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Wednesday, May 24, 2017
A source has the Templeton Town Accountant applying for the Town of Phillipston Town Accountant job. It is listed as part-time position.
Our full time accountant does an incredible job and was working 70-80 hours a weeks for many months on our audits. As long as she is working on her own time, why is this news?
No one said our accountant did not do her job. Why are we hiring another person after the majority of the work has been done ? As long as the accountant keeps up with the day to day work that comes in, there should be no problem. Just where do you think the money for another person is going to come from ? Just wait until people get their first tax bill with the school and police station on it. You will think we are having a earthquake ! There are 4 empty houses in the Cook Pond development today. How many do you think we will have a year from now ? Our Town cannot support what it has today ! If any of you think it will get easier to make ends meet, you better think again. Bev.
I think it might be news due to the fact that our Administration has relied rather heavily on Kelly and the idea she my want a change ads another possible disconnect in our financial basket.
I do agree Bev that we could be in for some really tough times once the Capital Projects start hitting the tax rolls. If we have another overall market downturn, which we all know is coming, it will lead to even deeper foreclosures as the dream of owning a home becomes more and more out of reach for the young Americans growing up today.
We do not tell people where they can work or. It work so long as it does not interfere with their job at the town. The money for the other person was approved in the FY 18 budget. And you know what else I would ask... Why do we continue to discuss employees here on the blog. That's just not right. There is still much work to be done as kelli and Carter stated at a meeting.
The reason employees and their positions are discussed here, Diane, is because they work for a PUBLIC entity. We have a right to know their business as they work for us and we pay their salary. Don't like that-- then work for a private company. The reason this particular subject is discussed is because anyone who has paid attention to town operations in the past ten years knows there have been issues with full time town employees holding part time jobs in other towns. Templeton pays their benefits the other towns don't. So it is a financial issue. Also, some of these employees' job performances suffered holding dual or multiple jobs in other towns. So it is a performance issue as well. I can think of at least three instances off the top of my head. None of them are employed in Templeton currently. Why? Because the multiple jobs thing didn't work. And one more point--most of us like Kelli's performance and the thought of her attention being distracted to other towns and away from Templeton is an anxious thought. So please stop trying to lecture people on this blog about what is right and wrong to discuss. We don't bitch and moan for the hell of it. We are here to discuss issues that are important because we CARE about this town's well being and all the employees that serve. We aren't the ones walking out of town meeting after a school vote. You want to lecture, go lecture them.
Well said Anon 7:13pm, trouble with DhB is she believes everything she is told, whether right or wrong. She is in a position where she is well aware of the financial status of our town but still has not a care in the world as long as her school gets thru, she will go down in history as a cause for numerous foreclosed houses here in town, Oh, thats right, she knows how easy it is to just leave the bank high and dry and walk away from your home.
Kelly should be allowed to do whatever she wants to do on her own time. All she has to do is a disclosure because you share a school district. She is smart enough to know that she cannot work for two towns in the same hour they have to be separate. How many of you have ever worked two jobs? This should be the farthest issue from this blog.
More than one account is negative. It looks like now that the audits are complete, it's all in the past.
Anon 7:13 hits the nail on the head. Templeton has had numerous employees work for other communities. One health agent worked for so many communities with posted hours there were not enough hours in the day to to the work.
There are really busy times and really slow times for an accountant - WHEN A TOWN IS RUNNING SMOOTHLY.
When was the last time anyone could say Templeton was running smoothly?
What we are really talking about is not the person but the position. Templeton should come first, when it comes to working for the Town, you cannot have one hand here and one somewhere else. This town's business is going to be more than a full time job for a good long time. As our Annual Town Reports tell us, it has been almost 20 years since things were "normal". I do not expect normal anytime soon. You also have to keep in mind what may/will happen to people's health care in the future. This stress will weigh heavily on everyone's economic life, never mind the local stress of a huge increase in the tax rate..
