A5006

An Act concerning budget information made available by local units of government and amending P.L.2007, c.53, N.J.S.18A:22-8, N.J.S.40A:4-10, and P.L.2007, c.63.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. Section 4 of P.L.2007, c.53 (C.18A:7F-5.3) is amended to read as follows:

4. a. In addition to other items prescribed by the Commissioner of Education pursuant to subsection c. of section 5 of P.L.1996, c.138 (C.18A:7F-5), the Commissioner of Education shall require a school district to submit annually with the budget, the following items as supporting documentation in regard to the superintendent of schools, the assistant superintendent of schools, the school business administrator, and any employee with an annual salary that exceeds $75,000 who is not a member of a collective bargaining unit:

(1) a detailed statement of the employment contract terms for these school employees, including, but not limited to, the duration of the contract and all forms of compensation provided for under the contract;

(2) the annualized cost of all benefits provided to these school employees, including, but not limited to, all allowances, bonuses and stipends, and all contributions made by the school district towards the costs of health, dental, life and other types of insurance, medical and reimbursement plans, and retirement plans which exceed the contributions for the costs of these items made on behalf of a teaching staff member under a collective bargaining agreement with the board;

(3) a detailed statement of any benefits provided for in the employment contract with these school employees which are to be conferred after or upon the separation from the school district; and

(4) a detailed statement of any form of in-kind or other form of remuneration provided to these school employees which is not otherwise included in the employee's salary or benefits.

b. The items required to be submitted pursuant to subsection a. of this section shall be [provided for public inspection] accessible through a link that is prominently displayed on the home page of the school district's Internet site, if one exists, in a "user-friendly" format using plain language, and on the Department of Education's Internet site in an easily accessible location. The Commissioner of Education shall promulgate a "user-friendly," plain language format for the use of local districts for this purpose.

(cf: P.L.2007, c.53, s.4)

2. N.J.S.18A:22-8 is amended to read as follows:

18A:22-8. The budget shall be prepared in such detail and upon such forms as shall be prescribed by the commissioner and to it shall be annexed a statement so itemized as to make the same readily understandable, in which shall be shown:

a. In tabular form there shall be set forth the following:

(1) The total expenditure for each item for the preceding school year, the amount appropriated for the current school year adjusted for transfers as of February 1 of the current school year, and the amount estimated to be necessary to be appropriated for the ensuing school year, indicated separately for each item as determined by the commissioner;

(2) The amount of the surplus account available at the beginning of the preceding school year, at the beginning of the current school year, and the amount anticipated to be available for the ensuing school year;

(3) The amount of revenue available for budget purposes for the preceding school year, the amount available for the current school year as of February 1 of the current school year, and the amount anticipated to be available for the ensuing school year in the following categories:

(a) Total to be raised by local property taxes

(b) Total State aid

(i) Equalization aid

(ii) Special education categorical aid

(iii) Transportation aid

(iv) Preschool education aid

(v) Security aid

(vi) Adjustment aid

(vii) Other (detailed at the discretion of the commissioner)

(i) Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.s.2701 et seq.)

(ii) Students with disabilities

(iii) Impact Aid

(iv) Vocational

(v) Other (detailed at the discretion of the commissioner)

(d) Other sources (detailed at the discretion of the commissioner).

b. (Deleted by amendment, P.L.1993, c.117).

c. In the event that the total expenditure for any item of appropriation is equal to $0.00 for: (1) the preceding school year, (2) the current school year, and (3) the amount estimated to be necessary to be appropriated for the ensuing school year, that item shall not be required to be published pursuant to N.J.S.18A:22-11.

d. The instruction function of the budget shall be divided at a minimum into elementary (K-5), middle school (6-8), and high school (9-12) cost centers, each of which shall be further divided by the core curriculum content areas. The commissioner shall phase in these requirements as soon as practicable.

e. The budget as adopted for the school year pursuant to section 5 of P.L.1996, c.138 (C.18A:7F-5) shall be provided for public inspection on the school district's Internet site, if one exists [, and] . The budget shall also be made available in print and through a link that is prominently displayed on the home page of the school district’s Internet site, if one exists, in a "user-friendly" format using plain language. The Commissioner of Education shall promulgate a "user-friendly," plain language budget summary format for the use of school districts for this purpose.

