Each year on the first Wednesday in March, Bedford voters are called to hear and vote on the town’s proposed budget.

For Bedford, this annual gathering of voters is called the Budgetary Town Meeting – its form of traditional Town Meeting voting – when only the article containing the proposed budget is discussed, line by line, department by department. The objective is to approve or amend the town’s operating budget.

At the meeting, the budget is voted on by those in attendance. If you don’t attend the Budgetary Town Meeting, you don’t get a final say in what taxpayer money is spent.

This year, the Budgetary Town Meeting is Wednesday, March 4, at 7 p.m., at Bedford High School.

In some towns, the Town Meeting agenda may also contain other items such as zoning/ planning amendments and ordinances. But in Bedford, all other items are put on the ballot on Election Day.

“We have a town council form of government, with a charter. When it was adopted, the council was given the authority to prepare the budget, but the crafters left in the approval provision by the Budgetary Town Meeting,” said Town Manager Russ Marcoux. “Others are SB2 (official ballot law form of government) communities. That really is the only difference.”

For example in Derry, Marcoux said, the town has a charter, a town council, a town administrator, in name only, with the same or more powers as a manager.

“And no Budgetary Town Meeting. In fact, no Town Meeting at all,” said Marcoux, who served as town administrator of Derry from 2004-06, with his career in town and city managment beginning in 1984.

During Bedford’s annual meeting, the town’s proposed budget is read and voted on. At this time, voters can propose amendments to any budget item, followed by hand, voice or secret ballot voting.

Both the Budgetary Town Meeting and the School District Meeting are officiated by a moderator.

The School District
The Bedford School District conducts voting by official ballot law, commonly known as SB-2 for Senate Bill 2, which was passed by the state Legislature in 1995. The process is divided into two sessions – the first to discuss each warrant article when residents may amend and vote on amendments, with no final vote taken. The second session is held to elect officers and to vote on all warrant articles from the first session by official ballot.

This year’s School District deliberative session is Tuesday, Feb. 3, at 7 p.m., at Bedford High School.

Be prepared
To get ready to attend Town Meeting and the School District Meeting, residents are urged to read the annual town/school district annual report.

The report contains the previous year’s Town Meeting minutes, warrants and election results, plus the current year’s proposed budget and warrants, the general fund, revenue and capital improvement plan information, and the town’s tax rate history.

The town portion also contains the who’s who in government, including members of elected and appointed boards/ committees; departmental annual reports; marriage, birth and death records for the year; and a breakdown of the proposed budget, revenues and spending.

In turn, the Bedford School District section provides its annual report, with the current year’s proposed budgets and warrant articles, plus minutes from the previous year’s deliberative session and election results, expense and revenue information, school enrollment numbers, and the school principals’ annual reports.