I just want to clear up some issues regarding an assistant town accountant. Typically in finance departments when we refer to an assistant accountant it typically includes the scope of Accounting Clerk. An accounting clerk is a book keeper and data entry clerk. Their scope of duties is to relieve the senior accounting of data entry to allow them to continue actions required of an accountant such as account analysis, reporting, adjusting entries, and accruals. It was made mention that we do not need an accounting clerk if our current accountant consistently does her job and process work. Unfortunately, accounting doesn’t work that way and as we know Templeton isn’t a well oil machine currently. An assistant town accountant would help remove the book keeping from our current accountant and allow her to pursue the more important issues and senior level work required from a professional.
Secondly, the application of a current employee of the Town of Templeton to another town isn’t particularly of any concern unless her job performance declines or there is a conflict of interest. Which performance will become noticeable immediately and conflict of interest is mitigated with a disclosure form presented to the Town Clerk. Also, it might be noted that perhaps this would be an interesting experience for our Town Accountant to see how the books of another community work and would be able to benefit both Templeton and Phillipston with whom we share both a High School & Middle School with.
Lastly, I also want to take some time to discuss the whole “Budget Deficit” Issue in my understanding. Let us first take a clear look at the issue without any spin.
We had an account that was to be in deficit within the month of May. Why is this bad? Well you can’t operate like that in a community, it’s financially irresponsible, and it’s in violation. Who owns this problem? The Town Accountant is supposed to report these issues to the Town Administrator during their review of the budget vs actual. Follow up action is then taken with the Department Head. How did this happen? There is a grant in which items that were placed into the original budget were supposed to be accounted under.
So for simplicity sake if the budget had 12 dollars ($1 for each month) over the year and at the end of April it was at $11 dollars with 2 months to go we would spend $13 and be in deficit. However, in that current account in which we had $11 it should have been $10 because $1 was in actuality supposed to be expensed to an appropriate grant fund. So in order to correct this, Accountant do adjusting entries and true up the accounts involved so at period end, the books reflect the actual numbers.
I can understand why the witch hunt is taking place because it seems like a clear cut error but I do want to offer my opinion on the issue and say that this is a normal occurrence. In fact issues like this come up at the most well-oiled accounting places. This is why auditors are important because they catch these issues and true them up at year end and I ensure you that this issue, as I understand it, is an issue that even the most experienced accountants face. In fact, the issue is so common that this is why adjusting entries in accounting exist. Nothing is fraudulent, sloppy, or negligent it is just an issue of correcting the issue at the month end and nothing is falsely reported.
With all this being said and I hope it answers some questions and mitigates some doubt. If you do have any questions regarding policy, procedure, standards, and current items taking place within the town, I encourage anyone to reach out to me at Selectmen.Fortes@Templeton1.org.
Well said, Mr. Fortes. Municipal accounting is extremely complex. (See A Manual for the Uniform Massachusetts Accounting System on the MA DOR site). Understanding adjusting entries is like me understanding how a mechanic fixes my car. BUDGET deficits often correct themselves in the following months. Even as an accountant/bookkeeper in the private sector for 50 years, I often struggle to understand this accounting system and refer to the manual for help.
Nice response and explanation of normal accounting practices. I would however point you to the Q3 financial report. Maybe it's the presentation of this facts that is the problem here. Look at the way these issues are presented in that report.
Just read the section under "Accountant". How this is working doesn't appear to be as "rock solid" as the above description implies. Example: without audits would we have the 911 grant funds available? It mentions the making up the deficit by a tax recap in the fall. That seems to imply money was not available to cover said deficit as an accounting step.
I understand our finances have been cooked because of the lack of Audits and I do not believe you are trying to tell me everything has been working fine, but referring to citizens discussions about the improper history of finances this town has displayed over the past few years as a "witch hunt" is, well, out of line in my opinion. People want someone to be accountable as in most cases its the only way people understand the problem is actually being fixed.
Usually when a line item is way off from the projected budget, an explanation is provided by whomever creates the report. This was not the case in this instance. That would have been helpful for the Finance Committee when they examined and commented on the Q3 report.
The statement which reads (for anyone who doesn't have it in front of them):
"During the 3rd Quarter the final audits for FY 15 and FY 16 were completed and I worked with the auditors on the final preparations of the exit conference on April 25, 2017. Also you will note on the the report that now that I have good beginning balances I am able to put the actual amount that can be spent on all the funds, so departments are aware of any grant funds they might have to use...etc."
