The fiscal year of the town shall begin on the first day of
July and shall end on the last day of June, unless another period
is required by general law.
(a)
Public Hearing - At least fourteen
days before the meeting at which the school committee is scheduled
to vote on its final budget request, the school committee shall cause
to be published in a local newspaper a general summary of its proposed
budget. The summary shall specifically indicate any major variations
from the current budget and the reasons for such changes. It shall
further indicate the times and places at which complete copies of
its draft proposed budget are available for examination by the public,
and the date, time and place, not less than seven nor more than fourteen
days following such publication, when a public hearing will be held
by the school committee on the proposed budget. The school committee
shall not take its final vote on its proposed budget until all persons
who desire to be heard concerning the budget proposal have had a reasonable
opportunity to be heard.
(b)
Submission to Mayor - The proposed
budget adopted by the school committee shall be submitted to the mayor
at least fourteen days before the date the mayor is required to submit
a proposed town budget to the town council, to allow the mayor sufficient
time within which to consider the effect the school department's
requested appropriation will have upon the total town operating budget
the mayor is required to submit to the town council under this article.
The action of the school committee in adopting the proposed
budget, following the public hearing, shall be summarized and the
results of a roll call vote taken on each amendment to the proposed
budget as may be offered shall be recorded.
Not later than seventy five days before the start of the town's
fiscal year, the mayor shall submit to the town council a proposed
operating budget for the ensuing fiscal year with an accompanying
budget message and supporting documents. The mayor shall simultaneously
provide for the publication in a local newspaper of a notice and a
general summary of the proposed budget. The summary shall specifically
indicate any major variations from the current operating budget and
the reason for such changes. The notice shall further indicate the
times and places at which complete copies of the proposed operating
budget for the town are available for examination by the public.
The budget message of the mayor shall explain the budget for
all town agencies both in fiscal terms and in terms of work programs.
It shall outline proposed financial policies of the town for the ensuing
fiscal year, describe important features of the budget, indicate any
major variations from the current fiscal year in financial policies,
expenditures and revenues together with the reasons for such changes,
summarize the town's debt position and include other material
as the mayor deems desirable, or as may be required by the provisions
of a town ordinance.
The proposed operating budget shall provide a complete financial
plan for all town funds and town activities for the ensuing fiscal
year. Except as may otherwise be required by general law, or this
charter, it shall be in the form which the mayor deems desirable or
as a town ordinance may require. In the presentation of the budget,
the mayor shall utilize modern concepts of fiscal presentation so
as to furnish an optimum level of information and the best financial
control. The budget shall show in detail all estimated income from
the proposed property tax levy and from all other sources and all
proposed expenditures, including debt service, for the fiscal year.
The budget shall be arranged to show the actual and estimated income
and expenditures for the previous, current and ensuing fiscal years
and shall indicate in separate sections:
(1)
Proposed expenditures for current operations during the ensuing fiscal
year, detailed by town agency and position, in terms of work programs,
and the method of financing such expenditures;
(2)
Proposed capital expenditures during the ensuing fiscal year, detailed
by town agency, and the proposed method of financing each such capital
expenditure;
(3)
The relationship of each proposed capital expenditure to the capital improvement program required to be submitted under section 6-10; and
(4)
Estimated surplus revenue and free cash at the end of the current
fiscal year, including estimated balances in any special accounts
established for specific purposes.
(a)
Public Hearing - Forthwith upon its
receipt of the proposed operating budget the town council shall provide
for the publication in a local newspaper of a notice stating the time
and place, not less than seven nor more than fourteen days following
such publication, at which it will hold a public hearing on the proposed
operating budget as submitted by the mayor. To enable the voters of
Weymouth to be as fully informed as is possible on the items contained
in the proposed budget and on the legislative activities of the town
council, the public hearing on the mayor's proposed budget shall
be held in the form of a town meeting. The council president shall
preside at each such meeting.
(b)
Review - The town council shall consider,
in open public meetings, the detailed expenditures proposed for each
town agency and may confer with representatives of each such agency
in connection with its review and consideration. The town council
may require the mayor, or any other town agency, to furnish it with
such additional information as it may deem necessary to assist it
in its review and consideration of the proposed operating budget.
(c)
Action by Town Council - The town council
shall adopt the budget, with or without amendments, within ninety
days following the day the proposed budget is received by it. In amending
the budget, the town council may delete or decrease any programs or
amounts except expenditures required by law, or for debt service,
but, the town council shall have no authority to add programs or increase
amounts. If the town council fails to take any action with respect
to any item in the proposed budget within ninety days following the
date of its receipt of the proposed budget, such amount shall, without
any action by the town council, become a part of the appropriations
for the ensuing fiscal year and shall be available for the purposes
specified.
