Town council

From Freepedia

In the United Kingdom, town councils are civil parish councils, where the civil parish is a town. Civil parishes are the lowest level of elected governance, under the district and county level.

Any parish can unilaterally decide to describe itself as a town.

The chairman of a town council is usually called a Town Mayor, the alternative is rarely found.

The term 'Town Mayor' is used as opposed to simply 'Mayor', which means the mayor of a borough or a city.

New Hampshire

In New Hampshire, the Town Council is an elected body which serves as the legislative and governing body of the town. The town is governed by a charter, which is allowed under the home rule provision of the New Hampshire Constitution (Pt I, Art. 39) and Title III of the New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated. The charter for a Town Council must meet the following requirements of RSA 49-D:3 I. (a) - (e) and all other applicable laws. The basic notion of home rule in New Hampshire is that local communities are not allowed to superceed the authority specifically granted to them by the state.

Official Ballot Town Council

The Official Ballot Town Council is a variant form of the Town Council. In the Official Ballot form of government, the town council is vested with the limited authority to vote on all matters not voted on by official ballot. The authority and restrictions on the Official Ballot town council is the same as the Town Council, except with respect to those matters specified to be voted on by official ballot. Also, the council decides what is placed on the ballot, not the registered voters.

The charter of the Official Ballot Town Council is required by law to specify specifically:

• Which budgetary items to be included on the official ballot; and
• A finalization process for the annual budget; and
• Process for public hearings, debate, discussion, and amendment of questions to be placed on the official ballot; and
• Procedures for the transfer of funds among various departments, funds, accounts, and agencies as may be necessary during the year; and
• Applicability of the official ballot procedure to special elections

The charter also must specify whether a 2/3 or 3/5 majority vote is required to approve bonds or notes, with the default being 2/3.