Budget Committee

About

The role of the Budget Committee is to work on behalf of the Town's citizens to ensure prudent appropriation of public funds. We analyze the expenditures of Town Departments and Moore School. Ultimately, we recommend the Town's annual budget for citizen's to vote on in March. See RSA32:1 for more information.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does the budget process work?

The budget process starts in the early fall with department heads and the SAU (School Administrative Unit) submitting their budget requests. The appropriate board (Selectmen or School Board) reviews requests and final decisions regarding the budgets are made. The Selectmen and School Board submit their respective budgets to the Budget Committee. The Budget Committee will review the budgets and request any supporting information they need to formulate a decision. In addition, the Budget Committee holds public hearings for citizen's to give their input. Once the public hearings are complete the Budget Committee makes final adjustments and posts a recommended budget.

The budgets are only recommended because changes can be proposed at either deliberative session and voters may accept or reject the budget on election day.

Ultimately, the budgets belong to their respective boards and are bottom-line budgets. What this means is that once the budget is finalized changes can be made to any item so long as it does not increase the bottom line.

What happens if either recommended budget is rejected on Election Day?

If one budget or both is rejected on Election Day then a default budget is used. This default budget is determined by the appropriate board with input from the Department of Revenue Administration (DRA). The default budget is the prior year's budget reduced or increased by debt service, contracts, and other obligations previously incurred or mandated by law, and reduced by one-time expenditures contained in the operating budget. See RSA 40:13, IX(b).

The Selectmen or School Board can, at their option, call one special meeting, without need for court permission, to have one more try at adopting a revised operating budget different from the prior year's. See RSA 40:13, X.

The default budget must be disclosed at the first public hearing held on the budget.

What is the ten percent rule?

As was discussed above, the budget can be altered at the deliberative session. However, that alteration cannot exceed the Budget Committee's recommended budget by more than ten percent. See RSA 32:18.

• More information on the NH Budget Law
• The Town Meeting & School Meeting Handbook is available for purchase through the New Hampshire Municipal Association.