December
13, 2013 BOS Meeting…and Movie
Part
1 of the December 13, 2013 BOS Meeting
Part
2 of the December 13, 2013 BOS Meeting
Sorry
for the delay in getting this information out to people. Suffering from
computer glitches. Please watch the videos. No reporters were present at this
meeting.
A
special BOS meeting was held on Friday December 13th to discuss Tax
Rate Issues and Town Coordinator.
The
meeting was held to discuss where we are in the process of closing FY 13 and
setting the tax rate for FY 2014 (This year).
Currently
the town is $505,000 over the levy limit. The tax levy is short $505,000. This
is very unexpected and very bad news. To fix this situation there are three
options:
1. Ask for an override (it’s an
option..not a good option or realistic one in my opinion)
2. Reduce FY 14’s budget by
$505,000
3. Wait for free cash to be
certified and then call for yet another STM.
How did this happen?
Many
people thought once the override passed the town was in good financial shape;
that the Town was on the road to financial recovery. Wrong.
In
the past, accountant Scott Sawyer entered all the figures on the tax recap
sheet. Mr. Sawyer used his own proprietary software City and Town. When Sawyer
left, the town transitioned to a different software system. The transition was
not a smooth one. As a CPA Mr. Sawyer was allowed to use different accounting
mechanisms than a non-CPA. In short, the model used for budgeting was based on
a flawed model. The focus was on the tax rate and revenues, but not
expenditures. Certain funds were left off the calculations. This shortfall was
just discovered while trying to close the books on FY 1. A discovery which
might have happened 4months ago.
Another
part of the problem is the reliance on Free Cash to balance the budget, which
occurred over many years.
How to fix the problem?
Templeton
needs a Town Administrator. Templeton has needed a town administrator for a
long time. Moving to a Town
Administrator form of government was one of the DOR
recommendations` back in 2009 (page 5). So why the delay in transitioning
from a town coordinator to a town administrator? You would have to ask some of the members of the now defunct
government study committees. Remember, it was about a year ago that the BOS
voted to accept the DOR report. The BOS has changed composition a few times
since 2009.
Templeton
also needs to have someone appointed as a finance director. This role usually
falls to the Accountant whose job is to protect the fiduciary interests of the
town. Under a former BOS, this was attempted as special legislation. It doesn’t
have to be done as special legislation.
Options:
Step
1 is to close the books on FY 13
ASAP.
Step
2 implement the recommendations of the DOR.
Develop
a job description for a Town Administrator.
Currently
there is $250,000 in the stabilization account and $50,000 in excess overlay.
It would take yet another Special Town Meeting to access that money and apply
it to balance FY 14.
Most
solutions would need approval by the voters at a STM.
The
BOS can vote to halt all spending and hiring while analyzing the figures. Other
options include consolidating offices, assessing a pilot payment from the water
department, looking at furloughs to make up the shortfall….whatever that
shortfall amount may be. We are halfway through this fiscal year, which adds to
the difficulties. Another bad option would be to continue business as usual
until the $$ runs out.
No
one saw this coming. Many people thought we had processes in place to prevent
this situation. Our processes are flawed and they need to be fixed.
Shoulda, woulda, coulda
The
recall election set this town back about three years from making any headway
with the DOR recommendations or anything else.
The
use of “the nuclear option” by the school committee and school community has
set the town back 6 or 7 months. The current problem with the tax rate may have
come to light sooner had the town not expended so much time, energy and
resources dealing with “the nuclear option” (603 CMR 41.05).
“The
nuclear option” has lead to the loss of many good employees. It seems these
losses will continue.
My
opinions….supported by FACTS ! ! !
Julie
Farrell
On a good day our finances have been shaky for a good long time. It is too bad we are still in trouble after all we have been through. No one can say we have not tried to get things on the up and up. Just how many things can go wrong with the budget??? Maybe people should go back to using a pencil and paper !! It seems some people have more faith in our treasurer than I do. In this case I hope I am wrong, but it will come out in the wash. I did find something very interesting when I have been going through some town reports. In the town report of 1999 there is a paragraph about the Board of Selectmen looking to the future. This is what they said at that time. "We have been trying to come to grips with the escalating costs for education and other services that are putting a severe strain on our budget, as our limits under prop. 21/2 are particularly severe. Short of the passage of tax overrides, we are going to be dealing with cuts in services in many areas, as demonstrated by the deep cuts in this year, in all expense budgets. The people who were selectmen were Glenn Eaton, Patrick Dunlavey, Edie Kosakowaki, Tom Martin, and Gladys Salame. When you come down to it, I think the town had more businesses paying more tax dollars to help carry us then we do now. I think the boards tried to keep things as affordable as they could, but they used free cash more than they should have, and later on when things were tight maybe some of our leaders used creative financing, dumping some department's money into a pool, and we always had those 40 year loans, that are still weighing us down. What no one ever figured on was the economy falling apart, just ask Bernie Madoff. I do not know what we can do now to bail us out, but some one better think of something fast. Bev.
