Revision: Jan. 30, 2017, 11:27 a.m.
HB 251 - AS INTRODUCED
2017 SESSION
17-0517
06/10
HOUSE BILL 251
AN ACT relative to the use of capital reserve fund appropriations by municipalities.
SPONSORS: Rep. Sterling, Ches. 14
COMMITTEE: Municipal and County Government
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This bill establishes an optional procedure authorizing towns and districts to adopt warrant articles that permit the governing body to propose operating budgets that raise and appropriate amounts for payment into a capital reserve fund.
This bill is a request of the department of revenue administration.
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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
17-0517
06/10
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Seventeen
AN ACT relative to the use of capital reserve fund appropriations by municipalities.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Capital Reserve Funds of Towns and Districts; Payments into Fund. Amend RSA 35:5 to read as follows:
35:5 Payments Into Fund. There may be paid into any such capital reserve fund, except as provided in RSA 35:7, such amounts as may from time to time be raised and appropriated therefor under a proper article in the warrant in the case of a town or district, unless the optional procedure under RSA 35:5-a has been adopted, from any source other than money given to the town, district, or county for charitable purposes. Such amounts shall be within the limits as provided in RSA 35:8, and any such town, district or county may also vote to transfer to said fund, under a proper article in the warrant in the case of a town or district, any of its unencumbered surplus funds remaining on hand at the end of any fiscal year.
2 New Section; Capital Reserve Funds of Towns and Districts; Payments into Fund; Optional Procedure. Amend RSA 35 by inserting after section 35 the following new section:
35:5-a Payments Into Fund; Optional Procedure.
I. Notwithstanding RSA 35:5, any town meeting may adopt an article authorizing, until such time as rescinded by a vote of the town meeting, the governing body and the budget committee to propose an operating budget that would raise and appropriate such amounts for payment into any such capital reserve fund, provided that all recommended appropriations to any such capital reserve fund shall be separately warned in such form as required by the commissioner of revenue administration in rules adopted pursuant to RSA 541-A, which shall include the:
(a) Name of the capital reserve fund;
(b) Year the capital reserve fund was established;
(c) Amount of the appropriation;
(d) Operating budget account line in which such appropriation shall be included; and
(e) Source of funds.
II. The wording of the warrant article shall be: "Shall the town (or district) accept the provisions of RSA 35:5-a, I, providing that any town (or district) at an annual meeting may adopt an article authorizing, until such time as rescinded by a vote of the town meeting, the governing body and the budget committee to propose an operating budget that would raise and appropriate such amounts for payment into any such capital reserve fund."
III. If a majority of voters voting on the question vote in the affirmative, the governing body and the budget committee shall only raise and appropriate such amounts for payment into any such capital reserve fund in accordance with the provisions of this section until such time as the town or district votes to rescind its vote.
IV. Notwithstanding the adoption of the provisions of this section, all other provisions governing capital reserve funds shall continue to apply, including, but not limited to RSA 35:12, RSA 32:7, and RSA 32:10.
3 Capital Reserve Funds of Towns and Districts; Appropriation. Amend RSA 35:12 to read as follows:
35:12 Appropriation. Whenever the vote of the town is to appropriate any sum for the capital reserve fund pursuant to RSA 35:5 or RSA 35:5-a, the same duties shall devolve upon the town clerk, selectmen, and town treasurer, as specified in RSA 35:11, except that the order must be drawn, and the sum transferred on or before December 15 following the vote, or, in the case of an optional fiscal year town, after July 1, but no later than June 15, of the fiscal year for which the sum was appropriated.
4 Municipal Budget Law; Budget Preparation. Amend RSA 32:5, II to read as follows:
II. All purposes and amounts of appropriations to be included in the budget, including appropriations to capital reserve funds pursuant to RSA 35:5-a, or special warrant articles shall be disclosed or discussed at the final hearing. The governing body or budget committee shall not thereafter insert, in any budget column or special warrant article, an additional amount or purpose of appropriation which was not disclosed or discussed at that hearing, without first holding one or more public hearings on supplemental budget requests for town or district expenditures.
5 Capital Reserve Funds in Towns and Districts; Budget Preparation. Amend RSA 32:5, IV (c) and (d) to read as follows:
(c) All appropriations, including appropriations contained in special warrant articles, including warrant articles under RSA 35:5-a, recommended by the governing body.
(d) If there is a budget committee, all the appropriations, including appropriations contained in special warrant articles, and warrant articles under RSA 35:5-a, recommended by the budget committee.
6 New Paragraph; Municipal Budget Law; Lapse of Appropriation. Amend RSA 32:7 by inserting after paragraph II the following new paragraph:
II-a. The amount is appropriated to a capital reserve fund pursuant to RSA 35:5 or RSA 35:5-a.
7 Municipal Budget Law; Transfer of Appropriation. Amend RSA 32:10, I (d) and (e) to read as follows:
(d) Any amount appropriated at the meeting under a special warrant article, or to a capital reserve fund pursuant to RSA 35:5, may be used only for the purpose specified in that article and shall not be transferred.
(e) The town or district meeting may vote separately on individual purposes of appropriation contained within any warrant article or budget, but such a separate vote shall not affect the governing body's legal authority to transfer appropriations, provided, however[,]:
(1) That if the meeting deletes a purpose, or reduces the amount appropriated for that purpose to zero or does not approve an appropriation contained in a separate article, that purpose or article shall be deemed one for which no appropriation is made, and no amount shall be transferred to or expended for such purpose; and
(2) No amount shall be transferred to or from an appropriation made to a capital reserve fund pursuant to RSA 35:5-a unless the vote of the town or district meeting specifically identifies that the appropriation to a capital reserve shall be increased or reduced.
8 Optional Form of Meeting; Official Ballot Referenda; Use of Official Ballot. Amend RSA 40:13, IX to read as follows:
IX.(a) "Operating budget'' as used in this subdivision means "budget,'' as defined in RSA 32:3, III, exclusive of "special warrant articles,'' as defined in RSA 32:3, VI, exclusive of any amounts appropriated pursuant to RSA 35:5-a, and exclusive of other appropriations voted separately.
(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, except for amounts appropriated pursuant to RSA 35:5-a, reduced and increased, as the case may be, by debt service, contracts, and other obligations previously incurred or mandated by law, and reduced by one-time expenditures contained in the operating budget. 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.
9 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.