You asked if law allows voters to hold a referendum to rescind a prior referendum that approved a municipal budget. You also wanted to know if Windsor’s charter authorizes such actions. The Office of Legislative Research cannot give legal opinions and you should not regard this report as one.

The statutes do not appear to authorize referenda to rescind prior ones approving municipal budgets. Instead, they specify the procedures towns must follow when holding a referendum the law authorizes (CGS §§ 9-369—9-371a).

Nor does Windsor’s charter authorize referenda to rescind previously approved budgets. It requires the town council to submit its recommended budget to the voters at an “adjourned town meeting” and, if the voters reject it, to adjust and resubmit the budget to them until they approve it (Charter of the Town of Windsor, §9-1(a)) and 9-3(b)). But it does not authorize a subsequent referendum after voters approved the budget.

Nor can voters achieve this end by petitioning for a special meeting, since the charter allows them only for explicitly stated purposes (§9-1(b)). For example, the charter specifically authorizes town meetings to enact ordinances (§9-5(a)) or to overrule specified council actions, which do not include the adoption of the budget (§9-4).

JR: ro