ReplyDeleteHOW DARE YOU try to blame the school dept for this! Hell, w/o that extra money, you'd really be screwed!!
ReplyDeleteYOU didnt follow through on the DOR recommendations. YOU didnt look out for our financial safety.... stop blameing everyone else. THE BUCK STOPS AT THE TOP.
I say its time we do nothing. Bring the state in & let them go through EVERYTHING!
Ok Puffy, so it is the truth, like it or not. The school did not have to take all of the money we had but they did it because they could. They are only a small part of a bigger problem and we can not keep driving up the cost of things, just because we can, because the buck has to stop some where. YOU is a very broad term and if you had any knowledge of the goings on by our Echo Hill friends, you would know none of the present board are responsible for the mess we are in. It hurts like hell to be back to square one after the painful last couple of years we have gone through. Our past accountant ran out of town as fast as his two legs could carry him, and he was not on his way to a party. The town had regularly use Light Department funds to help set the tax rate in the past along with free cash. For example in the town report it shows a Special Town Meeting 5/15/2007 Article 50 shows $403,637.00 to be used in fixing tax rate for fiscal 2008. At a Special Town Meeting 5/12/2009 Article 2 The town appropriated 50,000. from Light as of 12/31/07 as a funding source in the general fund for 2009. At the Annual Town Meeting 5/12/09 Article 8, 125,000 from light as of 12/31/08 for use to reduce tax rate ending 6/30/10. The best one yet was at a Special Town Meeting on 12/18/ 2003 the town accepted 150, 000. of donated funds from Mass Reserve Trust Fund. The Mass. Reserve Trust Fund is the Light Companies banking account with MMWECC. If you look at the material Julie posted under Sterling votes 12/12/13, you will see the Light company has a balance of 273,534 as of 8/8/2000. The town has used free cash and money from a account named "unreserved" to balance the budget. It is my opinion that other boards historically had problems due to the fact the town was short on income and bigger in expenses as time went on, and found ways around the problem by coo-mingling money from some of the departments. The bottom was due to fall out of the barrel eventually once the enablers were gone and the day has come. What does this mean to the people of this town? I guess the chickens have come to roust, and we need to start doing things the right way, even though we thought we had settled these matters for once and for all. Puffy, it is time for you to stop with the nasty comments at people on the blog. We need to figure out how to get our town back on track, and that is our priority. We can agree to disagree, and that is far as it should go. Bev.
DeleteThis is for Huff and anyone else, you want to blame someone, blame me, I am the sitting chairman of the BOS. Before I left for the sandbox, I submitted a BOS policies and procedures for the BOS. It contained verbage that included the words town administrator and the duties and responsibilities and the words that the BOS would refrain from the day to day operations of the town. Now you can check the record, The recordings on CD's of the BOS meetings and the minutes. Virginia Wilder and others argued against the wording containing town administrator along with many references to authority granted by the BOS. All the references to town administrator and duties granted to same were gutted. There will be a redlined (copy with changes in red) at tonights meeting. Yes this was brought forward by me prior to the town meeting vote to accept MGL c 41, section 23A but this was part of the DOR. I was one selectmen who was trying to move the DOR review forward, but remember we lost at least 6 months due to the recall. The BOS spend a lot of time changing law firms town coordinator and making settlements without town meeting approval. This combined with the turnover in the treasurers office and the sudden departure of the town accountant in June (on the 27th if memory serves me correctly) He refused to close the towns books for FY2012. The school budget issue or the so called nuclear option did take much attention away from other issues and much energy spent on trying to save town services and it did not give the town all this extra money. The 60,000 dollars went to salary for restoration of hours so town offices could be open longer for increased time to serve the taxpayers. The bulk of those funds went to the school. If we had not had the school budget issue, that time and energy could have went elsewhere, but it did not and we cannot change that. We have several options in which to fix this and that is all we can do now. Moving forward we can try to create a way to try to prevent this from happening again. As for arresting anyone of going after them legally would cost more than we could probably recover, assuming we could prove breaking of law or intent. It was an accountant and a software system that seems to be at the base of the problem. It was a method that does not seem easy to follow or to replicate unless one knows how things were shuffled around. I also find it uneasy that this system had to pass muster by an audit firm of Heath & Melanson ( look up Saugus, MA) and it had to pass muster at the DOR, division of local services. Templeton keeps asking questions and for state help but they are really quiet on these issues. Why is that? There is a problem to solve and finger pointing can wait until we have a solution. When there is a fire, do you worry about how it began or do you put it out first then look at how it started and by whom? I would suggest we calm down, decide on course of action then follow thru. Then you can finger point and fire me. Whatever way we go, it is not going to be fun nor easy but it has to be done and arguing is not going to solve it.
DeleteYou know Huff, we should have went all the way with the school budget and had the state look at everything then, who knows what would have happened but that is over the bridge now.
Deletetold ya....
DeleteI would have to look back but I believe you were one of those that said if the state came in the school would get everything they wanted and I was of the opposite opinion and it is water gone but perhaps if that issue comes up again, perhaps we need to call it and let the state look at both budgets.
