(a) When a town at the end of the fiscal year contemplated by section 1683 of this title has a deficit, unless the voters of said town have voted a special tax to make up said deficit or unless said deficit shall have been refunded pursuant to the provisions of chapter 53 of this title, the selectboard, when making up the next annual tax bill, shall add thereto a tax of five percent or such multiple of five in addition to the tax vote already authorized by law, to be levied upon the grand list of such town as will provide sufficient revenue to liquidate such deficit.

(b) When a school district at the end of the fiscal year contemplated by section 1683 of this title has a deficit, unless the voters have voted to borrow funds to repay the deficit over a term of three years or less, or unless the deficit has been refunded pursuant to chapter 53 of this title, the school board shall add an amount sufficient to pay the deficit to its next adopted budget and report the total to the Secretary of Education for purposes of calculating education spending.

(c) As used in this section, the following words have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates the contrary: A "deficit" is the excess of the current liabilities and liability reserves of the fund over its current assets; or, where the fund has also other resources and obligations, the excess of its obligations over its resources; "current assets" are those assets which are available or can be made readily available to meet the cost of operations or to pay current liabilities; "current liabilities" are those liabilities which are payable within a relatively short period of time, usually no longer than a year; a "fund" is a sum of money or other resource set aside for the purpose of carrying on specific activities or attaining certain objectives in accordance with special regulations, restrictions, or limitations, and constituting an independent fiscal and accounting entity such as the general or school fund. (Amended 1959, No. 129, eff. April 21, 1959; 1997, No. 71 (Adj. Sess.), § 119, eff. March 11, 1998; amended 2003, No. 36, § 11; 2005, No. 182 (Adj. Sess.), § 9; 2013, No. 92 (Adj. Sess.), § 270, eff. Feb. 14, 2014.)