Thursday, July 7, 2016

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...

 
 

7 comments:

  1. The major difference between the Advisory Board 2016 budget and the Selectmen FY '16 budget was snow and ice. TAB recommended funding the Snow and Ice deficit. Selectmen did not. TAB had suggested cuts matching the S&I deficit. The chairman of selectmen mischaracterized the TAB rec and people went along.

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  2. So will Markels pick get checked out and verify what we will get for a temp admin?
    I hate to think we are to busy to check out the newbe.
    If we are how come we got to where we are now?
    Part time town gets a part time answer.
    One more thing to wonder how it should be done the right way.
    The former chairman also mischaracterized paying our lawyer to do light and water work.
    Writing a legal opinion on nomination papers as the bill says.
    For the town and TMWLP!
    It's all good in Templeton?

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  3. As far as I can see, we are in worse shape now than we were before, Mr. Markel showed up. Sorry, I am going to tell it like it is . How are people ever going to have faith in government at this rate ? Sorry, but just because someone blogs something does not make it true. The Advisory Board never was invited to meet with the "superior board." As long as this Board thinks they can do what the hell they want, there is not much room for improvement. I am glad we have a strong Advisory Board for once. A lot of our financial problems would have been prevented if people were not so willing to go along to get along in the past. If we have a crop failure for 14, and 15, we are in bigger trouble than I care to think about. Playing games with money is no way to run a town. Maybe people will finally learn that, Bev.

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  4. bev, I hate to tell you, but as far as people in this town "learning" is not going to happen. when you have less than 100 at a annual town meeting, people don't care. people live in Leominster because they can't afford acton. people buy in templeton because they can't afford Leominster. there is no "town" here, it is a place. must, just don't give a sh#t!!!!! but they will bitch !!!!

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  5. The information above looks like business as usual in Templeton.

    Play a shell game with a department's budget; warn the department head - in this case the Fire Chief - strong Chief by the way; and then claim that department head was "misappropriating funds" to justify a not renewing the contract.

    Problem?

    Where are you going to locate a PARAMEDIC Fire chief ? To keep the money rolling in for the ALS ambulance service, you need a paramedic Fire chief. Or you can just jeopardize public safety.

    Because guess what? the FY 17 budget was balanced on the assumption of ALS bringing in a good chunk of change. Without that income, how you gonna pay to run the Fire/EMS service?

    hmm...looks like a problem.

    Could more transfers be in the future?

    Who would take the job after the shell game outlined above?

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    Replies
    1. What we heard was one side of a situation. I would like our Fire Chief to have his say. As they say, there are two sides to a coin.

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