(cf: P.L.2017, c.131, s.22)

3. N.J.S.40A:4-10 is amended to read as follows:

40A:4-10. No budget or amendment thereof shall be adopted unless the director shall have previously certified his approval thereof. Final adoption shall be by resolution adopted by a majority of the full membership of the governing body, and may be by title where the procedures required by N.J.S.40A:4-8 and N.J.S.40A:4-9 or section 12 of P.L.1995, c.259 (C.40A:4-6.1), as applicable, have been followed.

The budget shall be adopted in the case of a county not later than February 25, and in the case of a municipality not later than March 20 of the calendar fiscal year or September 20 of the State fiscal year, except that the governing body may adopt the budget at any time within 10 days after the director shall have certified his approval thereof and returned the same, if such certification shall be later than the date of the advertised hearing.

If, in the case of a municipality which operates on the State fiscal year, the governing body fails to adopt the budget within the permitted time, the chief financial officer of the local unit shall so notify the director the next working day after the expiration of the permitted time.

Copies of the budget, as adopted, in such form and in such quantity as determined by the Local Finance Board, shall be transmitted to the director within three days after adoption.

Upon adoption, the budget shall constitute an appropriation for the purposes stated therein and an authorization of the amount to be raised by taxation for the purposes of the local unit.

The adopted budget and “user-friendly,” plain language budget summary shall be provided for public inspection and accessible through a link that is prominently displayed on the home page of the local unit's Internet website, if one exists, or, if one does not exist, the budget and “user-friendly,” plain language budget summary shall be provided for public inspection and accessible through a link that is prominently displayed on the Internet website of the Department of Community Affairs [, and made available online and in print as required by this section in a "user-friendly" summary format using plain language]. In addition to the current year adopted budget, the local unit's adopted budgets and “user-friendly,” plain language budget summaries of the immediately preceding three budget years also shall be provided for public inspection and accessible through a link that is prominently displayed on the local unit's Internet website, if one exists, or, if one does not exist, those budgets also shall be provided for public inspection and accessible through a link that is prominently displayed on the Internet website of the Department of Community Affairs. Any adopted budget posted online pursuant to this section shall remain posted online for the duration of the local budget year. The Local Finance Board shall promulgate a "user-friendly," plain language summary format for use by local units for this purpose pursuant to section 39 of P.L.2007, c.63 (C.40A:5-48).

(cf: P.L.2015, c.95, s.15)

4. Section 39 of P.L.2007, c.63 (C.40A:5-48) is amended to read as follows:

39. a. The Local Finance Board shall promulgate "user-friendly," plain language budget summary forms for the use of counties, municipalities, local authorities, and fire districts. The board shall also promulgate a procedure for the submission by each of these local government units of the required budget summary form to the Division of Local Government Services in the Department of Community Affairs following the adoption of the annual budget.

b. The plain language budget summary shall provide the public with information in summary form about the budget of the local unit and shall include, in addition to an abbreviated version of the formal budget adopted by the local unit, such statistical information as the board determines to be useful for the public's understanding of the local unit's fiscal matters and condition, and shall also include, but shall not be limited to the following information, for both the local unit's current budget year and the previous budget year, as the Local Finance Board determines appropriate to the local unit: all line items of appropriation aggregated by service type; the property tax rate; the property tax collection rate; the assessed value and taxable value of all real property located in the local unit; the amount of bonded indebtedness of the local unit; revenues by major category; description of unusual revenues or appropriations, with a description of the circumstances of the revenues or appropriations; a list of shared service agreements in which the local unit is participating; and the number and amount of outstanding long-term tax exemptions and abatements, and the amount of revenue derived therefrom.

c. The plain language budget summary shall be submitted to the division in such form as determined by the Local Finance Board, and, upon its receipt of the summary, the division shall make the summary available to the public through [an] a link that is prominently displayed on the Internet website maintained by the division. The information on the website shall be presented as data that can be downloaded by the public for comparative purposes using commonly-used software.

(cf: P.L.2007, c.63, s.39)

5. This act shall take effect on the 90th day after the date of enactment.

STATEMENT

This bill requires that a budget adopted by a county, municipality, or school district be made available in a user-friendly format and accessible through a link that is prominently displayed on the home page of the Internet site if one exists.