Section 32:7 Lapse of Appropriations.
Annual meeting appropriations shall cover anticipated expenditures for one fiscal year. All appropriations shall lapse at the end of the fiscal year and any unexpended portion thereof shall not be expended without further appropriation, unless:
I. The amount has, prior to the end of that fiscal year, become encumbered by a legally-enforceable obligation, created by contract or otherwise, to any person for the expenditure of that amount; or
II. The amount is legally placed in any nonlapsing fund properly created pursuant to statute, including but not limited to a capital reserve fund under RSA 35, or a town-created trust fund under RSA 31:19-a; or
III. The amount is to be raised, in whole or in part, through the issuance of bonds or notes pursuant to RSA 33, in which case the appropriation, unless rescinded, shall not lapse until the fulfillment of the purpose or completion of the project being financed by the bonds or notes; or
IV. The amount is appropriated from moneys anticipated to be received from a state, federal or other governmental or private grant, in which case the appropriation shall remain nonlapsing for as long as the money remains available under the rules or practice of the granting entity; or
V. The amount is appropriated under a special warrant article, in which case the local governing body may, at any properly noticed meeting held prior to the end of the fiscal year for which the appropriation is made, vote to treat that appropriation as encumbered for a maximum of one additional fiscal year; or
VI. The amount is appropriated under a special warrant article and is explicitly designated in the article and by vote of the meeting as nonlapsing, in which case the meeting shall designate the time at which the appropriation shall lapse, which in no case shall be later than 5 years after the end of the fiscal year for which the appropriation is made.
Source. 1993, 332:1, eff. Aug. 28, 1993.