At its Special Meeting this past Thursday, February 9, the Board of Selectmen discussed with the Town Attorney, Chip Roraback, the process by which the Town budget is approved. With the adoption of a Budget Referendum Ordinance, # 90-1, in 1990, the Town eliminated discussion of the budget and adjustment of line items as required under Section 7-344 of the State Statutes. This elimination of the discussion and adjustment of line items at the Annual Town Meeting has been questioned on the basis that New Hartford is a statutory town that is governed by State Statute.

The Selectmen’s questions centered around the elimination of town ordinance 90-1, which sends the budget automatically to referendum after the budget has been discussed. Attorney Roraback said that even if the ordinance were to be elemininated, the Selectmen could still continue to send the budget to referendum and remove the discussion of the budget from the Annual Budget Meeting.

Since the item was included in a Special Meeting, there was no opportunity for public input and the First Selectman refused to allow any questions from the public to be put to the Town Attorney.

The selectmen made no changes to the procedure being followed by the town in approving the town’s annual budget.

Click on the image above to watch the discussion with the town attorney on the NewHartfordPlus YouTube channel.