Budget Preparation Adoption and Submission

• Pages: 401-436
• Author: Raymond S. Diraddo

BUDGET PREPARATION

CHAPTER 6

BUDGET PREPARATION

ADOPTION AND

SUBMISSION

BUDGET PREPARATION

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BUDGET PREPARATION

6-3 Budget Preparation Adoption and Submission §6:10

§6:10 ANNUAL BUDGET

Each year, the board of re commissioners must

prepare a budget, which estimates the revenues and

expenditures for the upcoming year. The board of re

commissioners must adhere to a certain timetable for

their annual budget. The board must adopt a proposed

budget, make the proposed budget available to the

public before the public hearing, hold a public hearing

on the proposed budget, allow the public to comment

on the budget at the public hearing, adopt the budget

by a specic date, and submit the budget to the town

where the district is located. The board of re commis-

sioners must also follow the posting requirements for

the Notice of Public Hearing on the proposed budget.

§6:10.1.0 Adoption and Filing of the

Proposed Budget

On or 21 days before the public hearing, which is to

be held during the third week of October, the board of re

commissioners must adopt the proposed annual budget

of the re district. This proposed budget must contain

detailed estimates of the revenue to be received and the

appropriations required for expenditures for the upcom-

ing scal year. Town Law §181 2(a). Once this proposed

budget is adopted, it shall be led with the secretary of

the re district and maintained as a public document for

inspection and copying. Town Law §181(c).

§6:10.1.1 Budget Adoption

The board of re commissioners must adopt the

re district’s annual budget on or before November 4th

of each year. The budget adopted may be either the

proposed budget or the proposed budget as changed,

altered, or revised after the public hearing. Town Law

§181 3 (b).

§6.10.1.2 Website Posting of the

Proposed Budget

If the re district maintains a website, the re

district secretary must post the proposed budget on its

website and keep it posted until the day after the public

hearing on the proposed budget. Town Law §181 2 (c).

§6:10.1.3 Failure to Adopt the Budget

Suppose the board of re commissioners fails to

adopt the annual budget by November 4. In that case,

the proposed budget, with the changes, alterations, and

revisions as of November 4 constitutes the re district’s

annual budget.

§6:10.1.4 Filing the Adopted Budget

with the Town Clerk

Within three days after adopting the annual budget

of a re district, the re district secretary shall prepare

and deliver two certied copies of the annual budget

to the town clerk of each town where the re district is

located. Town Law §181 3 (C).

The board must adopt the annual budget by

November 4 of each year. Thereafter, the Board of Fire

Commissioners must le with the town clerk(s) on or

before November 7 the adopted budget for the next year.

If the re district is in more than one town, the adopted

budget must be submitted to the town clerks in both

towns. Town Law §105, Town Law §181 (4).

The budget must be submitted in the form pre-

scribed by and under Town Law §107 (1). The town,

in turn, must attach the re district budget to the annual

town budget (Town Law §109). Neither the town budget

ocer, town supervisor, nor the town board is allowed

to make any changes to the budget submitted by the re

district. Neither the town board nor the town budget

ocer may alter the annual budget submitted by a re

district, even where there is a vast dierence between

the respective budgets of two re districts in the same

town, which are similar in size and population. Opinion

of the State Comptroller 79-669.

§6:10.2 Public Hearing on the Budget

The re district must hold a public hearing to

discuss the contents of its preliminary budget before

adopting it. This budget hearing must be held annually

during the third week of October. It must be held to

allow maximum public participation, which implies

that it should be held after regular working hours, at a

location accessible to all members of the public, and in

a structure able to accommodate numerous individuals.

§6:10.2.1 Notice of the Public Hearing

The public hearing notice must be published once in

the re district’s ocial newspaper. If the board has not

designated an ocial newspaper, it must be published

in any newspaper with general circulation in the district.

§6:10.2.1.1 Contents of the

Proposed Budget

§6:10.2.1.1.1 The Proposed Budget

The proposed budget must be in the format pre-

scribed by the state comptroller. This proposed budget

must show funds separately in the following categories: