HB 1391 – AS INTRODUCED
2006 SESSION
06/10
HOUSE BILL 1391
AN ACT relative to the default budget in official ballot towns.
SPONSORS: Rep. Weyler, Rock 8; Rep. Asselin, Rock 7; Rep. N. Johnson, Straf 3; Sen. Gallus, Dist 1
COMMITTEE: Municipal and County Government
This bill requires a default budget to be reduced by unspent funds and defines certain items used in the default budget. This bill also clarifies how salary and benefit accounts are to be shown in a default budget and prohibits new employees from being added unless specifically mandated by statute.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
06-2563
06/10
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Six
AN ACT relative to the default budget in official ballot towns.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Use of Official Ballot; Definition of “Default Budget” Expanded. Amend RSA 40:13, IX(b) to read as follows:
(b) “Default budget” as used in this subdivision means the amount of the same appropriations as contained in the operating budget authorized for the previous year, reduced and increased, as the case may be, by debt service, contracts, and other obligations previously incurred or mandated by law, and reduced by unspent funds and one-time expenditures contained in the operating budget as determined by the governing body, or, if the political subdivision has adopted RSA 40:14-b, by the budget committee. For the purposes of this paragraph[, one-time expenditures shall be appropriations not likely to recur in the succeeding budget, as determined by the governing body, unless the provisions of RSA 40:14-b are adopted, of the local political subdivision.]:
(1) “Debt service” means the principal and interest payments due on a multi-year bond previously approved by the voters under RSA 33.
(2) “Contracts” means salary increases mandated by collective agreements or individual employment contracts; provided, however, that salary increases due to salary schedules not part of a collective agreement or those routinely granted at the discretion of the governing body or any of its subordinated officers, including department chiefs, supervisors, and others in similar positions shall not be included in the default budget for the ensuing year.
(3) “Other obligations” means payment increases due to multi-year transportation contracts, including fuel surcharge escalation clauses; fuel or electricity contracts, tuition contracts, or rental or service contracts.
(4) “Unspent funds” means any moneys previously appropriated but returned as surplus by the governing body to the general fund of the political subdivision during the previous fiscal year.
(5) “One-time expenditures” means amounts appropriated by special warrant articles in the previous year for any purpose, exclusive of bonds approved under RSA 33; new equipment line item amounts, whether raised by special warrant articles or included in the budget; replacement equipment line item amounts, whether raised by special warrant articles or included in the budget; cost-of-living-salary increases, unless they are an explicit part of a collective agreement or individual employment contract; and renovations line item amounts, whether raised by special warrant articles or included in the budget.
(6) No new employees shall be added to the default budget unless explicitly mandated by statute.
(7) All salary and benefit line item accounts shall be adjusted to reflect the difference between employee attrition during the previous year, caused by discharges, resignations, or retirements, and the salaries and benefits of replacement employees. If the net amount of any of these accounts is less than the amount previous appropriated, the difference shall be subtracted from the previous year’s operating budget. This difference cannot be carried as a contingency in the default budget.
2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.