Chapter 001
2012 -- S 2016
Enacted 01/18/12
A N A C T
RELATING TO
TOWNS AND CITIES -- BUDGET COMMISSIONS
Introduced By: Senators DaPonte, DeVall, DiPalma, and E O`Neill
Date Introduced: January 05, 2012
It is enacted by the
General Assembly as follows:
SECTION 1. Section 45-9-6 of the General Laws in Chapter
45-9 entitled "Budget
Commissions" is hereby
amended to read as follows:
45-9-6.
Composition of budget commission. -- (a) If a budget commission is established
under section 45-9-5 or section 45-12-22.7, it shall
consist of five (5) members: three (3) of
whom shall be designees of the director of revenue, one of
whom shall be the elected chief
executive officer of the city and one of whom shall be the
president of the city or town council. In
cities or towns in which the elected chief executive officer
for purposes of this chapter is the
president of the city or town council, one member shall be the
appointed city or town manager or
town administrator (or, if none, the city or town chief
financial officer) as the fifth (5th) member.
The budget commission shall act by a majority vote of
all its members. The budget commission
shall initiate and assure the implementation of appropriate
measures to secure the financial
stability of the city or town. The budget commission shall
continue in existence until the director
of revenue abolishes it.
The budget commission
shall be subject to chapter 36-2 of the general laws, "Access to
Public Records," and chapter 36-14 of the general
laws, "Code of Ethics". The budget
commission shall be subject to chapter 42-46 of the general laws
"Open Meetings" when meeting
to take action on the following matters:
(1) Levy and assessment
of taxes;
(2) Rulemaking or
suspension of rules;
(3) Adoption of a
municipal budget;
(4) Approval of
collective bargaining agreements and amendments to collective
bargaining agreements; and
(5) Making a
determination under section 45-9-7 that the powers of the budget
commission are insufficient to restore fiscal stability to the
city or town.
(b) Action by the
budget commission under this chapter shall constitute action by the
city or town for all purposes under the general laws,
under any special law and under the city or
town charter.
(c) Until the budget
commission ceases to exist, no appropriation, borrowing
authorization, transfer, or other municipal spending authority
shall take effect until approved by
the budget commission. The budget commission shall
approve all appropriations, borrowing
authorizations, transfers and other municipal spending
authorizations, in whole or part.
(d) In addition to the
authority and powers conferred elsewhere in this chapter, and
notwithstanding any city or town charter provision or local ordinance
to the contrary, the budget
commission shall have the power to:
(1) Amend, formulate
and execute the annual municipal budget and supplemental
municipal budgets of the city or town, including the
establishment, increase or decrease of any
appropriations and spending authority for all departments, budget
commissions, committees,
agencies or other units of the city or town; provided,
however, that notwithstanding sections 16-2-
9 and 16-2-18 of the general laws, this clause shall
fully apply to the school department and all
school spending purposes;
(2) Implement and
maintain uniform budget guidelines and procedures for all
departments;
(3) Amend, formulate
and execute capital budgets, including to amend any
borrowing
authorization, or finance or refinance any debt in accordance with
the law;
(4) Amortize
operational deficits in an amount as the director of revenue approves and
for a term not longer than five (5) years;
(5) Develop and
maintain a uniform system for all financial planning and operations in
all departments, offices, boards, commissions,
committees, agencies or other units of the city's or
town's government;
(6) Review and approve
or disapprove all proposed contracts for goods or services;
(7) Notwithstanding any
general or special law to the contrary, establish, increase or
decrease any fee, rate or charge, for any service, license,
permit or other municipal activity,
otherwise within the authority of the city or town;
(8) Appoint, remove,
supervise and control all city and town employees and have control
over all personnel matters other than disciplinary
matters; provided, that the budget commission
shall hold all existing powers to hire and fire and set the
terms and conditions of employment
held by other employees or officers of the city or town;
provided, further, that the budget
commission shall have the authority to exercise all powers
otherwise available to a municipality
regarding contractual obligations during a fiscal emergency;
provided, further, that no city or
town employee or officer shall hire, fire, transfer or
alter the compensation or benefits of a city or
town employee except with the written approval of the
budget commission; and provided, further,
that the budget commission may delegate or otherwise
assign these powers with the approval of
the director of revenue;
(9) Alter or eliminate
the compensation and/or benefits of elected officials of the city or
town to reflect the fiscal emergency and changes in the
responsibilities of the officials as
provided by this chapter;
(10) Employ, retain and
supervise such managerial, professional and clerical staff as are
necessary to carry out its responsibilities; provided, however,
that such employment, retention
and supervisory decisions are subject to the approval of
the director of revenue; provided, further,
that the budget commission shall not be subject to chapter
37-2 or chapter 45-55 of the general
laws in employing such staff; provided, further, that the
budget commission, with the approval of
