The Buck Stops Where?

The Buck Stops Where?

At the Advisory Committee  held on July 6, 2016 there were an number of agenda items. One of the longest agenda items was the list of transfers to be discussed and acted upon.

Contrary to some rumors on the street, there are limits on how much can be transferred at the end of the year. There is a separate process and criteria to transfer money from the Reserve Fund. To access money from the Reserve Fund it must be for an unanticipated AND an emergency situation. The Reserve fund can NOT be used for salaries.

All of these transfers were voted on by the Board of Selectmen and then sent to the Advisory Committee. The Town Accountant prepared the documentation and backup material for each transfer to ensure the proper line items would be recorded.  

Discussion regarding Transfer #1 was voted and passed by the Advisory Committee. This transfer will pay for the Police Department vests. This expense for the vests has been noted and is part of the Capital Improvement Plan.

Transfer #2 was voted with a substitute amount. This transfer is to fund the airpacks for the Fire Department ($19,900). The largest source of funding identified for paying for this item is the Reserve Account ($14,878). Using the money from the Reserve Account makes sense at first glance. But the process for using the Reserve Account funds is different than the process for an End Of the Year transfer. It is difficult to make the case that need for the fire department airpacks was unanticipated, since they are also included as part of the Capital Improvement Plan. The substitute amount $5,022 was approved by the Advisory Committee.

So what happens if one of these transfers or ALL of these transfers are NOT approved? Is it the end of the world as we know it?

 Not really.

There are consequences for not approving these transfers. Many of these transfers can be added to a Fall Special Town Meeting, something that has been done quite frequently in recent years. The transfers that were not approved will be held against Free Cash when and if it is ever certified. one guesstimate is that Free cash will be certified for FY16 in the year 2025! No need to get all "Chicken Little" over this!

Let's take a look at a few transfers in recent history involving the Fire/EMS ExpenseAccount:

From the November 9, 2015 Special Town Meeting Article 4; passed favorably:

$111,608.50 was transferred OUT to cover the Snow & Ice Deficit with 3/4 quarters of the fiscal year to go.

 People were informed that the Fire /EMS account was doubled booked and didn't need the money! 

Lair! Liar! Pants on Fire!

Article 4 from the March 21, 2016 Special Town Meeting:

In March $45,000 was transferred back into the Fire/EMS salaries account from different accounts.

Here's the kicker- 

It must be kind of difficult to manage a department with this fiscal shell game going on. Town meeting voted the money into this account in May 2015. This information was culled from the Budget to Actual sheets.  

Town Meeting allocates the money. No one else can move it around...or so the story goes.

Back to the Fire department. Guess what? If this account had been let alone, there would have been a $53,000 SURPLUS! at the end of the year! More than enough to fund the airpacks! And you would not have needed to request a $7,000 TRANSFER FOR  FIRE DEPARTMENT SALARIES!

Things that make you go hmmm...