The sentence that I believe is in question is the last one in regards to the grant funds. It is actually fitting in this context and I must say upon first read my initial thoughts were “These funds have been trued up so we have much more accurate accounts in which to make financial decisions from.” However, I think because the report states grant funds it becomes applicable when compared to this context. Which would change the meaning of the question to “Was the department head aware of the grant funds?” Sure he/she was but as he/she is the one sending the invoices to the accountant and she is to accounting for them base of their account code.
Account codes are used in accounting as a numerical system to place funds, monies, expenses, prepaids, etc. into the accounts. Typically they are labeled based on their Asset, Liability, Equity, Income, and Expense. These accounts are further broken down so for simplicity sake we will use 4 digits so if I had a Bank Account it would be labeled 1001 and my second bank account is 1002. So when we look at the Financial Statements we can see that the (random) Board of Health Agent Salary Account is 10000-510-0500-51-5110-0000 (22 digits). For someone who doesn’t know accounting this becomes extremely confusing for those who have whole departments to manage and need to expense an item to a particular account (I’ve seen it many times). It then becomes the accountant’s job to double check these numbers to make sure that the Board of Health is expensing their payroll items to the Salary Account.
Although I am not 100% sure of the cause of this issue I can say with reasonable assuredness that this is the culprit. The items were expense not against the grant but the account which the Department Head has muscle memory to expense them too. When they were invoiced and recorded they were found and are to be trued up. This is just typically how the accounting process works. Mistakes happen but there are ways to correct these issues and this is how is it done in any company, municipality, charity, etc. So I speak to this issue to inform those who may be unfamiliar with accounting, so we don’t get stuck and distracted by a small issue like this. We need to keep our eyes open and look for the real problems that may be out there or in our future and we cannot do that by suggesting foul play on a standard run of the mill procedure.
As always if anyone would like to get in contact with me feel free to email me. I am always around for discussion or general questions on anything that you feel I might have some insight for.
Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see anyone suggesting "foul play".I know I didn't use "witch hunt". Taxpayers dont need to understand accounting principles or justify feelings of distrust. Taxpayers have been hurt by the towns administration over recent years. The Administration needs to prove itself to the taxpayer, period.
Question: Are you comfortable that at no time would the accountants job in Templeton have a potential conflict with the Accountant job in Phillipston? I understand Ashburnham and Ashby shared accountants/assessors in 2011, but as of today it does not appear to be so, why?
The grants, which were authorized by the ENHANCE 911 Act, were available for use on hardware, software, training or consulting services that directly benefit public safety answering points (PSAPs) in upgrading equipment and operations. Grants were awarded to 30 states and territories, ranging from $200,000 (awarded to American Samoa) to $5.4 million (awarded to Texas).
It's odd how I dont see "salaries" under the "available for use" items.
Hey, when we are looking to upgrade the 911 equipment maybe we can use a ...............oh ya, we used that on salaries. Damn those accounting principles..............lol
As established by the grant regulation, eligible expenses fell into four categories: administrative expenses, training, consulting, and hardware and software. The regulation also required ninety percent (90%) of federal funds to be used directly for PSAP benefit in the training, consulting or hardware and software categories, with a ten percent (10%) maximum allotted for administrative expenses. Applicants were required to submit a project budget outlining the proposed expenses allocated for all activities. In addition, fifty percent (50%) of the total cost of the project was to come from non-Federal, state matched funds. The four categories eligible for funding are described as follows
I can find nothing about the 911 grants from either the FED or the State that say an allowable use is salaries! Everything I read even going back to 2010 shows a max of 10% for administrative costs.
Why are we hiring a part time accountant ? So our full time accountant can get a part time job ?
ReplyDeleteOur full time accountant does an incredible job and was working 70-80 hours a weeks for many months on our audits. As long as she is working on her own time, why is this news?
ReplyDeleteNo one said our accountant did not do her job. Why are we hiring another person after the majority of the work has been done ? As long as the accountant keeps up with the day to day work that comes in, there should be no problem. Just where do you think the money for another person is going to come from ? Just wait until people get their first tax bill with the school and police station on it. You will think we are having a earthquake ! There are 4 empty houses in the Cook Pond development today. How many do you think we will have a year from now ? Our Town cannot support what it has today ! If any of you think it will get easier to make ends meet, you better think again. Bev.
