Governor Lamont’s Executive Order No. 7C, issued on March 15, 2020, includes two sections addressing municipal and regional school district budget adoption processes. These provisions are designed to allow towns and regional school districts to have some flexibility in the timing of various actions which may need to be taken in the coming days pursuant to provisions of statute, charter or ordinance. Essentially, it allows towns up to an extra month for the completion of any budget-related activities which are scheduled or required to occur on or before May 15, 2020.
Section 5 provides that “all municipal budget deadlines for the preparation of the municipal budget for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2021, that fall on any date prior to or including May 15, 2020 are extended by thirty (30) days.” This is meant to allow the extension of the date of any required submission, presentation or referral of all or part of a municipal budget by any agency or board that is part of the budget review, preparation and adoption process or any hearings or meetings associated with that process. The second part of Section 5 authorizes the legislative body of the city or town – or the Board of Selectmen if the town meeting is the legislative body – to modify or amend the budget preparation and adoption calendar to reflect the potential extensions of the original dates on or before which any required action would have been taken. Under the current Executive Order, any such modifications or amendments would be constrained by the maximum extension period of thirty (30) days. Finally, the recent Executive Order does not affect any such budget-related deadlines which occur after May 15, 2020.
Section 6 establishes a similar thirty (30) day extension period for any budget preparation or submission deadlines prior to May 15, 2020 that apply to regional school districts. Unlike towns, which may or may not have specific dates that govern the budget process, the budget adoption calendar for regional school districts is governed by state statutes which call for a public budget meeting in late April and the annual budget meeting to be held on the first Monday or Tuesday in May.
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