The Washington County commissioners shall submit a budget estimate to the budget advisory committee no later than 90 days before the end of the county’s fiscal year for the coming year. The budget advisory committee shall review the budget estimate and make recommendations to the commissioners no later than 45 days before the end of the county’s fiscal year. The county commissioners shall act on the budget in a timely fashion and, in any event, not later than 15 days before the end of the county’s fiscal year. If county commissioners wish to make changes in the budget recommended by the budget advisory committee, the county commissioners shall schedule one or more meetings with the budget advisory committee no later than 15 days before the end of the county’s fiscal year for the purpose of negotiating a final budget. [PL 2007, c. 663, §26 (AMD).]

If, following negotiations, a final budget that is acceptable to the budget advisory committee is not approved by the county commissioners at least 15 days before the end of the county’s fiscal year, the budget advisory committee shall adopt a final budget and transmit that budget to the county commissioners. The budget adopted by the budget advisory committee may be changed by a majority vote of the board of county commissioners. If the adopted budget is changed by the county commissioners, the budget advisory committee may reject that change by a 2/3 vote of its membership. The budget is final and not subject to further action by either the county commissioners or the budget advisory committee upon failure of the commissioners to recommend changes in the budget transmitted from the budget advisory committee or upon acceptance or rejection of changes by the budget advisory committee. The entire budget approval process must be completed by the last day of the county’s fiscal year. [PL 2007, c. 663, §26 (AMD).]