§ 149-48. Appropriation-Town budget
(a) Gross appropriation fixed and levy:
(1) The vote of Town meeting or other action finalizing the Town budget shall make a gross appropriation for the coming fiscal year. The Town meeting may not make any budget appropriation not recommended by the selectmen, unless such action was duly warned.
(2) As of the effective date of the budget, all amounts stated therein are appropriated (for the specified agency's or department's purpose). Adoption of the budget shall constitute appropriations of the amounts specified therein from the funds indicated. This shall constitute an authorization to raise all monies required.
(3) Nothing herein shall limit the authorizing of payments or making of capital expenditures to be financed, wholly or partly, by the issuance of bonds except as provided in section 52 of this charter.
(4) Any officer may, upon approval of the Board of Selectmen, make a contract or lease for payments beyond the end of the fiscal year.
(5) Every appropriation, except an appropriation for a capital expenditure, shall lapse at the close of the fiscal year to the extent that it has not been expended or encumbered. An appropriation for a capital expenditure shall continue in force until the purpose for which it has been made has been accomplished or abandoned.
(6) The money raised by taxation, and other lawful sources, shall constitute the entire sum from which appropriations and payments are to be made by or under the authority of the Board of Selectmen.
(b) Overruns on gross appropriations, emergency appropriations:
(1) The gross appropriation may not be exceeded, except by consent of the Board of Selectmen, as herein limited.
(2) In the event of an emergency situation officially declared by the Board of Selectmen, an amount not exceeding five percent of the gross appropriation may be expended.
(3) Any amount in excess of five percent shall be warned and voted by special or regular Town meeting.
(c) Under expenditures, excess revenues:
(1) Under expenditures: If during the fiscal year, the Board, upon recommendation and certification of the Town Manager, determines that there are funds available due to under expenditure of the funds proposed in the budget, the Board may make supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year up to the amount of such excess, not to exceed five percent of the gross appropriation.
(2) Excess revenues unexpected: If unexpected revenues or underexpenditures equal over five percent of the gross appropriation respectively, such overage shall be carried over as surplus.
(d) Surplus: Any surplus created, subject to the provisions of subsection (d) of this section, shall be carried over to the next budget and counted as a fixed receipt on the calculation of the ensuing tax rate, or, by action of the Board of Selectmen, may be placed in a capital reserve fund as provided for in this charter.
(e) Transfers-alterations in the work program:
(1) The Town Manager may transfer, at any time, with a public report to the selectmen, an unencumbered appropriation balance, or portion, between general classifications of expenditures within an office, department, or agency.
(2) The Board of Selectmen may transfer, by formal vote, any unencumbered portion or balance of an appropriation from one department or agency to another.
(3) In no case shall a transfer violate the gross appropriation as limited by subsection (a) of this section.
(f) Ongoing appropriation; budget revote:
(1) In the event that the budget is not adopted before the beginning of the fiscal year, the amount appropriated for the prior year shall be deemed adopted.
(2) Expenditures during budget revote shall be limited on a monthly basis to an allotment based on the prior year's appropriation until such time as the budget is adopted.