DeleteI agree. I think the only option now is to have everyone looked at. Hell, maybe, due to past malpractice, the state could bail us out. I cant think of any other option. Override wont pass, cant cut that much, & we dont even know our actual FY13 #'s
DeletePuffy,
ReplyDeleteThe nuclear option has harmed this town and it's effects will continue to be felt.
The state will not help. Requests for investigations have been continually ignored.
We are truly on our own.
This information is put out here to keep people informed. Not hiding anything .
Please attend Monday night's BOS meeting.
As an individual selectman, you have no power to act. The only power you have is as a board. Please attend the meeting and offer any suggestions you may have. Working together we will survive this situation. Templeton will still be here.
The reason DOR recommendations weren't followed was because a majority of the board would not act. The current BOS are trying to deal with this issue as well as many other issues. Some issues fall through the cracks...like the candy cigarette issue and the live bait issue and the Ferncol land issue and the ....
When all of the focus is on an major issue like the nuclear option, other issues fall through the cracks . Like this issue with the tax rate. There is time to resolve the issue, but none of the solutions that come to mind are palatable.
Stay safe and warm. This information was put on this blog to make people aware of the situation.
Please use the weekend to reflect on the issue and offer suggestions or solutions.
Puffy,
I'm not going to resign so get over it.
See you on Monday night 6:30 @ 690 Patriots Rd.
PS. It appears Mr. Bennett was correct to ask for a million dollar override.
So easy to blame a computer program, but what about the individual responsible for inputting the data? Obviously that individual was not doing their job correctly. This is a great time to go back and say OH we should adopt the DOR recommendations! They were only made 4 years ago guess there was no rush. And to blame the school for this is sooooooooo wrong. It's not the schools fault that the budget items were not included in the budget program it is the person responsible for the data entry fault. There is NO NONE NADA oversight in this town. The BOS has been hell bent on bringing down the Templeton Light and Water Plant all year long and what did that get us. It got us here. NO OVERSIGHT on the town at all. So what is the job of the BOS? Do they not run the town? Is the BOS just a panel of people who listen to complaints, motions, and concerns? Who is running this town? Who ever it is they are doing a bang up job.
ReplyDeleteIf the BOS think that the town will bend over and be driven to another override I think they have another thing coming. The BOS is doing its best to ruin the town. I wonder just how many residents are thinking what the hell am I doing living in this town from hell.
I think it is time for an external state sponsored audit of the entire town, all offices, all entities that contribute as well as use town budget assets. The only way this will stop is to get an outside assessment of the going ons. Could there be a fraud happening? Is this just an omitition or has someone padded their pockets?
Time for a real change in town maybe time for a recall of the entire BOS.
Ok you with the big mouth, sit down and read the DOR Report and the blog from start to end. Then you will get the picture, and you can apologize to the people you have just bashed. All the information you need is on this blog, go look for it, before you shoot off your mouth again at least know what you are talking about. Bev.
DeleteOh Bev get your head out of Julies butt and see the real picture. This town sucks when it comes to management, both previous and current BOS.
Deleteto not dumb enough, the town is audited every year, also the DOR division of local services look at the books and budgets of Templeton and other towns in the process of setting a tax rate. As for Templeton water, the question has been is the water department an enterprise fund and does it belong to the town of Templeton. What you suggest has been asked many times by the BOS, so far, all state agencies are mum. Why is that? Could it be the state has been shall we say, turning a blind eye to what has gone on? It is your privilege to recall me at anytime if you feel that will solve the problem.
DeleteSeems like the TRUTH is the TRUTH after all!!! I will be expecting apologies from the FF GANG!! hahahahah thank you America what a country!!!
ReplyDeleteIt is my guess that neither of you two geniuses even know what the DOR Report had to say, or why our select board at the time did not want to deal with it. It is because the DOR did criticize the board in control at the time and rightly so. We have been trying to get the state agencies to come help our town for over two years now. If there was fraud it was not our watch, and we would be more than welcoming to have everyone and anyone come to town and take care of those who put us in this mess. Just what have we been trying to tell everyone, and you missed it?? We can not get our Senator Brewer to help us out and we have begged and pleaded. Those political favors and dollars come at a price, and the school he wants built may be one of them. Be our guest, if you can get some help we will welcome it with open arms. Any wrong doing has not been ours, we are just the clean up crew, Bev.
DeleteIf that past accountant did wrong and ran out of town then Why is he not being arrested.
DeleteOur past accountant was a part of the "team", and the whole mess they left us with may be as illegal as hell, but just where are we going to get the money to get out of the mess we are in, never mind prosecute anyone for wrong doings?? It would be nice to get the A.G. to do the job, but we have had no luck with the people in Boston. Denise Andrews has tried to help, but can't do it alone. Bev.
DeleteThe forensic auditor Mr. Angel would be the person most likely to have a handle on the financial situation along with our town accountant and treasurer. If the books have not been closed on fiscal 13 and free cash has not been established then it might make sense to get the books up to date so that there is knowledge of exactly where the town stands financially. Arguing hypothetical data would seem a waste of time.
ReplyDelete