Town Meeting Article 2 and School Meeting Article 3

[trussell]

I have a question that I'm hoping someone could answer- Article 3 of the school meeting ballot asks "Shall the voters of said school district authorize the school directors to borrow money for school expenses in anticipation of revenue for the ensuing year?" What exactly does this mean?  That the school is operating on loans until tax money arrives in November?  The School's fiscal year appears to begin on July 1 so am I correct in thinking that from July 1 until tax money arrives, the school doesn't necessarily have the money to operate if this article is voted down?  Is this a standard practice?  If so I don't think it's a very good method and should be addressed.

Also out of curiosity, the town budget that we voted on for "2014"- Is that the amount to cover the calendar year of 2014?  So the town basically operates without an approved budget from December until town meeting?  If I remember correctly this was brought up by an outside auditing company several years ago and it was suggested that the town's fiscal year be shifted (I think to April 1).

Any thoughts?

[mkr]

The second question about Fiscal Year is correct. They run on a budget that is not approved until Town Meeting.  The Fiscal year I am told is July 1st to June 30th if they switch.

[nhibbard]

That's where the line of credit comes in. We run a chunk of the year off prior surplus and the LOC until the future anticipated revenues.