Section 1:  Chapter 9 of the Charter of the Town of Harwich is hereby deleted and replaced with the following:

9.6.1  The purpose of the seven (7) year capital outlay plan is to provide the Town with a long-range forecast of the Town’s capital improvement needs, and to attempt to keep debt borrowing levels as even as possible from year to year.

9.6.2  A capital outlay shall be defined as the acquisition, construction, or renovation of buildings, equipment or land having a total cost of $50,000 during any budget year and/or planning funds for any such capital outlays.

9.6.3  The Town Administrator and the Capital Outlay Committee shall submit a 7-year capital outlay plan to joint public meeting of the Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee during the month of December of each year.

9.6.4  The Board of Selectmen shall prepare articles to be included in the May annual town meeting warrant, seeking adoption of the seven (7) year capital outlay plan, funding of the current year of the plan.

9.6.5  A simple majority vote of the town meeting shall be required to adopt the 7-year capital outlay plan as submitted.

9.6.6  If any part of the current year of the plan receives funding support at the annual town meeting, but fails at any necessary debt exclusion, capital exclusion or proposition  2 ½  override ballot votes, the unsupported portion shall be returned to the 7-year capital plan in year 1 of the next 7-year plan.

9-6-7 Any article included in the annual or special town meeting which requests a capital outlay as defined in section 9-6-2 above, but which has not been recommended by the Capital Outlay Committee, Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee shall require a two-thirds majority vote of the town meeting.

Section 2.  This act shall take effect on passage.