24 App. V.S.A. ch. 407, § 401 Fiscal year
401. Fiscal year
The fiscal year of the District shall commence on July 1 and end on June 30 of the following year.
Fiscal Affairs
V.S.A. tit. 24 Appendix, ch. 407, subch. 4
in effect24 App. V.S.A. ch. 407, § 402 Budget appropriation
402. Budget appropriation
(a) Proposed budget. Annually, on or before December 1, the Board of Supervisors shall approve and cause to be distributed to the legislative branch of each member municipality for review and comment an annual report of its activities, including a financial statement and a proposed budget of the District for the next fiscal year. This proposed budget shall include reasonably detailed estimates of:
(1) deficits or surpluses, or both, from prior fiscal years;
(2) anticipated expenditures for the administration of the District;
(3) anticipated expenditures for the operation and maintenance of any District solid waste facilities;
(4) costs of debt service;
(5) payments due on long term contracts;
(6) payments due to any sinking funds for the retirement of debts;
(7) payments due to any capital reserve funds;
(8) anticipated revenues from tipping fees and other sources not including assessments levied on the member municipalities;
(9) the necessary appropriations to operate and carry out the District’s functions for the next fiscal year;
(10) the proposed assessment, if any, to each member municipality;
(11) such other estimates as the Board of Supervisors shall deem necessary to propose.
(b) The Board of Supervisors shall hold a public hearing on or before January 15 of each year to receive comments from the legislative bodies of member municipalities and hear all other interested persons regarding the proposed budget. Notice of such hearing shall be the same as that specified under section 503 of subchapter 5 of this chapter, public hearings. The Board of Supervisors shall give consideration to all comments received and make such changes to the proposed budget as it deems advisable.
(c) Budget adoption, tipping fees, and appropriations. Annually, on or before January 15, the Board of Supervisors shall adopt the budget, appropriate the sums that it deems necessary to operate and carry out the District’s functions for the next ensuing fiscal year, set the tipping fee for the next ensuing fiscal year, and assess each member municipality, if necessary, for its proportionate share of the sums so appropriated, and adopt a schedule designating when such assessments, if any, are due and payable by the member municipalities.
(d) Apportionment of assessments. Assessments established under this subchapter shall be apportioned among the member municipalities on the basis of relative tonnage or volume of solid waste generated by or within each of the member municipalities, or by any other equitable means as determined by the Board of Supervisors. Each member municipality shall be assessed a percentage of the sum appropriated equal to the ratio that the solid waste generated by the member municipality bears to the total solid waste generated within the District. The Board of Supervisors shall determine each member municipality’s solid waste generation based upon actual tonnage or volume delivered, historic tonnage or volume, computed or estimated tonnage or volume, or guaranteed tonnage or volume, whether actually delivered or not. If, after the first year of operation of any District facility, the Board of Supervisors determines that prior assessments were substantially inequitable, it may retroactively adjust prior year assessments such that municipalities overcharged are given a proportionate credit against future assessments and municipalities undercharged are assessed a proportionate surcharge payable over such period as the Board of Supervisors determines will be reasonable. Thereafter the Board of Supervisors may from time to time reestablish the percentage of solid waste generation attributed to each member municipality and adjust the assessments accordingly, but no retroactive adjustments shall be made. Similar estimates and adjustments shall be made for new member municipalities and for the first time use of a new or different disposal facility.
24 App. V.S.A. ch. 407, § 403 Assessment procedure
403. Assessment procedure
Annually, on or before January 20 preceding the fiscal year, the Treasurer of the District shall issue and present a warrant to the legislative body of each member municipality requiring that the amount of such assessment, if any, be paid to him or her in accordance with the schedule of payments adopted by the Board of Supervisors. The legislative body of each member municipality shall draw an order on the municipal treasury for the amount of such assessment and the municipal Treasurer shall pay to the District Treasurer the amount of such order in accordance with the schedule for payments adopted by the Board of Supervisors. If any member municipality shall fail to pay when due any assessment against it by the District, it shall incur the maximum penalty allowed by law plus interest at the maximum rate allowed by law. Such penalty and interest, together with the amount due, court costs, and reasonable attorney’s fees of the District may be recovered by the District in a civil action under this section, notwithstanding the availability of any other remedy available to the District.
