Local Government in Connecticut, Third Edition

23. Two-Year Political and Financial Calendar

ChApTEr 23 Two-Year Political and Financial Calendar Most people are aware of the political calendar in which local elections are held in the odd years and state and federal elections in the even years. Most people also recognize that there is a budgetary calendar, with the local budget being adopted sometime in the spring of each year. Sometimes this budget cycle extends into the summer, which happens when voters in a community vote the budget down in a town-wide referendum. In many communities there is a cutoff time, but in some, the process of revising the budget and holding a revote can continue well into the summer. Any delay in adopting the budget can cause major problems for the town, since it could delay the preparation and sending out of tax bills. The bills are delayed because the mill rate (taxing rate) has to be set, and this mill rate is based on the approved budget expenditures. Since towns are very dependent upon the property tax as their main source of revenues, and they collect this money in July and January, a delay in the July collection window significantly affects the cash flow of the town. (See chapter 10, “Where does the Money Come From?” for a more complete explanation of a municipality’s revenue sources.) Taxes always seem to go up. As town expenditures climb, so do the taxes. The graph in figure 23-1 provides a brief overview of the interrelationship of the political calendar and the budgetary calendar. The calendar has to be looked at over a two-year cycle, since local elections only occur every two years, whereas the budgetary cycle is on an annual basis. The percent of activity in the vertical column has to be viewed as a relative percent, and will vary town by town, but overall, there is a relationship. The horizontal column is more exact since it is based on actual time frames when events occur. The graph is laid out for a local November election, which most towns have. A few towns do have their local elections in May rather than November, although these are the exceptions rather than the rule. Owing to the vast amount of volunteers that work for the towns and cities, a considerable amount of activity is conducted at night meetings, especially for the policy and advisory boards. Boards of selectmen, boards of finance, boards of education, town councils, planning and zoning commissions —most meet at night. And it is these night meetings that are dramat- Election-Year Local Elections Nonelection-Year Budget Season Adopt Budget & Set Mill Rate 100 (Hold Tax Increases IF Possible) (Raise Taxes IF Needed) Lots of Meetings 90 80 School Starts 70 April School April School 60 Vacation Vacation 50 Lots of Meetings 40 Mail Tax Bills 30 Thanksgiving 20 10 Christmas/New Years Christmas/New Year’s Holidays Summer Vacations Holidays Summer Vacations 0 J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J NOTES: Calendar is based on November local elections Percents of activity are relative to one another and not exact Budgets are normally adopted in May, but may extend into summer months if budget referendums fail Town Budget Town Budget School Starts Education Budget Process Starts Town Audit Deadline Town Audit Deadline Process Starts Process Starts Thanksgiving Education Budget Lots of Meetings % OF ACTIVITY Budget Hearings Lots of Meetings Adopt Budget & Set Mill Rate Budget Hearings Budget Season Process Starts Mail Tax Bills Summer Vacations Start EVEN YEARS ODD YEARS EVEN YEARS * Figure 23-1 TypiCAl Two-yEAr loCAl poliTiCAl And FinAnCiAl CAlEndAr oF ACTiviTy 150 Local Government in Connecticut ically affected by many different events, as shown in figure 23-1. A careful review of this table gives clues as to when is the best to propose major policy or financial changes—or when not to. The following monthly breakdown helps explain some of the events that occur over the two-year period. This breakdown corresponds directly with figure 23-1. It starts with July, since towns are on the same fiscal year as the state, July 1 to June 30, which is called the uniform fiscal year (UFY). Although there is some redundancy in the year-to-year monthly detail, there are some subtle differences in given months between the even and odd years. Even Years July: The middle...