the director of revenue, shall have authority to set the
compensation, terms and conditions of
employment of its own staff; provided, further, that the city or
town shall annually appropriate
amounts sufficient for the compensation of personnel hired
under this clause as determined and
fixed by the budget commission; provided, further, that if
the city or town fails to appropriate
such amounts, the director of revenue shall direct the
general treasurer to deduct the necessary
funds from the city's or town's distribution of state aid
and shall expend those funds directly for
the benefit of the budget commission;
(11) Reorganize,
consolidate or abolish departments, commissions, authorities, boards,
offices or functions of the city or town, in whole or in
part, and to establish such new
departments, commissions, authorities, boards, offices or
functions as it deems necessary, and to
transfer the duties, powers, functions and appropriations of
one department, commission, board,
office or other unit to another department, commission,
authority, board or office and in
connection therewith remove and appoint new members for any such
commission, authority,
board or department which appointees shall serve the
remainder of any unexpired term of their
predecessor;
(12) Appoint, in
consultation with the director of revenue, persons to fill vacancies on
any authority, board, committee, department or office;
(13) Sell, lease or
otherwise transfer real property and other assets of the city or town
with the approval of the director of revenue;
(14) Purchase, lease or
otherwise acquire property or other assets on behalf of the city or
town with the approval of the director of revenue;
(15) Enter into
contracts, including, but not limited to, contracts with other governmental
entities, and such other governmental entities are hereby
authorized to enter into such contracts;
(16) Adopt rules and
regulations governing the operation and administration of the city
or town which permit the budget commission to
effectively carry out this chapter under
subsection 42-35-3(b) of the general laws;
(17) Alter or rescind
any action or decision of any municipal officer, employee, board,
authority or commission within fourteen (14) days after receipt
of notice of such action or
decision;
(18) Suspend, in
consultation with the director of revenue any rules and regulations of
the city or town;
(19) Notwithstanding
any other general law, special act, charter provision or ordinance,
and in conformity with the reserved powers of the general
assembly pursuant to Article XIII,
section 5 of the Constitution of the state, a budget
commission is authorized to issue bonds, notes
or certificates of indebtedness to fund the deficit of a
city or town without regard to section 45-
12-22.4 of the general laws, to fund
cash flow and to finance capital projects. Bonds, notes or
certificates of indebtedness issued under authority of this
chapter shall be general obligation
bonds backed by the full faith and credit and taxing power
of the city or town; provided, however,
that the budget commission may pledge future distributions
of state aid for the purpose of retiring
such bonds, notes or certificates of indebtedness. If any
state aid is so pledged, the budget
commission shall execute on behalf of the city or town a trust
agreement with a corporate trustee,
which may be any bank or trust company having the powers of
a trust company within the state,
and any state aid so pledged shall be paid by the general
treasurer directly to the trustee to be held
in trust and applied to the payment of principal and
interest on such bonds, notes or certificates of
indebtedness; any earnings derived from the investment of such pledged
aid shall be applied as
needed to the payment of that principal and interest and for
trustee's fees and related expenses,
with any excess to be paid to the city or town. Bonds,
notes or certificates of indebtedness
authorized under authority of this chapter shall be executed on
behalf of the city or town by a
member of the commission and, except as provided for in this
chapter, may be subject to the
provisions of chapter 45-12 of the general laws so far as apt,
or may be subject to the provisions
of any special bond act enacted authorizing the issuance
of bonds of a city or town so far as apt,
provided, however that any bonds or notes issued for school
purposes must be approved by the
general assembly in order to qualify for school housing aid
as set forth in chapter 16-7 of the
general laws; and
(20) Exercise all
powers under the general laws and this chapter or any special act, any
charter provision or ordinance that any elected official of
the city or town may exercise, acting
separately or jointly; provided, however, that with respect to
any such exercise of powers by the
budget commission, the elected officials shall not rescind
or take any action contrary to such
action by the budget commission so long as the budget
commission continues to exist.
(21) Certify to the
the state’s basic education program under chapter 7 of
title 16 of the
the amount determined by the budget commission. Said
amount shall be advanced, subject to
approval of the director of the department of revenue,
notwithstanding any general or public law
to the contrary. The director of the department of
revenue shall provide notice of any advance
payments to the fiscal advisors of the house and senate
finance committees. The state general
treasurer shall deduct the estimated cost to the state’s
general fund resulting from any advance
payments.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.
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LC00358
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