Whenever the mayor shall submit to the town council a request for a new appropriation of any sum of money, either as a supplement to some item in the annual operating budget or for an item, or items, not included in the annual operating budget as adopted, the town council shall not act upon such request until it has (1) given notice by publication in a local newspaper of the request, and (2) held a public hearing concerning such request. The publication of the notice and the public hearing shall be generally in conformity with the provisions of section 6-6 concerning the proposed annual operating budget.
On or before August first of each year, or within ten days after
the approval by the town council and the mayor of the annual appropriation
order for such fiscal year, whichever shall occur later, the town
officials in charge of departments or agencies including the superintendent
of schools for the school department, shall submit to the chief financial
officer, with a copy to the town clerk, in such form as the chief
financial officer may prescribe, an allotment schedule of the appropriations
of all personnel categories included in said budget, indicating the
amounts to be expended by the department or agency for such purposes
during each of the fiscal quarters of said fiscal year, or such shorter
time periods as the mayor or chief financial officer, may prescribe.
Whenever said chief financial officer determines that any department
or agency including the school department, will exhaust or has exhausted
its quarterly or shorter time period allotment and any amounts unexpended
in previous periods, he shall give notice in writing to such effect
to the department head, the mayor, the town solicitor, and to the
town clerk who shall forthwith transmit the same to the town council.
Upon such a determination and notice thereof, said chief financial
officer shall provide such officers additional reports on at least
a monthly basis indicating the status of such accounts.
The mayor, within seven days after receiving such notice, shall
determine whether to waive or enforce such allotment. If the allotment
for such period is waived or is not enforced, as provided above, the
department or agency head shall reduce the subsequent period allotments
appropriately. If the allotment for such period is enforced or not
waived, thereafter the department shall terminate all personnel expenses
for the remainder of such period. All actions, notices, and decisions
provided for in this section shall be transmitted to the town council
and the town clerk within seven days.
No personnel expenses earned or accrued, within any department,
shall be charged to or paid for such department's or agency's
allotment of a subsequent period without approval by the mayor, except
for subsequently determined retroactive compensation adjustments,
approval of a payroll for payment of wages, or salaried or other personnel
expenses which expenditure in excess of the allotment shall be a violation
of this section by the department or agency head, including the superintendent
of schools and the school committee. If the continued payment of wages,
salaries or other personnel expenses is not approved in a period where
a department head has exhausted the period allotment or allotments
as specified above, or, in any event, if a department has exceeded
its appropriation for a fiscal year, the town shall have no obligation
to pay such personnel cost or expense arising after such allotment
or appropriation has been exhausted.
No official of the Town of Weymouth, except in the case of an
emergency involving the health and safety of the people or their property,
shall intentionally expend in any fiscal year any sum in excess of
the appropriations duly made in accordance with law, nor involve the
town in any contract for the future payment of money in excess of
such appropriations. It is the intention of this section that the
provisions of section thirty-one of chapter forty-four of the General
Laws shall be strictly enforced.
Any official who violates the provisions of this section shall
be personally liable to the town for any amounts so expended to the
extent the town does not recover such amounts from the person to whom
such sums were paid.
The mayor shall submit a capital improvement program to the
town council at least one hundred twenty days before the start of
each fiscal year. The capital outlay program shall be based on material
prepared by the capital planning committee established by ordinance.
It shall include:
|
o
|
a clear and concise general summary of its contents;
|
|
o
|
a list of all capital improvements proposed to be undertaken
during the next ensuing five years, with supporting information as
to the need for each capital improvement;
|
|
o
|
cost estimates, methods of financing and recommended time schedules
for each improvement; and,
|
|
o
|
the estimated annual cost of operating and maintaining each
facility and piece of major equipment involved.
|
|
This information is to be annually revised by the mayor with
regard to the capital improvements still pending or in the process
of being acquired, improved or constructed.
|
The town council shall annually provide for an outside audit
of the books and accounts of the town to be made by a certified public
accountant, or a firm of certified public accountants, who have no
personal interest, direct or indirect, in the fiscal affairs of the
town or any of its officers. The mayor shall annually provide to the
town council a sum of money sufficient to satisfy the estimated cost
of conducting the audit as presented to the mayor, in writing, by
the town council. The award of a contract to audit shall be made by
the town council, on the recommendation of its budget/management committee
on or before September fifteenth of each year. The budget/management
committee shall coordinate the work of the individual or firm selected
with the municipal officials. The report of the audit shall be filed
in final form with the town council and the budget/management committee
not later than March first in the year following its award.
