CHAPTER 170
H.P. 427 - L.D. 548
An Act to Repeal the Requirement that the Kennebec County Budget be Approved by the Legislature
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 30-A MRSA c. 3, sub-c. I, art. 8 is amended by repealing the article headnote and enacting the following in its place:
Article 8
KENNEBEC COUNTY BUDGET COMMITTEE
Sec. 2. 30-A MRSA §862, as amended by PL 1991, c. 533, §3 and affected by §10, is further amended to read:
§862. Kennebec County Budget Committee
In Kennebec County there is established the Kennebec County Advisory Budget Committee to carry out the purposes of this article. The advisory budget committee consists of 9 elected officials and a subcommittee of 6 nonvoting members of the county legislative delegation or their designees as provided in this section.
1. Membership; elected officials. The 9 advisory budget committee members who are elected officials are appointed as provided in this section.
A. In 1991 and annually thereafter Annually, the county commissioners shall call a meeting of elected officials within each county commissioner district no later than September 15th. A public notice of the meeting must be issued at least 10 days before the meeting is held. Each commissioner shall serve as the nonvoting moderator of the meeting in that commissioner's district. At the meeting, the elected officials shall nominate a slate of proposed members for the advisory budget committee. Each commissioner shall select one advisory budget committee member from the slate of proposed members within 7 days of the meeting, except for the selection of the initial advisory budget committee as provided in subsection 1-B.
1-A. Membership; legislative delegation. A subcommittee of 6 members of the Kennebec County legislative delegation or their designees shall serve as nonvoting members of the advisory budget committee.
A. The subcommittee is appointed by the chair and must be ratified by a vote of the legislative delegation.
B. The subcommittee shall serve as a resource to the advisory budget committee and as a liaison to the legislative delegation.
1-B. Initial election. Notwithstanding subsections 1 and 3, in the initial election of the advisory budget committee in 1991, 3 members are elected from each county commissioner district. One member from each district is appointed for a term of 3 years, one member from each district is appointed for a term of 2 years and one member from each district is appointed for a term of one year.
2. Duties. The advisory budget committee shall review the budget estimates prepared by the county commissioners, hold public hearings in the county and submit their recommendations to the county commissioners.
3. Term of office. The term of office for an advisory a budget committee member who is an elected official is 3 years, provided that an advisory a budget committee member remains an elected official in the elected official's municipality. This subsection does not apply to the initial advisory budget committee members whose terms are described in subsection 1-B.
4. Vacancies. The county commissioners shall appoint an elected official to fill any vacancy occurring on the advisory budget committee. A vacancy must be filled from the commissioner district in which the vacancy occurred and is for the balance of the unexpired term.
5. Expenses. Members are not entitled to compensation, but must be reimbursed at the county rate from the county treasury for expenses authorized by the county commissioners that are lawfully incurred in the performance of their duties.
Sec. 3. 30-A MRSA §863, as repealed and replaced by PL 1991, c. 533, §4 and affected by §10, is amended to read:
§863. Budget committee organization
The advisory budget committee shall organize and conduct its meetings as follows.
1. Organization. The county commissioners shall direct the county clerk to call an organizational meeting of the advisory budget committee no later than 60 days before the end of the county's fiscal year. At the organizational meeting, the committee shall:
A. Elect a chair and a recording secretary from among its members; and
B. Adopt rules, procedures and bylaws.
2. Meetings. The advisory budget committee shall determine the time and location of the advisory budget committee meetings. The meetings must be held at times convenient for the public. The advisory budget committee shall keep minutes and record votes for every meeting. The county clerk shall issue a public notice of a meeting no later than 7 days before the meeting is held.
3. Resources. The county commissioners shall provide the advisory budget committee with necessary clerical assistance, office expenses and suitable meeting space, as well as access to county files and information.
Sec. 4. 30-A MRSA §864, as amended by PL 1991, c. 533, §§5 to 8 and affected by §10, is further amended to read:
1. Commissioners' budget. The county commissioners shall submit an itemized budget estimate, as described in sections 701, 702 and 7503, to the advisory budget committee in a timely fashion, no later than 60 days before the end of the county's fiscal year.
2. Budget review process. The advisory budget committee shall develop a proposed budget following review of the proposed itemized budget estimate prepared by the county commissioners, together with any supplementary material prepared by the head of each county department or provided by any independent board or institution or another governmental agency. The advisory budget committee may advise propose that the proposed budget estimate be increased, decreased, altered or revised, provided that:
A. The advisory budget committee enters into its minutes an explanation for any recommended change in the estimated expenditures and revenues as initially presented by the county commissioners; and
B. The total estimated revenues, together with the amount of county tax to be levied, equals the total estimated expenditures.
3. Public hearing. The advisory budget committee shall hold at least 2 public hearings in the county on the proposed budget before the end of the county's fiscal year and before submitting the budget to the commissioners finally approve the budget. At least one public hearing must be held in the northern part of the county and at least one public hearing must be held in the southern part of the county. Notice of the hearing must be given at least 10 days before the hearing in a newspaper of general circulation within the county.
3-A. Written notification. Written notice and a copy of the proposed budget must be sent at least 10 days before the public hearing to the clerk of each municipality in the county. The municipal clerk shall notify the elected officials of the proposed budget.
4. Approval of budget. After the public hearings are completed, the advisory budget committee shall adopt a final budget and shall submit its recommendations that budget to the county commissioners for approval review not later than the end of the county's fiscal year, subject to the conditions and restrictions imposed in subsection 2. The county commissioners may not revise the budget adopted by the budget committee except by unanimous vote of the county commissioners. If the adopted budget is changed by the county commissioners, the budget committee may reject that change by a 2/3 vote of its membership. Those actions are final and are not subject to further action by either the county commissioners or the budget committee.
4-A. Legislative approval. Before January 15th of the fiscal year for which the budget is prepared, the county commissioners shall submit the budget to the Legislature. The Legislature shall approve, disapprove or amend the budget as submitted.
5. Interim budget. If the budget is not approved before the start of a fiscal year, until a budget is finally adopted, the county shall operate on an interim budget which that may not exceed the previous year's budget.
6. Transfer of funds. The county commissioners may transfer funds as provided in section 922.
Sec. 5. Transition. The members of the Kennebec County Advisory Budget Committee who are elected officials continue to hold office as members of the Kennebec County Budget Committee established in this Act for the remainder of the term to which they were appointed. Following completion of their terms, vacancies are filled as provided in the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 30-A, section 862.
Effective September 21, 2001, unless otherwise indicated.
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