[Lakes Region Guy]

Originally Posted by Descant

In the mid-90's when town started going to SB2, there was great fear from schools in particular, that budgets would be cut and the sky would fall. As it turned out, SB2 towns became the big spenders. This was especially so in towns/school districts where the boards learned to manipulate the default budget. After struggling for many years to make the default budget more transparent in SB2 towns, the best they could do was a requirement that the calculation of the default budget be read at the deliberative session. Unfortunately, they also decreed that Capital Reserve Fund additions had to be by separate warrant article, so the operating budget looks smaller until you add back the CRF.
For most towns, we know that Town Meeting and School District, where the big money is, will be in March, usually the second Tuesday for elections. Find out for your town, mark your calendar now and don't whine on the Forum that you had a conflict. Yes, I know some people have to work, and that's one reason SB2 was created. But, if you're an SB2 town, you still need to attend the deliberative session, probably on a Tuesday night.

The deliberative session is held in February and is conducted similar to a town meeting. The articles are discussed and/or amended before they are voted on to go on the general ballot in March. As far as the default budget being manipulated by the governing board this is a fallacy by those who are against SB2. I'm not sure why the some towns people are against SB2 as it allows the handicap and shut ins to exercise their democratic voting right through an absentee ballot.