ASSEMBLY, No. 127

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 1996 SESSION

By Assemblyman JONES

An Act concerning the adoption of local budgets and amending N.J.S.40A:4-10.

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

    1. N.J.S.40A:4-10 is amended to read as follows:

    40A:4-10. No budget or amendment thereof shall be [adopted] passed by the governing body unless the director shall have previously certified his approval thereof. [Final adoption] Passage shall be by resolution adopted by a majority of the full membership of the governing body, and may be by title where the procedures required by sections 40A:4-8 and 40A:4-9 have been followed.

    After the budget has been passed by the governing body, the governing body shall, within three days of the passage of the budget, forward a copy of the budget to the mayor, in the case of a municipality, or to the county executive, in the case of a county operating under the provisions of the county executive plan of the "Optional County Charter Law," P.L.1972, c.154 (C.40:41A-1 et seq.). The mayor or the county executive, as appropriate, shall accept delivery and, within five days of delivery, may veto the passed budget in order to restore to the budget any item of appropriation that appeared in the budget as introduced pursuant to N.J.S.40A:4-5. If the mayor or the county executive, as appropriate, takes no action on the budget within the five-day period, the budget shall be deemed adopted. If, within the five-day period, the mayor or the county executive, as appropriate, returns to the governing body the copy of the budget with a veto which restores to the budget any item of appropriation that appeared in the budget as introduced pursuant to N.J.S.40A:4-5, together with a written explanation of the reasons for the veto, the budget shall not be deemed adopted unless the governing body overrides the veto by a two-thirds vote of its full membership within five days of the receipt of the veto action. Prior to any override of the vetoed budget by the governing body, the governing body shall hold a public hearing to solicit public opinion regarding the mayor's or the county executive's action on the budget. If the governing body does not override the vetoed budget within the five-day period, the budget as vetoed by the mayor or county executive shall be deemed adopted.

    The budget shall be adopted in the case of a county not later than February 25, and in the case of a municipality not later than March 20 of the fiscal year or September 1 of the State fiscal year, except that the [governing body may adopt] the budget may be adopted at any time within 10 days after the director shall have certified his approval thereof and returned the same, if such certification shall be later than the date of the advertised hearing.

    If, in the case of a municipality which operates on the State fiscal year, [the governing body fails to adopt] the budget is not adopted within the permitted time, the chief financial officer of the local unit shall so notify the director the next working day after the expiration of the permitted time.

    Three certified copies of the budget, as adopted, shall be transmitted to the director within three days after adoption

    Upon adoption, the budget shall constitute an appropriation for the purposes stated therein and an authorization of the amount to be raised by taxation for the purposes of the local unit.

(cf: P.L.1991, c.75, s.11)

    2. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

    This bill permits mayors in all municipalities in the State and county executives in counties that operate under the county executive plan of the "Optional County Charter Law," P.L.1972, c.154 (C.40:41A-1 et seq.) to veto the municipal or county budget, as appropriate, in order to restore an original appropriation to the budget.

    The bill requires that after the budget has been passed by the governing body, the governing body must, within three days of the passage of the budget, forward a copy of the budget to the mayor, in the case of a municipality, or to the county executive, in the case of a county operating under the provisions of the county executive plan of the "Optional County Charter Law," P.L.1972, c.154 (C.40:41A-1 et seq.). The mayor or the county executive, as appropriate, must accept delivery and, within five days of delivery, may veto the passed budget only in order to restore any item of appropriation to the budget that appeared in the budget as introduced pursuant to N.J.S.40A:4-5. If the mayor or the county executive takes no action on the budget within the five-day period, the budget will be deemed adopted. If, within the five-day period, the mayor or the county executive returns to the governing body the copy of the budget with a veto, together with a written explanation of the reasons for the veto, the budget will not be deemed adopted unless the governing body overrides the veto of the action by a two-thirds vote of its full membership within five days of the receipt of the veto action. If the governing body does not override the vetoed budget within the five-day period, the budget as vetoed by the mayor or the county executive shall be deemed adopted.

    The bill also requires that, prior to any override of the vetoed budget by the governing body, the governing body must hold a public hearing to solicit public opinion regarding the mayor's or the county executive's action on the budget.

Provides veto power to mayors and county executives in local budget process.