The manager may, or at the request of the council
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 year and to be accomplished
during the ensuing year.
The manager shall compile preliminary estimates
for the annual budget. The head of each department, office or agency
of the town as described in Section 1 of this chapter, shall, at least
one hundred thirty days before the end of the fiscal year, file with
the manager on forms prescribed and provided by the manager a detailed
estimate of the expenditures to be made by the department, office
or agency and the revenue, other than tax revenues, to be collected
thereby in the ensuing fiscal year and such other information as may
be required by the council or the manager. The superintendent of schools
shall, at least one hundred fifteen days before the end of the fiscal
year, file with the board of education and submit to the manager on
behalf of the board of education a detailed estimate of the expenditures
to be made by its department and the revenue to be collected thereby
in the ensuing fiscal year and such other information as may be required
by the council.
[Amended 11-3-1998]
Not later than one hundred ten days before the
end of the fiscal year the manager shall present to the council a
budget in the form of an ordinance consisting of:
(a)
A budget message outlining the financial policy of
the town government and describing in connection therewith the important
features of the budget plan, indicating any major changes from the
current year in financial policies, expenditures and revenues together
with the reasons for such changes, and containing a clear general
summary of its contents;
(b)
The budget shall provide a complete financial plan
of all town funds and activities for the ensuing year and, except
as required by law or this charter, shall be in such form as the town
manager deems desirable or the town council may require. The budget
shall begin with a clear general summary of its contents; shall show
in detail all estimated income, indicating debt service, for the ensuing
fiscal year; and shall be so arranged as to show comparative figures
for actual and estimated income and expenditures of the current fiscal
year and actual income and expenditures of the preceding fiscal year.
It shall indicate in separate sections:
(1)
The proposed goals and objectives and expenditures
for current operations during the ensuing fiscal year, detailed for
each fund by organization unit, and program purpose or activity, and
the method of financing such expenditures;
(2)
Proposed capital expenditures during the ensuing year,
detailed for each fund by organization unit when practicable, and
the proposed method of financing each such capital expenditure; and
(3)
The anticipated income and expense and profit and
loss for the ensuing year for each utility or other enterprise fund
operated by the town.
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For any fund, the total of proposed expenditures
shall not exceed the total of estimated income plus carried forward
fund balance, exclusive of reserves.
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The manager shall present reasons for all his
or her recommendations. The superintendent of schools shall have the
same duties and follow the same form and procedure with respect to
his or her detailed estimate for the education department as required
of the manager in Section 2 of this chapter for other departmental
estimates. As part of the budget the manager shall present a program,
previously considered and acted upon by the town plan and zoning commission
in accordance with Connecticut General Statutes Section 8-24, as amended,
of proposed capital projects for the ensuing fiscal year and for the
five 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 council those projects to be undertaken during the ensuing
fiscal year and the method of financing the same.
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The council shall schedule and hold two or more
public hearings not later than seventy-five days before the end of
the fiscal year, to which hearings the board of education shall be
invited. At said hearings any elector or taxpayer shall have an opportunity
to be heard regarding appropriations for the ensuing fiscal year.
Following receipt of the estimates from the manager and the superintendent
of schools, the council shall cause sufficient copies of said estimates
to be made available for general distribution in the office of the
town clerk, and, at least seven days prior to each of the aforementioned
public hearings, the council shall cause to be published in a newspaper
having circulation in the town a notice of such public hearing and
a summary of said proposed budget estimates showing anticipated revenues
by major sources, and proposed expenditures by functions or departments
in the same columnar form as prescribed for budget estimates in Section
3 of this chapter, and shall also show the amount to be raised by
taxation. Not later than seventy-four days before the end of the fiscal
year the board of education, having reviewed the detailed estimates
previously filed with it by the superintendent of schools and having
considered the views expressed at the aforesaid public hearings, shall
present to the town council its final detailed estimate of the expenditures
to be made by its department and the revenue to be collected thereby
in the ensuing fiscal year and such other information as may be required
by the council. The board of education shall simultaneously file a
copy of its final detailed estimate with the manager. The board of
education shall have the same duties and follow the same form and
procedure with respect to its final detailed estimate as required
of the manager in Section 2 of this chapter for other departmental
estimates. The council shall by ordinance adopt a budget and file
the same with the town clerk not later than sixty-five days before
the end of the fiscal year. At the time when the council shall adopt
the budget it shall also compute and then by resolution fix the tax
rate in mills for the ensuing fiscal year which shall be levied on
taxable property in the town. Should the council fail to adopt a budget
as hereinabove set forth, the budget as transmitted by the manager
in accordance with the provisions of Section 3 of this chapter, as
amended by the final detailed estimate of the board of education presented
as hereinabove set forth in this section, shall be deemed to have
been finally adopted by said council, and then the tax rate shall
forthwith be computed and then fixed in mills by the manager. Thereafter
expenditures shall be made in accordance with the budget so adopted.
