Subject: FY 2013 Tax Rate
Hello,
everyone,
I
just got off the phone with the Director of Accounts, Gerard Perry. With
regard to the MEMA funds of $163,131 voted in article 31 of the Annual Town
Meeting to fund the town budget, the Director has concluded that this was not
the correct treatment of these funds. Because the 2008 Ice Storm
was debt excluded by the town, the funds received from MEMA should be used on
the DE-1 in the reimbursement and adjustments column (H) to reduce the debt
exclusion amount. The corresponding amount would then be placed on page 2
of the recap Part III, line IIId, line 4. This would be for the entire
MEMA amount received. I believe looking at Vendorweb that this amount was
$188,883 received on 12/12/11. This will leave the funding for your
operating budget short by the $163,131. You will need to correct this by
rescinding this vote at a Special Town Meeting and appropriating an amount to
fund the operating budget shortfall. The Director has concluded that we
will not be able to set your tax rate until this meeting is held.
I
have been working closely with Fred today, who has really been great, and I
think we would both agree that we are getting closer to completing this
process. However, there appear to be some issues that we cannot resolve
or are unsure of why they exist, most importantly is why the town is about
$238,000 under the levy limit at this time. So, there may be other issues
that will need to be resolved at a Special Town Meeting in any event. I
think we would all agree that the town was not going to be able to get tax
bills in the mail by 12/31/ 12. The Director also wanted me to caution
you that bills cannot be mailed until a tax rate is certified – an offense that
would be reportable to the Attorney General.
I
think, in addition to the Special Town Meeting, that the next step is to look
at any budget planning documents that may exist—what were the planned revenues,
appropriations, etc. That may help us resolve any levy limit
issues. A folder of documentation must exist somewhere. If you can
locate them, I would like to take a look to see if I can resolve some of the
remaining issues. That being said, this is really your process, and I can
only offer my best interpretation of what has occurred with the 2013 budget.
Fred
and I will keep working at this with Jeff’s help.
Let
me know if you have any questions.
Deb Wagner
Bureau of Accounts Field
Representative
Division of Local Services,
Department of Revenue
Our
accountant, Fred, and has been working diligently to try to get the tax rate
certified as have a number of town employees including but not limited to the
treasurer, collector, assessor, and the town coordinator.
There
is strong likelihood that we will need to convene a special town meeting to
address some of the issues surrounding prior votes at the annual town meeting
in last May.
I’ll
keep you posted with more information as it becomes available.
My
opinions…supported by FACTS ! ! !
Julie
Farrell
Here is the link (and a need to cut and paste) to the town meeting warrant with results. Might help in remembering what happened. It also can be found on templeton1.org under town meeting info on the home page.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.templeton1.org/docs/2012_ATM_Warrant_Final.pdf
"A folder of documentation must exist somewhere." AIN'T THAT THE TRUTH! We may have just taken one step closer to receivership.
ReplyDeleteWould it be in the stack next to the fireplace?
ReplyDeleteDarren!
shareholder
do we have to recind the mema money article AND come up with $163,131, or do we just have to rescind the article?
Deletedon't forget we have to come up with additional money for the VA services, too. If we're having to come up with $163k more money to get through FY13, it will bring the deficit to around $200k. Where the hell is that money coming from? Has the 252 Bald. Rd property been put up for auction yet? Any chance it can be sold for $200k? How much uncollected taxes have yet to be paid? It seems fmr. town accountant gave the town bad advice when folding in the MEMA money into gen. fund for town budget. In my opinion, this is only the tip of the mishandling of town finances. I would think that the state has enough information that they are already aware of that it would investigate this town even without a town article vote. Even if there are people in the state house that are friendly with K&P, fmr. town accountant, and the Echo Hill gang (and possibly ran interference in the past), there's too much documented discrepancies in town finances to ignore them without showing their bias and risk hurting their own political reputation. Our tax rate is going to have to be raised just to get it in line with what it should be right now. There's no way around that. Its going to sting. Seems like the whole sweater is about to be unraveled by pulling on one string.
DeleteDarren, I am willing to bet the "budget planning documents" are long gone, up in smoke. It is going to be interesting to see where this problem goes. I heard stories about some people getting a bonus for the work they did during the ice storm. As far as I can see, when you work, you get paid. Where the money came from to give "bonuses", and who decided who got what, may prove interesting. That could prove to be a problem for some people. Time will tell. Bev.
DeleteSo, was the reason they needed CS come back so badly was to retrieve the "budget planning documents" so no one would see the reasons for all the manipulation of the budgets and revenue?
ReplyDeleteWagner, Deborah [mailto:wagnerd@dor.state.ma.us]
ReplyDeletesend an e-mail and invite them to attend special town meeting and that above blue text is an e-mail received from ms wagner, maybe dor needs to hear from the shareholders!
Wasn't the town curious when the Sewer Commissioners back in 2009 or so refused to sign the recap sheet because the Town Accountant and Selectmen were stealing from that department? Why didn't the Chairman of the Advisory Board not say something back then? Could it be because of a need for health insurance? Why didn't some on the Select Board not speak up. Thank goodness people are now taking an interest in town finances. It could be a rough ride but with good honest people things will turn out for the best, hopefully.
ReplyDeleteThe Atty from K&P, it does not seem like she would have a hand in us making our budget, or did she? It seems our good buddy Scott had a hand in this mess. When you saw a cloud of dust when he left our employment, it should have given us a clear picture of what was in store for our poor little town. The only good I can see from this mess, is it will be a clear message to the state officials that something very rotten, was left over from our past leaders. This will be too hard for them to ignore, no matter how hard they try. There was not an Advisory Board in existence that had a clue as to what their job was, until Will Spring walked into the room this year. This is a kick in the ass that the town does not need. Just when we thought things were getting better. But, there may be a rainbow in the end. Lets pray for a Grand Jury to look at this stuff, wouldn't break my heart! Bev.
DeleteI certainly hope the BOS chair will take this situation seriously and hold a BOS meeting as soon as possible in order to discuss holding a special town meeting and getting this matter resolved as quickly as possible. And I hope they openly give answers to questions and not simply ignore them. However, somehow I feel it will not be given priority it needs. We'll just have to see. I still haven't seen the code of conduct that the BOS voted to accept and put on the website. No need to delay in something simple like that. It just shows it isn't a priority to them. I hope people will run for BOS that are serious about doing the job at hand. We haven't had a good Chair since Julie. Can't wait to see who will run for selectman next.
ReplyDeleteany word on the taxes yet???? will they be ready for May 1st?
ReplyDelete