DeleteI think it might be news due to the fact that our Administration has relied rather heavily on Kelly and the idea she my want a change ads another possible disconnect in our financial basket.
DeleteI do agree Bev that we could be in for some really tough times once the Capital Projects start hitting the tax rolls. If we have another overall market downturn, which we all know is coming, it will lead to even deeper foreclosures as the dream of owning a home becomes more and more out of reach for the young Americans growing up today.
well how come the selectmen are allowing someone that employed in the town to take a second job ???
ReplyDeleteWe do not tell people where they can work or. It work so long as it does not interfere with their job at the town. The money for the other person was approved in the FY 18 budget. And you know what else I would ask... Why do we continue to discuss employees here on the blog. That's just not right. There is still much work to be done as kelli and Carter stated at a meeting.
ReplyDeletewell than how come your latest hire is not allowed to take a second job on his own time that you selectman put in to his contract !!
DeleteThe reason employees and their positions are discussed here, Diane, is because they work for a PUBLIC entity. We have a right to know their business as they work for us and we pay their salary. Don't like that-- then work for a private company. The reason this particular subject is discussed is because anyone who has paid attention to town operations in the past ten years knows there have been issues with full time town employees holding part time jobs in other towns. Templeton pays their benefits the other towns don't. So it is a financial issue. Also, some of these employees' job performances suffered holding dual or multiple jobs in other towns. So it is a performance issue as well. I can think of at least three instances off the top of my head. None of them are employed in Templeton currently. Why? Because the multiple jobs thing didn't work. And one more point--most of us like Kelli's performance and the thought of her attention being distracted to other towns and away from Templeton is an anxious thought. So please stop trying to lecture people on this blog about what is right and wrong to discuss. We don't bitch and moan for the hell of it. We are here to discuss issues that are important because we CARE about this town's well being and all the employees that serve. We aren't the ones walking out of town meeting after a school vote. You want to lecture, go lecture them.
ReplyDeleteWell said Anon 7:13pm, trouble with DhB is she believes everything she is told, whether right or wrong. She is in a position where she is well aware of the financial status of our town but still has not a care in the world as long as her school gets thru, she will go down in history as a cause for numerous foreclosed houses here in town, Oh, thats right, she knows how easy it is to just leave the bank high and dry and walk away from your home.
ReplyDeleteKelly should be allowed to do whatever she wants to do on her own time. All she has to do is a disclosure because you share a school district. She is smart enough to know that she cannot work for two towns in the same hour they have to be separate. How many of you have ever worked two jobs? This should be the farthest issue from this blog.
ReplyDeleteher job is to not let accounts go negative. she let them and she did not even have a second job. it is a concern
ReplyDeleteMore than one account is negative. It looks like now that the audits are complete, it's all in the past.
ReplyDeleteAnon 7:13 hits the nail on the head. Templeton has had numerous employees work for other communities. One health agent worked for so many communities with posted hours there were not enough hours in the day to to the work.
There are really busy times and really slow times for an accountant - WHEN A TOWN IS RUNNING SMOOTHLY.
When was the last time anyone could say Templeton was running smoothly?
What we are really talking about is not the person but the position. Templeton should come first, when it comes to working for the Town, you cannot have one hand here and one somewhere else. This town's business is going to be more than a full time job for a good long time. As our Annual Town Reports tell us, it has been almost 20 years since things were "normal". I do not expect normal anytime soon. You also have to keep in mind what may/will happen to people's health care in the future. This stress will weigh heavily on everyone's economic life, never mind the local stress of a huge increase in the tax rate..
DeleteGood Morning Everyone,
ReplyDeleteI just want to clear up some issues regarding an assistant town accountant. Typically in finance departments when we refer to an assistant accountant it typically includes the scope of Accounting Clerk. An accounting clerk is a book keeper and data entry clerk. Their scope of duties is to relieve the senior accounting of data entry to allow them to continue actions required of an accountant such as account analysis, reporting, adjusting entries, and accruals. It was made mention that we do not need an accounting clerk if our current accountant consistently does her job and process work. Unfortunately, accounting doesn’t work that way and as we know Templeton isn’t a well oil machine currently. An assistant town accountant would help remove the book keeping from our current accountant and allow her to pursue the more important issues and senior level work required from a professional.
