Looking at the past to help the future.


There was some discussion on the past with regards to Templeton with a statement being made about how the advisory committee did the budget and presented it to town meeting in 2013 - for fiscal year 2014, the year of the %505,477.00 short fall. In looking over a document that was used to explain 
how this happened, there is one item that stands out: Town meeting articles and the dollar figures associated with them. The total expenses of town meeting articles should have been $212,694.00 in the FY 2014 budget presentation. Unfortunately, the figure of $52,694.00 was used, leaving off the figure of $160,000.00 of the ambulance receipts, which should have been included in the expenses under articles. These figures are available from the town clerk and or the town reports of previous years. This was one mistake made in the budget presentation and it shows the detail approach that is needed to present a municipal budget. This was not an error of management, it was an error by the advisory committee, which to my knowledge has never been owned by that committee. As to the entire short fall, it was a result of some error and bad information, again, demonstrating the effort that is required along with the knowledge of what to look at. As far as I know and I have paid attention for quite a while, there was and is no missing money, no one has stolen it. Until there is proof of that, I stand by that statement. The only thing missing were the correct numbers on paper, which has happened again in fiscal year 2017. Which should demonstrate that the selectmen and the advisory committee should agree to disagree but agree to work side by side to check the numbers and information for the benefit of the entire town. For the record, at that time, I was part of management and I have back in 2013, stated at a public meeting, that if you, the people wanted someone to blame, blame me, as I am the current sitting chairman of the board of selectmen, having been voted in at the first selectmen meeting after the election of 2013. That happened with me participating remotely because I had been in Afghanistan during that time and as such, I was not even in the country when this budget presentation occurred. Not an excuse, just a fact. As far as I know, I am still the only one who publicly owned that error. Hopefully, perhaps not this year but next, the two entities, selectmen and advisory, will get together and do what is best for the WHOLE town. We really cannot put one department on a pedestal and say they are untouchable, the whole ship must be kept afloat. We sail as one or we sink slowly, compartment by compartment.

posted by Jeff Bennett