General Role
According to RSA 32:1, the purpose of the budget committee is “to assist voters in the prudent appropriation of public funds.” The Budget Committee reviews the budget and expenditures of the current year and prepares the budget for the coming year based on information from the governing body and department heads.
Preparing a budget can be a lengthy process. The deadlines can all be traced back from the date of the annual meeting, and the milestones that must be reached along the way under the law. It is helpful for everyone to understand the schedule so they can appreciate how the information fits into the overall picture.
Andover is a budget committee town, meaning the budget committee is elected and that it is official rather than advisory. All officers and departments are required to submit statements of estimated expenses and receipts to the Select Board first. The Select Board then submits its own recommendations to the budget committee at a time set by the budget committee. After conferring with all officers and department heads, the budget committee prepares the budget and is responsible for holding the required public hearings, subject to the statutory notice and deadline requirements. At least twenty days prior to the town meeting, the budget committee must forward the final budget to the Select Board for posting.
Budget hearings are extremely important because they are the meeting at which citizen comments and concerns should be stated. When citizens wait until town meeting to express their concerns, the budget has been finalized. At a public hearing, the budget committee hears the concerns and can discuss them before finalizing the budget. Not only are concerns heard at a more appropriate point in the process but town meeting would be more efficient and productive. Please watch for the public hearing dates and plan to attend.
In the hopefully rare instance in which a budget committee fails to prepare a budget to recommend to the town or district meeting, RSA 32:5, VI provides that the governing body shall post its proposed budget, along with a statement that it is being posted in lieu of the budget committee’s proposed budget. The governing body’s proposed budget then becomes the basis for town meeting debate and action.
All budget committee actions are subject to the Right to Know law, RSA Chapter 91-A. This means meetings of the budget committee, must have noticed meetings open to the public and all minutes and other materials must be open to the public as public records. RSA 91-A: 2, II requires minutes to be made available within five business days after the meeting. A “business day” for this purpose is defined as the hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday through Friday, excluding national and state holidays.