Since there is a good chance you did not go to Town meeting, here is the $5.00 question:
Article 3 - Fiscal 2016 Financial transfers:
Transfer $5.00 from the Board of Health Agent (salary) to Tree Warden. I looked at the tree warden account number and compared it to the number on the budget versus actual report from the Town Accountant, since there is an account for tree warden salary and expense. So I raised my hand and asked the question, is that tree warden salary or expense? Answer was it is tree warden salary so I followed with who is the tree warden/ Answer, the highway superintendent. I then inquired about the legality of a Town employee receiving two pay checks, that is when the stuff kind of hit the fan, with the selectmen and Town Accountant shuffling. Town meeting told selectmen will remove the $5.00 transfer to tree warden and combine it with a $75.00 transfer from health agent salary to highway superintendent salary which equals an $80.00 transfer. The Town meeting was told by Town Accountant the $2,500.00 tree warden salary account would be reclassified and be added to the highway superintendent salary account.

Now for the nit picking, there had originally been a Town meeting appropriation of $2,500.00 for tree warden salary at Town meeting held in May 2015 for the fiscal 2016 town budget. The highway superintendent has been getting paid from that account for a while and you can not undo that.
Selectmen Brooks may call that nit picking and other things, I call it trying to follow the law. I call it being transparent. I see the selectmen budgeting, as in asking you, to pay $66,000.00 for a Town Accountant, so what do you expect for $66,000.00 of your money?

posted by Jeff Bennett

What you may not know; Templeton Town Administrator has on his resume that he taught graduate level courses in public budgeting and public finance and undergraduate courses in state and local government. Not a dumb guy so how did the selectmen end up in a conference huddle at Town meeting over a five dollar question?

Solution/suggestion: spend less time on face book and more time going over the budget in open meeting, line by line and perhaps these questions would come up there rather than at Town meeting with the Town Accountant scrambling for a solution to a $5.00 question. Hopefully the current chairman of the select board will not be tossing people from the meeting for pointing things out.

posted by Jeff Bennett

here is some more stuff people can report to and post on some selectmen face book pages.

I had $25,000 in the Selectmen's budget for raises for non-unionized employees. It was raised to $35,000 in case we need to increase the Fire Chief's salary during recruitment. The current Chief is paid $64K. I put $70K in the FY'17 budget and an additional $10K buried in the BoS budget in case we need it.

That is part of an email sent from Town Administrator to selectmen,
$10K buried in the budget? Is that like hidden so there is a "slush fund" of sorts in selectmen budget? Is that the openness, honor, honest, integrity talked about? Remember selectmen, you can delegate authority but not responsibility.

Solution: Talk about and vote budget items in open session, as in line item by line item, the way the Advisory Committee did it. Be willing to speak on and stand for what you put in the budget rather than hide it!.

posted by Jeff Bennett

from the current pages of Policies and Procedures for selectmen:

On Templeton Town website under the Board of Selectmen.

Minutes shall contain a full statement of all actions taken by the Board and of the disposition of all proposals for
action. Minutes of Executive Sessions shall be separately kept and recorded in accordance with the above
procedures. Minutes (other than of Executive Session) are open for public inspection. Copies of all approved
open session minutes shall be posted on the Town Website for viewing and recorded with the Town Clerk.

yet on Town website, meeting calendar, selectmen meeting at such a date & time, that minutes ARE NOT on file with Town Clerk.

from the face book page of Diane Brooks:

Diane Haley Brooks
May 17 at 2:48pm · Templeton, MA ·
Grrrrr. I believe that with a great attitude, high intentions, honor, honesty, integrity and a spirit of cooperation we can accomplish many things individually and as a whole no matter what path we have chosen to walk in our career or any kind of service.
I am so tired of back stabbing, nit picking, a lack of concern and care, the out to get you attitude along with not understand the consequences for all actions and how about the general disregard for respect of another's thoughts and opinions.

Suggestion for a solution to this dilemma, rather than standing on a soap box on face book, (figuratively) get up and speak up at a selectmen meeting and ask or state why the Board of Selectmen are not following their own rules that the board voted on? Now that would be a solution and an accomplishment done in open meeting. That would be one less item that Bennett could bring up, as in nit picking as Ms. Brooks put it.

posted by Jeff Bennett

following is a post from Town of Templeton, MA facebook page, which seems to have quite a few pictures of Holly Young, but I digress, please read and pay attention to what is written:

Message from Town Administrator Bob Markel

The Department of Revenue has always discouraged the use of free cash to balance the budget. Bond rating agencies do the same, and the low bond rating for the Town reflects, in part, the lavish use of free cash to fund the operating budget. However, this is not illegal; it is simply unsound financial policy.

The amount of free cash available changes yearly, and it is not predictable. Free cash is considered one-time revenue, and the Department of Revenues recommends that it used to augment the Stabilization Fund (reserves) or for one-time purchases like capital items.

Audit firms do not do a thorough job of auditing the books (unfortunately). They come and test various areas of the town’s finances to see if there are problems, but some problems are not caught and can persist for years. They tell you up front that they cannot do a thorough audit for the relatively modest amount they charge. The DOR representative at today’s meeting called the standard municipal audit a “hit and run” audit. Still, some firms are more reputable and more competent than others. I cannot name names in this message, but there are several firms that I would never hire.

Recommendation: The Selectboard should create an Audit Committee of knowledgeable citizens who will have two responsibilities: 1) Bid the audit contract every three years, and hire an independent auditor; and 2) Receive the annual audit and do a public review of the findings and the management letter. Municipal auditors are typically hired by the Town Administrator, Town Accountant or Finance Director. This is an inherent conflict of interest since town officials who do the hiring are the ones whose work is being audited. Hiring and receiving the audit should be an arm’s length transaction from the Town’s financial team.

The Department of Revenue oversees 351 cities and towns in the Commonwealth. They accept data provided by the Town Accountant, the Treasurer/Collector and the Assessors. They often question the data, but they are not always able to verify if data submitted on the Tax Recap or Schedule A are accurate. The DOR does not have access to the town’s accounting system. For example, the DOR was in Templeton today to question whether the Town has properly reported debt obligations on the DE-1 section of Schedule A. Some debt is paid from general revenue within the town budget and some debt is paid through debt exclusion. There is a correct way to report these two types of debt on Schedule A. The DOR representatives checked to see if the Town reported the data correctly, but they are limited in their ability to verify the accuracy of the data.

The long term solution to Templeton’s financial problems is to hire a professional Town Administrator who will put in place a competent financial management team – Accountant, Treasurer, Collector and Assessors. The Selectmen and Advisory Board have the responsibly to oversee the T.A. and the financial team on their management of the Town’s finances. To complement the BoS and Advisory Board, the Audit Committee should retain a reputable accounting firm to conduct an annual audit with the results made public.

Bob Markel
Interim Town Administrator