Committee reviews H.505 to repeal town auditor office; counsel to check consistency with state law

Final order of business at a House Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee hearing introduced H.505, a bill proposing approval of charter amendments that would remove the town auditor office from the charter of the town named in the bill.

Tucker Anderson, legislative counsel, told the committee that H.505 “proposes to approve proposals of amendment for the charter of the town of Barrie” and that the amendments strike references to the office of auditor, the election of three auditors at the town level, and repeal the charter section governing town auditors. Anderson also noted minor technical corrections elsewhere in the draft, including a spelling change.

The town named in the draft was reported in the transcript with several variant spellings (Berry, Barrytown, Barrie). Committee members stated the town’s voters approved the corresponding charter amendment at a local vote on 05/14/2024; the committee record indicates that fact but does not report a committee vote on H.505 during this session.

Committee members and other speakers raised two substantive concerns. First, members asked whether removing the charter provisions would actually eliminate the position if general state law still requires the office. Anderson said he would review Title 24 and Title 17 provisions and other general-law references to auditors to determine whether the town’s intent to eliminate the office is effective under state law. Second, members discussed the committee practice of retaining a placeholder chapter or repealer entry in the statutes for about 10 years so legislative history remains traceable; Anderson explained why that practice exists and how it affects charter repeals.

The committee did not take a formal vote on H.505 in the excerpt provided. Committee members said they would invite municipal representatives from the town to the next step so the committee could hear the municipality’s views directly and resolve the questions raised by counsel’s review.

The discussion also touched on minor technical edits in the bill text (one example was a contested spelling rendered in the transcript as “ENGUR” vs. “enure”), which Anderson said had been corrected in the draft. He set the effective date language as “to take effect on passage.”

No formal motions, roll-call votes, or final committee actions on H.505 were recorded in the provided transcript excerpt. The committee’s stated next steps were (1) counsel’s statutory review to confirm whether the charter repeal would eliminate the office under general law and (2) invitation of municipal representatives for a subsequent committee appearance.

The committee hearing proceeded without final action on the bill during the portion of the transcript provided.