Secondly, the application of a current employee of the Town of Templeton to another town isn’t particularly of any concern unless her job performance declines or there is a conflict of interest. Which performance will become noticeable immediately and conflict of interest is mitigated with a disclosure form presented to the Town Clerk. Also, it might be noted that perhaps this would be an interesting experience for our Town Accountant to see how the books of another community work and would be able to benefit both Templeton and Phillipston with whom we share both a High School & Middle School with.
Lastly, I also want to take some time to discuss the whole “Budget Deficit” Issue in my understanding. Let us first take a clear look at the issue without any spin.
We had an account that was to be in deficit within the month of May.
Why is this bad? Well you can’t operate like that in a community, it’s financially irresponsible, and it’s in violation.
Who owns this problem? The Town Accountant is supposed to report these issues to the Town Administrator during their review of the budget vs actual. Follow up action is then taken with the Department Head.
How did this happen? There is a grant in which items that were placed into the original budget were supposed to be accounted under.
So for simplicity sake if the budget had 12 dollars ($1 for each month) over the year and at the end of April it was at $11 dollars with 2 months to go we would spend $13 and be in deficit. However, in that current account in which we had $11 it should have been $10 because $1 was in actuality supposed to be expensed to an appropriate grant fund. So in order to correct this, Accountant do adjusting entries and true up the accounts involved so at period end, the books reflect the actual numbers.
I can understand why the witch hunt is taking place because it seems like a clear cut error but I do want to offer my opinion on the issue and say that this is a normal occurrence. In fact issues like this come up at the most well-oiled accounting places. This is why auditors are important because they catch these issues and true them up at year end and I ensure you that this issue, as I understand it, is an issue that even the most experienced accountants face. In fact, the issue is so common that this is why adjusting entries in accounting exist. Nothing is fraudulent, sloppy, or negligent it is just an issue of correcting the issue at the month end and nothing is falsely reported.
With all this being said and I hope it answers some questions and mitigates some doubt. If you do have any questions regarding policy, procedure, standards, and current items taking place within the town, I encourage anyone to reach out to me at Selectmen.Fortes@Templeton1.org.
Thank you everyone for your time,
Cameron Fortes
Selectmen.Fortes@Templeton1.org
Well said, Mr. Fortes. Municipal accounting is extremely complex. (See A Manual for the Uniform Massachusetts Accounting System on the MA DOR site). Understanding adjusting entries is like me understanding how a mechanic fixes my car. BUDGET deficits often correct themselves in the following months. Even as an accountant/bookkeeper in the private sector for 50 years, I often struggle to understand this accounting system and refer to the manual for help.
DeleteMr Fortes,
DeleteNice response and explanation of normal accounting practices. I would however point you to the Q3 financial report. Maybe it's the presentation of this facts that is the problem here. Look at the way these issues are presented in that report.
Just read the section under "Accountant". How this is working doesn't appear to be as "rock solid" as the above description implies. Example: without audits would we have the 911 grant funds available?
It mentions the making up the deficit by a tax recap in the fall. That seems to imply money was not available to cover said deficit as an accounting step.
I understand our finances have been cooked because of the lack of Audits and I do not believe you are trying to tell me everything has been working fine, but referring to citizens discussions about the improper history of finances this town has displayed over the past few years as a "witch hunt" is, well, out of line in my opinion. People want someone to be accountable as in most cases its the only way people understand the problem is actually being fixed.
Usually when a line item is way off from the projected budget, an explanation is provided by whomever creates the report. This was not the case in this instance. That would have been helpful for the Finance Committee when they examined and commented on the Q3 report.
DeleteMr. Bob M,
ReplyDeleteThe statement which reads (for anyone who doesn't have it in front of them):
"During the 3rd Quarter the final audits for FY 15 and FY 16 were completed and I worked with the auditors on the final preparations of the exit conference on April 25, 2017. Also you will note on the the report that now that I have good beginning balances I am able to put the actual amount that can be spent on all the funds, so departments are aware of any grant funds they might have to use...etc."
