvements, including recommendations for the scheduling of such expenditures to the Town Administrator by the first Friday in January. In conjunction with the submission of the annual budget message, the Town Administrator shall propose a financing plan for such capital improvements and the probable impact of such improvements on the tax rate of the Town and shall furnish such report and recommendations to the Finance Committee;

 

All officers, boards, departments and committees of the Town authorized to expend money shall annually prepare a detailed statement of the amounts estimated to be necessary for the proper maintenance of the respective departments, boards or committees for the ensuing year, including estimates of the salaries for officers of the respective boards or departments, with the same purpose during the preceding year; estimates of the amounts necessary for capital outlays for permanent improvements; estimates of the income to be received in connection with the Town business or property entrusted to their respective appropriations of which they have the expenditure and which remain unpaid, showing the amount thereof, to whom due and for what due. Such statements shall be submitted to the Director of Finance for the Finance Committee in accordance with a schedule annually determined by the Town Administrator but in no event later than ninety days prior to the start of the annual town meeting.

 

The Parks and Recreation Department shall provide plans of parks or playgrounds proposed for construction or reconstruction in conjunction with any request for funding to the Finance Committee and said plans shall indicate property lines as well as any proposed removal or addition of trees and other physical barriers (i.e. walls, retaining walls, guard rails, etc.).

 

For the purpose of sections 5A–2 (b) and 5A–3 of the Dedham Home Rule Charter, the town administrator shall submit a proposed town operating budget to the finance committee not less than seventy–five (75) days prior to the date on which the town meeting is to convene in its initial business session of the annual town meeting, and the school committee shall submit its proposed operating budget to the town administrator at least ninety (90) days prior to the date on which the town meeting is to convene in its initial business session of the annual town meeting.