24:21-a Budget Estimates. –
I. Except as provided in paragraph II, the county commissioners shall deliver or mail to each member of the county convention who will be in office on the date that appropriations are voted and to the chairperson of the board of selectmen in each town and the mayor of each city within the county and to the secretary of state prior to December 1 annually their itemized recommendations of the sums necessary to be raised for the county in the year next ensuing, stating therein in detail the objects for which the money is required, together with a statement of actual expenditures and income for at least 9 months of the preceding calendar year. All moneys to be appropriated by the county must be stipulated in the budget on a "gross" basis, showing revenues from all sources, including grants, gifts, bequests and bond issues, as offsetting revenues to appropriations affected.
II. If the county is on an optional fiscal year basis pursuant to RSA 31:94-a, the recommendations together with a statement of actual expenditures and income for at least 9 months of the preceding fiscal year shall be mailed or delivered prior to June 1 annually and the delivery or mailing to the members of the county convention shall be made to those members in office on the date of the delivery or mailing.
III. No county convention shall vote appropriations for the ensuing budget period until 28 days shall have elapsed from the mailing of such recommendations. In counties which are not on an optional fiscal year basis pursuant to RSA 31:94-a, appropriations for the first year of each biennium may not be voted until after the first meeting of the county convention under RSA 24:9-a.