Snow and Ice Deficit Spending
The Municipal Modernization Act changed the way communities do "business". One of the changes was how to handle deficit spending for Snow and Ice. The request to deficit spend the Snow and Ice account used to come before the Advisory Committee at a public meeting. Now this process has been changed to allow the chief administrator of the community to make the decision to deficit spend the Snow and Ice account.
From the most recent Town Administrator Report (1.26.17):
So the town administrator made the decision to allow the highway to deficit spend the Snow and Ice account an additional $15,000.
Why?
Because the Snow and Ice account was used to pay for the purchase of a used truck ( $19,000) as well as the screening of sand ($17,500) and to repair the screening equipment.
The only way to determine that the Snow and Ice account is running a deficit is that the accountant has run a recent Budget to Actual(BvA) report. Glory be! Looks like the town administrator has a copy of the most the recent BvA .
Maybe if the Advisory Committee grovels appropriately, the committee will be given a copy of the most recent BvA so it can do its job!
This change in how the snow and ice account are handeled are bad for a Town like ours, because this change allows debt to be pushed down the road to far, and the powers to be can just do what they want with no other input. If this BOS and TA, continue to take money from a account that was short to start, just what do they expect. So the real question is, where do these people think the money will come from next year, or the year after that ? Yes, let's see that Budget to Actual . That will tell it's own story. Don't worry, when anyone asks why we are still broke, I'll tell them. I am not covering anyone's a--, so beware ! My opinion. Bev.
ReplyDelete