Duties and Responsibilites

The Budget Committee is required to conduct a public hearing to allow the public to provide input to the budget recommendation.

Specific Legal Requirements.
Specific requirements of Municipal Budget Law are provided below.

Chapter 32, Municipal Budget Law, establishes duties and responsibilities of the budget committee. RSA 32:1-13 apply to all towns, which adopt their budgets at an annual town meeting. RSA 32:14-23 apply to towns with budget committees. The complete text of these RSA's can be found on the Internet at http://gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/indexes/

32.html>.RSA 32:1, Statement of Purpose. states, in part: "...The budget committee, in those municipalities which establish one, is intended to have budgetary authority analogous to that of a legislative appropriations committee...."

RSA 32:16, Duties and Authority of the Budget Committee. defines the specific duties and authority of the budget committee as follows: "In any town which has adopted the provisions of this subdivision, the budget committee shall have the following duties and responsibilities: I. To prepare the budget as provided in RSA 32:5 for submission to each annual or special meeting of the voters the municipality, and, if the municipality is a town, the budgets of any school district or village district wholly within the town, unless the warrant for such meeting does not propose any appropriation. II. To confer with the governing body or bodies and with other officers, department heads and other officials, relative to estimated costs, revenues anticipated, and services performed to the extent necessary by the budget committee. It shall be the duty of all such officers and other persons to furnish such pertinent information to the budget committee. III. To conduct the public hearings required under RSA 32:5, I. IV. To forward copies of the final budgets to the clerk or clerks, as required by RSA."

32:5, VI, and, in addition, to deliver 2 copies of such budgets and recommendations upon special warrant articles to the respective governing body or bodies at least 20 days before the date set for the annual or special meeting, to be posted with the warrant. Input to assist the budget committee in developing the budget is provided by other government elements in accordance with two other RSA's.

RSA 32:22, Review of Expenditures. states: "Upon request by the budget committee, the governing body of the town or district, or the town manager or other administrative official, shall forthwith submit to the budget committee a comparative statement of all appropriations and all expenditures by them made in such detail as the budget committee may require. The budget committee shall meet periodically to review such statements. The provisions of this section shall not be construed to mean that the budget committee, or any member of the committee, shall have any authority to dispute or challenge the discretion of other officials over current town or district expenditures, except as provided in RSA 32:33."

RSA 32:17, Duties of Governing Body and Other Officials. states: "The governing bodies of municipalities adopting this subdivision, or of districts which are wholly within towns adopting this subdivision, shall review the statements submitted to them under RSA 32:4 and shall submit their own recommendations to the budget committee, together with all information necessary for the preparation of the annual budget, including each purpose for which an appropriation is sought and each item of anticipated revenue, at such time as the budget committee shall fix..."