0193-hb 0521

CHAPTER 193

HB 521-LOCAL - FINAL VERSION

AN ACT providing a procedure to allow municipalities that have adopted the municipal budget act to override the 10 percent limitation imposed on appropriations not recommended by the budget committee.

SPONSORS: Rep. Cooney, Rock 26; Rep. Major, Rock 16; Rep. B. Hall, Hills 20

This bill allows the governing body of a municipality operating under the municipal budget act to put a bond request not recommended by the budget committee on the warrant of a town meeting and provides a procedure to override the 10 percent limitation imposed on appropriations not recommended by the budget committee.

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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

193:1 New Section; Legislative Body Override of Limitation of Appropriations. Amend RSA 32 by inserting after section 18 the following new section:

I. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in any municipality electing this subdivision, or any district wholly within a town electing this subdivision, if a bond request is not recommended in its entirety by the budget committee, the governing body of such municipality, after a majority vote by the governing body of the municipality in favor of the bond request at a duly posted meeting, shall place the bond request on the warrant.

II. The legislative body of any municipality described in RSA 32:18-a, I, may approve a bond request despite the 10 percent limitation provided in RSA 32:18 in the following manner:

(a) The governing body shall place the following statement at the beginning of the warrant article for such bond request: "Passage of this article shall override the 10 percent limitation imposed on this appropriation due to the non-recommendation of the budget committee." Immediately below the bond request on the warrant shall be displayed (1) the recommendation of the governing body and (2) the recommendation of the budget committee, as included in the budget forms for the annual meeting pursuant to RSA 32:5, IV.

(b) If those voting "Yes" on the bond request satisfy the requirements of RSA 33:8, the bond request is thereby approved.

III. If the bond request is approved pursuant to RSA 32:18-a, the governing body of such municipality shall forward a copy of the minutes of the duly posted meeting described in RSA 32:18-a, I to the commissioner of the department of revenue administration.

193:2 Appropriations Only at Annual or Special Meeting. Amend RSA 32:6 to read as follows:

32:6 Appropriations Only at Annual or Special Meeting. All appropriations in municipalities subject to this chapter shall be made by vote of the legislative body of the municipality at an annual or special meeting. No such meeting shall appropriate any money for any purpose unless that purpose appears in the budget or in a special warrant article, provided, however, that the legislative body may vote to appropriate more than, or less than, the amount recommended for such purpose in the budget or warrant, except as provided in RSA 32:18, unless the municipality has voted to override the 10 percent limitation as provided in RSA 32:18-a.

32:20 At Special Meetings. So long as the provisions of this subdivision remain in force in any municipality, no appropriation shall be made at any special meeting for any purpose not approved by the budget committee, unless it is within the allowable 10 percent increase if RSA 32:18 has been adopted, except as provided in RSA 32:19 or 32:18-a.

39:2 Warrant. The warrant for any town meeting shall be under the hands of the selectmen, and shall prescribe the place, day and hour of the meeting, and, if there is an election at said meeting, in which an official printed ballot containing more than one name is used, the warrant therefor shall prescribe the time the polls are to open and also an hour before which the polls may not close. A town meeting may vote to keep the polls open to a later hour but may not vote to close the polls at an earlier hour than that prescribed by the selectmen hereunder. The subject matter of all business to be acted upon at the town meeting shall be distinctly stated in the warrant, and nothing done at any meeting, except the election of any town officer required by law to be made at such meeting, shall be valid unless the subject thereof is so stated. Provided that in a case where the article in the warrant calls for the appropriation of a specific sum of money, the sum of money appropriated thereunder may be decreased or increased by the vote of the town, provided further that in a town under the municipal budget act no increase shall be valid which would violate the provisions of RSA 32:18, except as provided in RSA 32:18-a.