The Board of Finance is one of a variety of names (Budget Committee, Finance Committee, Ways and Means Committee, Appropriations Committee, Advisory Committee, or Warrant Committee are used in different parts of
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...
) for a body that reviews local government budgets in towns or school districts that have the
town meeting
Town meeting is a form of local government in which most or all of the members of a community are eligible to legislate policy and budgets for local government. It is a town- or city-level meeting in which decisions are made, in contrast with ...
form of government. Whether the board is appointed or elected, and whether it is merely advisory or has authority over the budget, depends on state and local laws.
Its role is to act as a balance against the
Board of Selectmen or
School Board
A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution.
The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...
, which usually set the budget and present it to the public at town meeting. Typically the Board of Finance is seen as being more cost-conscious than the governing body - that is, it prefers smaller budgets.
In many towns, the budget is split between general government, administered by the Board of Selectmen and the
school district
A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations.
North America United States
In the U.S, most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts, wh ...
administered by the
Board of Education. The school district include one town or several towns, which join into a "regional" (
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...
,
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
,
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...
) or "unified" (
Vermont
Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...
) school district. School districts in New England do not have separate taxation powers, and must receive their revenues from member towns.
Typically, after the Board of Selectmen or School Board settle their respective budgets, they are submitted to the Board of Finance for review. The Board of Finance may return the budget to the respective bodies with requests for changes, or may refer it to the town meeting for approval. In some cases, the Board of Finance may establish the budget itself, leaving the Selectmen or School Board to comment.
Outside the budget process, the Board of Finance may perform financial oversight duties on behalf of the town.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Board Of Finance
Finance, board of