The sentence that I believe is in question is the last one in regards to the grant funds. It is actually fitting in this context and I must say upon first read my initial thoughts were “These funds have been trued up so we have much more accurate accounts in which to make financial decisions from.” However, I think because the report states grant funds it becomes applicable when compared to this context. Which would change the meaning of the question to “Was the department head aware of the grant funds?” Sure he/she was but as he/she is the one sending the invoices to the accountant and she is to accounting for them base of their account code.
Account codes are used in accounting as a numerical system to place funds, monies, expenses, prepaids, etc. into the accounts. Typically they are labeled based on their Asset, Liability, Equity, Income, and Expense. These accounts are further broken down so for simplicity sake we will use 4 digits so if I had a Bank Account it would be labeled 1001 and my second bank account is 1002. So when we look at the Financial Statements we can see that the (random) Board of Health Agent Salary Account is 10000-510-0500-51-5110-0000 (22 digits). For someone who doesn’t know accounting this becomes extremely confusing for those who have whole departments to manage and need to expense an item to a particular account (I’ve seen it many times). It then becomes the accountant’s job to double check these numbers to make sure that the Board of Health is expensing their payroll items to the Salary Account.
Although I am not 100% sure of the cause of this issue I can say with reasonable assuredness that this is the culprit. The items were expense not against the grant but the account which the Department Head has muscle memory to expense them too. When they were invoiced and recorded they were found and are to be trued up. This is just typically how the accounting process works. Mistakes happen but there are ways to correct these issues and this is how is it done in any company, municipality, charity, etc. So I speak to this issue to inform those who may be unfamiliar with accounting, so we don’t get stuck and distracted by a small issue like this. We need to keep our eyes open and look for the real problems that may be out there or in our future and we cannot do that by suggesting foul play on a standard run of the mill procedure.
As always if anyone would like to get in contact with me feel free to email me. I am always around for discussion or general questions on anything that you feel I might have some insight for.
Thank you,
Cameron Fortes
Selectmen.Fortes@Templeton1.org
Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see anyone suggesting "foul play".I know I didn't use "witch hunt". Taxpayers dont need to understand accounting principles or justify feelings of distrust. Taxpayers have been hurt by the towns administration over recent years. The Administration needs to prove itself to the taxpayer, period.
ReplyDeleteQuestion: Are you comfortable that at no time would the accountants job in Templeton have a potential conflict with the Accountant job in Phillipston?
I understand Ashburnham and Ashby shared accountants/assessors in 2011, but as of today it does not appear to be so, why?
Anyways,
Have a great Memorial weekend.
Can anyone explain what the 911 grant can be used for? Can it be used to pay dispatcher salaries?
ReplyDeleteWasn't that the explanation? That the dispatcher wages would be paid out of the 911 grant?
Let's hope it warms up this Memorial day weekend.
The grants, which were authorized by the ENHANCE 911 Act, were available for use on hardware, software, training or consulting services that directly benefit public safety answering points (PSAPs) in upgrading equipment and operations. Grants were awarded to 30 states and territories, ranging from $200,000 (awarded to American Samoa) to $5.4 million (awarded to Texas).
ReplyDeleteIt's odd how I dont see "salaries" under the "available for use" items.
DeleteHey, when we are looking to upgrade the 911 equipment maybe we can use a ...............oh ya, we used that on salaries. Damn those accounting principles..............lol
As established by the grant regulation, eligible expenses fell into four categories: administrative
ReplyDeleteexpenses, training, consulting, and hardware and software. The regulation also required ninety percent
(90%) of federal funds to be used directly for PSAP benefit in the training, consulting or hardware and
software categories, with a ten percent (10%) maximum allotted for administrative expenses. Applicants
were required to submit a project budget outlining the proposed expenses allocated for all activities. In
addition, fifty percent (50%) of the total cost of the project was to come from non-Federal, state matched
funds. The four categories eligible for funding are described as follows
I can find nothing about the 911 grants from either the FED or the State that say an allowable use is salaries!
DeleteEverything I read even going back to 2010 shows a max of 10% for administrative costs.
Can anyone clarify this?
and operations.
ReplyDelete