For the purposes of Chapter 108 of the General Statutes, Revision
of 1958, as amended, the council shall be deemed to be the budget-making
authority and the legislative body of the town and shall have all
the powers and duties contained in said Chapter 108 for the creation
of a "Reserve Fund for Capital and Nonrecurring Expenditures."
For the purpose of meeting a public emergency
threatening the public peace, life, health or property within the
town, emergency appropriations, the total amount of which shall not
exceed three percent of the current tax levy in any one fiscal year,
may be made upon the recommendation of the manager and by a vote of
not less than two-thirds of the entire membership of the council,
provided a public hearing, at which any elector or taxpayer of the
town shall have an opportunity to be heard, shall be held prior to
making such appropriation, notice of which hearing shall be given
in a newspaper having circulation in the town not more than ten (10)
nor less than five (5) days prior to such hearing. Such hearing and
notice of hearing may be waived if the council, by at least two-thirds
of its entire membership, shall decide that a delay in making the
emergency appropriation would jeopardize the public peace, life, health
or property within the town. In the absence of an available unappropriated
and unencumbered general fund cash balance to meet such appropriation,
additional means of financing shall be provided in such manner, consistent
with the provisions of the general statutes and of this charter, as
may be determined by the council.
Except as specifically provided in this charter,
the assessment of property for taxation and the collection of taxes
shall be carried on as provided in the general statutes of the state.
(a)
No purchase (except instructional materials and services,
library materials and services, and professional services) shall be
made by any department, board, commission, or officer of the town,
or board of education, except through the purchasing agent of the
town. The director of the department of financial services shall record
the amount of authorized purchases and contracts for future purchases
and encumbrances against the appropriation from which they are to
be paid.
(b)
No voucher, claim or charge against the town shall
be paid until the same has been audited by the director of the department
of financial services or his or her agent and approved by him or her
for correctness and validity. Checks shall be drawn by the director
of the department of financial services for the payment of approved
claims. In the absence or inability to act of the director of the
department of financial services with respect to the above duty, the
manager is authorized to substitute temporarily for said director.
(c)
The director of the department of financial services
shall prescribe the time at which and the manner in which persons
receiving money on account of the town shall pay the same to the town.
(d)
The several departments, commissions, officers and
boards of the town shall not involve the town in any obligation to
spend money for any purpose in excess of the amount appropriated therefor
until the matter has been approved by the council, and each order
drawn upon the town shall state the department, commission, board
or officer and the appropriation against which it is to be charged.
The council shall establish by ordinance or resolution the procedure
and limits whereby the manager may transfer funds within a departmental
appropriation without prior council approval.
(e)
Upon request transmitted by the manager, but only
within the last three months of the fiscal year, the council may by
resolution transfer any unencumbered appropriation, balance or portion
thereof from one department, commission, board or office to another.
No transfer shall be made from any appropriations for debt service
and other statutory charges.
(f)
Additional appropriations over and above the total
budget may be made from time to time by resolution of the council,
upon recommendation of the manager and certification from the director
of the department of financial services that there is available an
unappropriated and unencumbered general fund cash balance to meet
such appropriations.
(g)
Except for appropriations for capital improvements,
whether financed from current revenues or from bond issues, all appropriations
shall lapse at the end of the budget year to the extent that they
shall not have been expended or lawfully encumbered. Appropriations
for capital improvements shall automatically lapse when the project
for which the funds were appropriated has been completed or no expenditures
have been made against the appropriation for a period of three years,
or the council shall abandon the project and transfer the funds by
resolution either to the capital improvement reserve account or to
another specific capital improvement appropriation. In no event shall
funds appropriated for capital improvements be transferred or used
for purposes other than capital improvements, and all monies received
from the sale of capital assets shall be added to and become a part
of the capital reserve account.
(h)
All contracts to be entered into on behalf of the
town which called for the expenditure of town funds shall be submitted
to the director of the department of financial services for review
prior to their execution; no such contract shall be executed on behalf
of the town unless and until the director of the department of financial
services shall certify that funds are appropriated and unencumbered
for the payment of said contract. In connection with his or her review
of each such contract the director of the department of financial
services may make such additional comments concerning such contract
as he or she may deem advisable.