24 App. V.S.A. ch. 407, § 404 Limitations of appropriations
404. Limitations of appropriations
(a) Actions or resolutions of the Board of Supervisors for the annual appropriations of any year shall not cease to be operative at the end of the fiscal year for which they were adopted, except as otherwise provided by the laws of the State of Vermont.
(b) Appropriations made by the Board of Supervisors for the various estimates of the budget as defined in subsection 402(a) of this subchapter shall be expended only for such estimates, but by majority vote of the Board of Supervisors the budget may be amended from time to time to transfer funds between or among such estimates, except as otherwise limited herein. Any balance left or unencumbered in any such budget estimate, or the amount of any deficit at the end of the fiscal year, shall be included in and paid out of the operating budget and appropriations in the next fiscal year.
24 App. V.S.A. ch. 407, § 405 Indebtedness
405. Indebtedness
The Board of Supervisors may borrow money through the issuance of notes of the District for the purpose of paying current expenses of the District. Such notes must mature within one year. The Board of Supervisors may also borrow money in anticipation of grants-in-aid from any source and any revenues other than assessment through the issuance of notes of the District. Such notes must mature within one year, but may be renewed as provided by general law. The Board of Supervisors may also borrow money in anticipation of assessments to each member municipality in an amount not to exceed 90 percent of the amount assessed for each year, and may issue notes of the District that must mature within one year. The Board of Supervisors may also borrow money in anticipation of bond proceeds that have been authorized as provided herein. Said notes shall be issued as provided in 24 V.S.A. chapter 53.
24 App. V.S.A. ch. 407, § 406 Long-term indebtedness
406. Long-term indebtedness
(a) Submission to voters. On a petition signed by at least five percent of the voters of the District at the last general election, the proposition of incurring a bonded debt or other indebtedness to pay for public improvements or of authorizing a long-term contract shall be submitted by the Board of Supervisors to the qualified voters thereof at a special meeting to be held for that purpose. In the alternative, when the Board of Supervisors, at a regular or special meeting of the Board of Supervisors called for such purpose, shall determine by resolution passed by a vote of the Board that the public interest or necessity demands improvements or a long-term contract and that the cost of the same will be too great to be paid out of the ordinary annual income and revenue, it shall order the submission of the proposition of incurring indebtedness or of authorizing a long-term contract to the qualified voters of the District at a meeting to be held for that purpose. A “long-term contract” means a contract in which the District incurs obligations for which the costs are too great to be paid out of the ordinary annual income and revenues of the District, in the judgment of the Board of Supervisors. The term “public improvements” shall include improvements that may be used for the benefit of the public, whether or not publicly owned or operated. Bonded debt or other indebtedness may be authorized for any purpose permitted by 24 V.S.A. chapters 53 and 119, and 10 V.S.A. chapter 12, or any other applicable statutes for any purpose for which the District is organized. The Board of Supervisors may not submit to the voters more than twice in any 12-month period the proposition of incurring bonded or other indebtedness to pay for the same or similar public improvement or of entering the same or similar long-term contract.
(b) Warnings of meeting. The warning calling the special meeting of the District to incur bonded debt or other indebtedness or to authorize a long-term contract shall state the object and purpose for which the indebtedness or long-term contract is proposed to be incurred or authorized, the estimated cost of the improvements or service, the amount of bonds or other evidence of indebtedness proposed to be authorized, a summary of the terms of any contract proposed to be authorized, and means of raising or apportioning costs entailed thereby for debt service or payments under a long term contract. The warning shall fix the place where and the date on which the meeting shall be held and the hours of opening and closing the polls. The Board of Supervisors in cooperation with the Board of Civil Authority of each member municipality shall determine the number and location of polling places; provided, however, that there shall be at least one polling place in each member municipality.
