(1) Annually on or before January 1, the Board shall approve and cause to be distributed to the legislative body of each member for review and comment an annual report of its activities, including a financial statement, the budget history of the preceding two years, a proposed budget of the Authority for the next fiscal year, and a budget projection for the two successive years. The Board may appoint a budget committee to develop the proposed budget.

(2) The Board shall hold a public hearing on or before February 1 of each year to receive comments from the legislative bodies of the members and hear all other interested persons regarding the proposed budget. Additional public hearings may be held if the Board deems it appropriate to do so. Notice of such hearing(s) shall be as provided in sections 39-41 of this chapter, except that for additional public hearings, the time requirements of section 39 shall be reduced by 15 days, and notice(s) need only be published once.

(3) The Board shall give consideration to all comments received and make such changes to the proposed budget as it deems advisable.

(1) At the Town Meeting Day elections, the voters of each member shall vote on appropriating the total sums necessary to operate and carry out the Authority's functions for the next ensuing fiscal year. Ballot totals from the members shall be totaled together, and the cumulative total will be used to determine passage of the budget.

(2) Once a budget is approved, the Board shall assess each member for its proportionate share of the sums so appropriated, less revenues anticipated from the members, and adopt a schedule designating when such assessments are due and payable by the members.

(3) The members shall include the Authority's assessment as a separate line item on the annual property tax bills so as to appropriate such sums as the member is apportioned, once voted as described in section 29 of this chapter. (Added 2013, No. M-17 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. May 20, 2014.)