(i)
Every payment made in violation of the provisions
of this charter shall be deemed illegal, null and void. Every official
authorizing or making such payment or taking part therein and every
person receiving such payment or any part thereof shall be jointly
and severally liable to the town for the full amount so paid or received.
If any officer or employee of the town shall knowingly incur any obligation
or shall authorize or make any expenditure in violation of the provisions
of this charter or take any part therein, such action shall be cause
for his or her removal.
The town shall have the power to incur indebtedness
by issuing its bonds or notes for such purposes, upon such terms and
to such extent as is authorized by the general statutes. Each such
bond or note shall be signed in the name of the town by the manual
or facsimile signature of the town manager and the manual signature
of the director of the department of financial services and have the
seal of the town or a facsimile thereof affixed. Bond coupons shall
bear the facsimile signature of the director of the department of
financial services. Such bonds or notes may be issued notwithstanding
that any of the officials whose signatures appear thereon has or have
ceased to hold office at the time of delivery thereof to the purchaser.
Any ordinance authorizing the issuance of bonds or notes in a principal
amount in excess of $500,000 shall be subject to approval by a majority
vote of the town electors voting thereon if within thirty days after
published notice of the enactment by the council of such an ordinance
a petition, substantially in the form prescribed in Chapter XI, Section
7, of this charter, and signed in ink or indelible pencil by not less
than three percent of the electors as determined by the last-compiled
registry list, shall have been filed with the town clerk requesting
that such ordinance be either repealed or submitted to a vote of the
electors. The town clerk shall determine the sufficiency of the petition
and, if said petition is found to be sufficient, shall so certify
to the council within seven days after receipt of the petition by
him or her. If the council fails to repeal such ordinance, the question
shall be submitted to a referendum of the electors of the town conducted
in accordance with the relevant general statutes and held at the next
regular election or at such earlier date as the council may determine.
Upon the filing of a sufficient petition, the ordinance shall remain
without effect until the electors vote on the question as above provided.
The town shall make no contribution of more
than five hundred dollars to any organization or private corporation
unless the town is represented on its board by one or more members
nominated thereto by the council.
The fiscal year of the town government shall
begin on the first day of July and shall end on the last day of June
of each calendar year, unless the council, by ordinance, shall establish
different dates.
The budget ordinance provided for in Section
4 of this chapter shall be subject to repeal by a majority vote of
the town electors voting thereon if within twenty-five days after
the enactment of such ordinance a petition, in the form prescribed
in Subsection (e) of this section, and signed in ink or indelible
pencil by not less than six percent of the electors, as determined
by the last compiled registry list, shall have been filed with the
town clerk requesting that such ordinance be repealed and replaced
by a substitute ordinance. The council may not repeal the budget ordinance
in lieu of holding a referendum thereon.
(a)
In the event that the manager's budget shall
be deemed to be adopted by the council, in accordance with Section
4 of this chapter, the provisions of this section shall apply to the
manager's budget as though such budget had been adopted by ordinance
by the council.
(b)
The town clerk shall determine the sufficiency of
the petition and if said petition is found to be sufficient, shall
so certify to the council within five days after the receipt of the
petition by the town clerk. If the town clerk shall find such petition
to be insufficient, he or she shall serve public notice of such insufficiency
by placing a legal notice to such effect in a newspaper having general
circulation in the town. After the town clerk has found any such petition
to be insufficient, no further proceedings shall be had thereon except
by order of a judge of a court of competent jurisdiction to whom an
appeal may be taken from the decision of the town clerk.
(c)
After the town clerks certification of the petition,
the question shall be submitted to a referendum of the electors of
the town, conducted in accordance with the relevant general statutes.
At least ten days prior to such referendum the council shall cause
to be published in a newspaper having circulation in the town a notice
of such referendum, setting forth the date on which and the hours
during which the referendum will be held and the text of the question
as it will appear on the voting machines. Such referendum shall be
held on a Tuesday.
(d)
A majority vote of the electors to repeal the budget
ordinance shall not become effective unless a total of at least fifteen
percent of the electors entitled to vote on the question shall have
voted.
(e)
The form of petition for referendum shall be as follows:
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WARNING: ALL SIGNATURES SHALL BE IN INK OR INDELIBLE
PENCIL. We, the undersigned electors of the town of West Hartford,
hereby present this petition requesting the repeal of the budget ordinance
as adopted on (here insert the date of adoption), and replacement
of such ordinance by a substitute ordinance; and we certify that we
are electors of the town of West Hartford residing at the addresses
set opposite our names and that we have not signed this petition more
than once.
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Name
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1.
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2.
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etc.
