Revision: March 9, 2021, 9:58 a.m.
Election Law and Municipal Affairs
March 9, 2021
2021-0710s
06/11
Amendment to SB 52
Amend the title of the bill by replacing it with the following:
AN ACT relative to municipal charter provisions for tax caps.
Amend the bill by replacing all after the enacting clause with the following:
1 Municipal Charters; Separability, Preservation. Amend RSA 49-B:13, II-a to read as follows:
II-a. Notwithstanding RSA 49-B:1, all town or city charters which have been adopted, revised, or amended before July 5, 2011 to include a tax or spending cap of any kind and all charter commissions which have been properly established and elected; all elections properly held; and all actions properly taken related to the tax or spending cap in such charters are hereby endorsed, ratified, validated, and legalized and are fully enforceable[, without regard to whether such entities or actions were authorized by law at the time they were established or taken].
2 City Charters; Limitations. Amend RSA 49-C:33, I(d) to read as follows:
(d) A limit on the annual spending increases that increase the amount raised by taxes under the city budget adopted pursuant to RSA 49-C:23. Such a tax cap shall provide for an override threshold on a vote to exceed the limit on annual increases which shall be by a supermajority as determined in the charter. A tax cap provision in the city charter may provide for specific exclusions for dedicated, enterprise, or self-supporting funds or accounts, capital reserve funds, grants, or revenue from sources other than local taxes, or interest and principal payments on municipal bonded debt, or capital expenditures which shall be by a supermajority vote as determined in the charter. An ordinance or accounting practice that redistributes excludable budget items from within the limits of the capped budget to outside the limits of the capped budget shall be by a supermajority vote as determined in the charter.
3 Optional Forms of Legislative Body. Amend RSA 49-D:3, I(e) to read as follows:
(e) Other matters of local concern may be included in a charter including, but not limited to, conflict of interest provisions which shall be at least as strict as those established in the general laws, citizen powers of initiative, referendum and recall as described in RSA 49-C, the adoption and periodic review of an administrative code, a merit personnel system, a purchasing system, and a town investment policy, and the adoption of a tax cap limiting the annual increases in amounts raised by taxes under the town budget. Such tax cap shall include an override threshold on a vote to exceed the limit on annual increases which shall be by a supermajority as determined in the charter. Such tax cap may specifically exclude certain dedicated, enterprise, or self-supporting funds or accounts, capital reserve funds, grants, or revenue from sources other than local taxes, or interest and principal payments on municipal bonded debt, or capital expenditures which shall be by a supermajority vote as determined in the charter. An ordinance or accounting practice that redistributes excludable budget items from within the limits of the capped budget to outside the limits of the capped budget shall be by a supermajority vote as determined in the charter.
4 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.