§ 405-33. Adoption

(a) Following the public hearing provided for in section 32 of this chapter, the Board of Commissioners shall review the proposed budget in light of comments received at the hearing, and shall thereupon approve the budget for adoption pursuant to subsection (b) of this section with or without changes.

(b) Within 45 days of the approval of the budget by the Board of Commissioners, the legislative body of each member municipality shall act to approve or disapprove the budget. The budget shall be approved if approved by the legislative bodies of a majority of the member municipalities. For such purposes, each municipality shall be entitled to one vote. A legislative body that disapproves the budget must file with the Board of Commissioners a written statement of objections to the budget identifying those specific items to be changed, and failure to file such statement of objections within the 45 day period shall constitute approval by such municipality. A legislative body that fails to act to approve or disapprove the budget within the 45 day period shall likewise be deemed to have approved the budget.

(c) Unless a petition is filed in accordance with the provisions of subsection (e) of this section, the budget shall become effective 45 days after the date of its adoption, or at such time following the expiration of 45 days from the date of its adoption as is determined by the Board. If a petition is filed in accordance with subsection (e) of this section, the taking effect of the budget shall be governed by subsection (g) of this section.

(d) A budget adopted by the Board may be disapproved by a vote of a majority of the qualified voters of the District voting on the question at a special meeting duly warned for the purpose, pursuant to a petition signed and submitted in accordance with subsection (e) of this section.

(e) A petition for a vote on the question of disapproving a budget shall be signed by not less than five percent of the qualified voters of the District, and presented to the District Secretary within 30 days following the date of adoption of the budget.

(f) When a petition is submitted in accordance with subsection (e) of this section, the Board shall call a special meeting within 60 days from the date of receipt of the petition to determine whether the voters will disapprove the budget.

(g) If a petition for a special meeting is duly submitted in accordance with this section, to determine whether a budget shall be disapproved by the voters of the District, the budget shall take effect on the conclusion of the meeting, or at such later date as is specified in the budget, unless a majority of the qualified voters voting on the question at the meeting vote to disapprove the budget, in which event it shall not take effect.

(h) The ballots cast in each member municipality shall be counted by the election officials of each member municipality, preserved and secured with the checklist, and thereafter the result shall be certified to the District Secretary within 48 hours. The provisions of Title 17 shall apply to any District meeting called pursuant to this section.

(i) If the annual budget for any fiscal year is not approved as of the beginning of that fiscal year, the District shall continue to operate on the budget for the immediately preceding fiscal year until a new budget is approved.

(j) Notwithstanding any disapproval of the budget, the District shall be obligated to pay the principal of and interest on bonds, notes, and other evidence of indebtedness of the District and to satisfy any other obligations relating thereto and to pay obligations under any long-term contracts. To the extent provided by the terms of such bonds, notes, or other evidence of indebtedness, or long-term contracts, each member municipality shall be obligated to pay its share of such indebtedness and obligations under long-term contracts. Unless otherwise provided in the vote authorizing the same, a municipality's share of indebtedness shall be determined by the Board of Commissioners and shall be in an amount proportionate to the actual or estimated tonnage or volume of solid waste generated by that municipality as determined by the Board of Commissioners pursuant to section 34 of this chapter.