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(f)
The form of question placed on the voting machines
in accordance with this section shall be as follows: Are you in favor
of the budget ordinance as adopted on (here insert the date of adoption)?
(g)
If the vote to repeal succeeds, the council shall
not later than midnight on June 30 adopt a substitute budget ordinance
and a substitute resolution establishing the tax rate, and file such
ordinance and resolution with the town clerk.
(h)
The budget ordinance and the resolution establishing the tax rate or such substituted ordinance and resolution as may be adopted as provided in this section shall take effect as of the commencement of the ensuing fiscal year; provided, however, that if at the referendum conducted pursuant to Subsection (k) of this section the vote to repeal the substitute budget ordinance succeeds, said substitute budget ordinance and substitute tax rate resolution shall remain in effect until the earlier of:
(1)
The adoption of a second substitute budget ordinance
and second substitute resolution establishing the tax rate, as provided
for in Subsection (o) of this section; or
(2)
Midnight on October 15.
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In the event that any action taken pursuant
to this section shall be challenged by recourse to the courts, the
action challenged shall be deemed to be valid and binding unless and
until it is finally adjudicated to the contrary.
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(i)
The substitute budget ordinance provided for in Subsection (g) shall be subject to repeal by a majority vote of the town electors voting thereon if by the following July 31 (or, if the office of the town clerk is not open on said July 31, on the next day thereafter on which it is open) a petition, in the form prescribed in Subsection (m) of this section, signed in ink or in indelible pencil by not less than six percent of the electors, as determined by the last compiled registry list, shall have been filed with the town clerk requesting that such ordinance be repealed and replaced by a second substitute ordinance. The council may not repeal the substitute budget ordinance in lieu of holding a referendum thereon.
(j)
The town clerk shall determine the sufficiency of
the petition and if said petition is found to be sufficient, shall
so certify to the council not later than the following August 10 (or,
if said August 10 is a Saturday or Sunday, by the next Monday after
August 10). If the town clerk shall find such petition to be insufficient,
he or she shall serve public notice of such insufficiency by placing
a legal notice to such effect in a newspaper having general circulation
in the town. After the town clerk has found any such petition to be
insufficient, no further proceedings shall be had thereon except by
order of a judge of a court of competent jurisdiction to whom an appeal
may be taken from the decision of the town clerk.
(k)
On the last Tuesday of September, the question shall
be submitted to a referendum of the electors of the town, conducted
in accordance with the relevant general statutes. At least seven days
prior to such referendum the council shall cause to be published in
a newspaper having circulation in the town a notice of such referendum,
setting forth the date on which and the hours during which the referendum
will be held and the text of the question as it will appear on the
voting machines.
(l)
A majority vote of the electors to repeal the substitute
budget ordinance shall not become effective unless a total of at least
fifteen percent of the electors entitled to vote on the question shall
have voted.
(m)
The form of petition for the referendum shall be as
follows:
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WARNING: ALL SIGNATURES SHALL BE IN INK OR INDELIBLE
PENCIL. We, the undersigned electors of the town of West Hartford,
hereby present this petition requesting the repeal of the substitute
budget ordinance as adopted on (here insert the date of adoption),
and replacement of such substitute ordinance by a second substitute
ordinance; and we certify that we are electors of the town of West
Hartford residing at the addresses set opposite our names and that
we have not signed this petition more than once.
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Name
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1.
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2.
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etc.
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(n)
The form of question placed on the voting machines
in accordance with this section shall be as follows: Are you in favor
of the substitute budget ordinance as adopted on (here insert the
date of adoption)?
(o)
If the vote to repeal succeeds, the council shall
not later than midnight on October 15 adopt a second substitute budget
ordinance and a second substitute resolution establishing the tax
rate, and file such ordinance and resolution with the town clerk.
(p)
The second substitute budget ordinance enacted pursuant to Subsection (o) of this section shall not be subject to a referendum.
(q)
If as a result of the adoption of substitute resolutions setting the tax rate, the tax rate which, pursuant to Subsection (h) of this section, took effect on the beginning of the fiscal year is reduced, the following procedure shall obtain:
(1)
For those taxpayers paying their taxes in two installments,
a credit shall be applied against the second installment in the amount
produced by applying the finally set mill rate to the relevant assessment,
retroactive to the preceding July 1.
(2)
For all other taxpayers, a cash refund in lieu of
a credit shall be mailed to the taxpayer at the time the bills for
the second installment are being mailed to taxpayers paying in installments.
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Prior to adoption of the first budget ordinance
after the effective date of this subsection, the town council shall
enact an ordinance implementing this subsection.
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