Auditor: Ashburnham Budget Has Little Leeway

Auditor: Ashburnham Budget Has Little Leeway

Doneen Durling News Correspondent ASHBURNHAM — The Ashburnham Board of Selectmen met with the Advisory Board for a formal review of the Town Audit delivered by Auditor Bill Fraher and were informed that money was tight, but seemed well spent. Fraher told the board that in general, the audit went well this year. “There were no material corrections to the general ledger, there were no material weaknesses or reportable conditions in the management letter, and the management letter is getting smaller as the years go by, so that is good.” Fraher said according to his findings, Ashburnham had a very tight year. “You don’t have a lot of wiggle room in the budget. I do know that in 2015 there were some type of appropriations for the sewer fund and a few other things.” Fraher advised that the thing to focus on is the reserves. He said a lot of his towns try and target 8 to 10 percent. He said the funds going to capital and stabilization ac­counts have remained steady in the 5 to 6 percent range. Advisory Board Chairman Bill Johnson asked about the light plant accounts mentioned in the audit’s management letter. Fraher said that the management letter is written to certify the town’s financial status. He said that while going through the audit, they see things that need pointing out so towns might consider a better way, and those are mentioned in the letter. “You had no material weaknesses and no significant deficiencies. The comments are here because I wanted to bring them to your attention, but they are not a serious matter.” Fraher said the town had seven comments, and a few of those comments were ones consistently presented in his management letters as a heads up. He said many towns receive 10 to 20 comments in their management letters. “This is not a bad management letter by any means.” Johnson asked about the comment concerning funds from the light plant. Fraher said that any town with a light plant usually has conflicts. “One thing that is fairly clear cut is that all cash is supposed to be in the control of the town treasurer, and so the light department has an account that they are using to deposit receipts in, and that gets turned over to the treasurer. I am just saying that whole process needs to come under the control of the town treasurer. Selectman Chairman Duncan Phyfe said the board has been in conversation with the light company. “If it would lead to better controls and more financial oversight, then I think that it is a good thing that the town and the light company should be talking. I think it is something that we need to move up on the to-do list and get it under the treasurer where it is supposed to be,” declared Phyfe. In other news Kyle Johnson said there has been correspondence concerning the proposed new Department of Public Works project. There will be another open forum to explain the project to the town before the upcoming town meeting. He encouraged residents to stay involved. “Ask questions to try and understand what we are doing. My opinion that we desperately need the building, and the opinion of the committee that we desperately need the building has not changed, but I am really looking forward to continuing the conversation with everybody as we get closer to town meeting.” Phyfe said that during a recent meeting with the regional school agreement committee, it was decided that instead of electing representatives from both towns, people would elect separately for five seats from Westminster and four seats from Ashburnham. He said the odd number would assure there was not a hung vote. The numbers were based on the population of each town. He said the discussions would be presented to Chairman John Fairbanks of Westminster. The town has received its assessment from Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School. Town Administrator Doug Briggs said that with two fewer students this year, the total was $445,572, which is a total of $18,000 less than last year. Briggs said Westminster Town Administrator Karen Murphy and Ashburnham-Westminster Superintendent Gary Mazzola met with him to begin discussions of the district’s budget shortfalls. “We looked at several different things. One thing we are looking at is health insurance, and I am going to be asking our board to vote on (allowing) health insurance plan design.” Briggs said letters have been sent to all the unions, and the Health Advisory Committee informing them that the board will vote at the next selectmen’s meeting. This will allow the town to design its health plan, said Briggs. “One of the reasons we could not do it last year was that the teacher’s contract had that specific carrier and co-pays in that contract, which is running out in June. My information is that the school is going to be doing that also.” Briggs said they hope to design a health care plan that would take effect by July 1. “We’re projecting to save hundreds of thousands of dollars from that type of a change,” said Briggs.