(c) Notice of meeting. The Clerk of the District shall cause notice of such special meeting to be published in a newspaper of known circulation in the District once a week for three consecutive weeks on the same day of the week, the last publication to be not less than five nor more than 10 days before such meeting. Notice of such meeting shall also be posted in at least five public places within each member municipality at least 30 and not more than 40 days before the meeting and be filed with the Clerk of each member municipality and the Clerk of the District prior to posting.
(d) Authorization. When a majority of all the voters present and voting on the question from all the member municipalities at such special meeting vote to authorize the issuance of bonds or other evidence of indebtedness or to authorize a long-term contract, the District shall be authorized to issue the bonds or other evidence of indebtedness as provided in 24 V.S.A. chapter 53 or other applicable statutes, or to enter into the long-term contract. Or, in accordance with subchapter 1, section 109 of this chapter and 24 V.S.A. chapter 121, subchapter 4, a majority of the voters of the subgroup of member municipalities votes to authorize the issuance of bonds or other evidence of indebtedness or to authorize a long-term contract, the District shall be authorized to issue the bonds or other evidence of indebtedness on behalf of the subgroup of member municipalities. The ballots cast in each member municipality shall be preserved and secured for a period of no more than 48 hours, and thereafter shall be delivered to the District Clerk. The ballots shall be commingled and counted by a member of the Board of Supervisors together with the town or city clerk from each member municipality, or the clerk’s designee. Sections 507 (Australian ballot), 508 (qualifications and registration of voters), 509 (conduct of meetings), 510 (reconsideration or rescission of vote), and 511 (validation of District meetings) of subchapter 5 of this chapter shall apply to any District meeting called to incur long-term debt or to authorize a long-term contract.
(e) Assessment. The cost of debt service or of payments under a long-term contract shall be allocated among the member municipalities as provided in subsection 402(c) of this subchapter, unless otherwise provided by applicable law and in the vote authorizing the same. The applicable provision of 24 V.S.A. chapter 53 or other enabling law under which debt is incurred or long-term contracts authorized shall apply to the issuance of bonds or other evidence of indebtedness by the District and for that purpose the District shall be deemed a “municipal corporation,” the Board of Supervisors shall be deemed a “legislative branch,” and the District Treasurer shall be deemed a “municipal treasurer” within the purview of that chapter. Bonds or other evidence of indebtedness and long term contracts shall be signed by the Treasurer and Chair of the Board of Supervisors of the District.
(f) Special limitation. The Board of Supervisors shall not submit to the legal voters of the District any proposition to issue bonds or other long-term indebtedness or to authorize a long-term contract less than 12 months after the District has become a body politic and corporate.
24 App. V.S.A. ch. 407, § 407 Sinking fund
407. Sinking fund
The Board of Supervisors may establish and provide for a sinking fund, however denominated, for the retirement of bond issue or other debt or to provide security for the payment thereof. When so established, it shall be kept intact and separate from other monies at the disposal of the District and shall be accounted for as a pledged asset for the purpose of retiring or securing such obligations. The cost of payments to any sinking fund shall be included in the annual budget of the District.
24 App. V.S.A. ch. 407, § 408 Capital reserve fund
408. Capital reserve fund
The Board of Supervisors may establish and provide for a capital reserve fund to pay in full or in part for public improvements, replacement of worn-out buildings and equipment, and planned and unplanned major repairs of a management facility, in furtherance of the purpose for which the District was created. Any such capital reserve fund shall be kept in a separate account and invested as are other public funds and shall be expended for such purposes for which established. The cost of payments to any capital reserve fund shall be included in the annual budget of the District.
24 App. V.S.A. ch. 407, § 409 Disposal fees
409. Disposal fees
The Board of Supervisors may establish and from time to time adjust a disposal fee structure (tipping fee) upon the operation and maintenance of any solid waste management facility located within the District.
Source: Vermont General Assembly (legislature.vermont.gov)URL: https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/chapter/24APPENDIX/407Fetched: 10/21/2026