Capital Planning Bylaw

A Capital Planning Committee is hereby established (hereinafter “the Committee”). The Committee shall be composed of  seven members appointed as follows: Three members appointed for one-year terms: One member shall be appointed by the Finance Committee, one by the Planning Board and one by the Board of Selectmen. These appointees may be, but need not be, members of their respective board or committee. These terms shall end on June 30 of each year. Four at-large members shall be appointed by the Moderator for three-year terms, arranged so that either one or two such terms of office expire in any given year. These appointees may be members of other Town boards. The Committee shall choose its own officers.
 
The Committee is charged with the responsibility of reviewing all proposed capital improvements and subsequently submitting annually a report to the Board of Selectmen, containing a recommended capital budget for the coming fiscal year and also a capital program for the following four (4) years. Capital items are defined as identified Town future projects, programs, improvements, and acquisitions having a useful life of at least five (5) years and a cost of at least ten thousand dollars ($10,000), including requests for funds for a class of assets that exceeds $10,000. The Program is updated annually, with the first program year deleted and a new fifth program year added.  
 
All officers, department, boards and committees, shall, by December 1 of each year, give to the Committee, information concerning all Capital projects, programs, improvements, and acquisitions anticipated as necessary during the next five (5) years. The Committee shall consider all such requests and, in doing so, may confer with any town officer, department, board or committee or request additional information it determines is needed in order to evaluate and prioritize submitted items.
 
The Committee shall consider the relative need, impact, timing and cost of proposed capital expenditures and the effect each will have on the financial position of the town. In evaluating and scheduling the requests, the Committee will consider the following criteria:
 
  • Risks to public safety or health
  • Deterioration of Town facilities
  • Coordination with other Capital requests
  • Requirement of state or federal law or regulation
  • Improvement of operating efficiency
  • Systematic replacement    
  • Equitable provision of services and facilities
  • Protection and conservation of resource

Each year (60) sixty days prior to the Annual Town Meeting the Capital Planning Committee shall submit the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) to the Board of Selectmen as the recommended Capital Budget. The Board of Selectmen, in coordination with the Town Administrator shall finalize the Capital Budget and submit it to the Finance Committee for funding recommendation and consideration at a Town Meeting.

No appropriation shall be voted for a capital improvement requested by a department, board or commission unless the proposed capital improvement is considered in the Committee’s report or determined by the Board of Selectmen, upon recommendation of the Town Administrator, to be of an emergency nature.

The Committee may amend, add to, or delete from any Capital Budget recommendation, items previously adopted by the Town, if it finds reasonable cause why such information was not submitted for consideration at the Annual Town Meeting, and must be acted upon before the next Annual Town Meeting. Any such amendment, addition or deletion must be submitted to the Board of Selectmen for its consideration and approval and reported to the next Special Town Meeting for adoption.