Good Day:

While it was not uncommon for some towns to use the accounting systems for the kind of details you had formerly it is also not uncommon for a town to have as few as two (personnel and expenses) accounts.  We chose to collect our expenditures around their activity.  Even reverting to the old system would not tell you if the insurance was paid in full for the year.  We can always give you a specific response to any question  that you have and are more than happy to do so.

Kindly understand that there is no addition to the overall staffing levels within the finance unit.  We had 5 f.t.e’s and when we added the .5 Assistant Town Accountant we reduce the Deputy Treasurer Collector to .5.  The total staffing remains at 5 f.t.e’s.  That said, we are looking at how we might give you some better access to payments (perhaps posting the payment register on-line) and would hope to complete that within the next week or two. 

Many Thanks

Kelli &

Carter Terenzini

Interim Town Administrator

Town of Templeton

160 Patriots Road

East Templeton, MA 01438

(978) 894-2753

From: jeff bennett [mailto:j_bennett506@hotmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 12, 2017 7:03 AM
To: 'Kelli Pontbriand' <accountant@templeton1.org>
Cc: Selectman Caplis <selectmen.caplis@templeton1.org>; Selectwoman, Diane <seldhaleybrooks@templeton1.org>; Doug Morrison, Selectmen <seldmorrison@templeton1.org>; selectmen.fortes@templeton1.org; Town Administrator <townadministrator@templeton1.org>; selectmen.richard@templeton1.org
Subject: Advisory Committee and Town by-laws

All;
I have again been tasked by a vote of the Advisory Committee to bring to your attention as well as to high lite one article/section of the general by-laws of Templeton;

Article IV, section 5 -Article IV – Advisory Committee:

Section 5. In the discharge of its duty, said committee shall have free access to all books of record and accounts, bills and vouchers on which money has been or may be paid from the town treasury. Officers, boards, and committees of the town shall, upon request, furnish said committee with facts, figures, and any other information pertaining to their several activities.

We bring this up because in the discharge of our stated responsibilities and duty, we look at the recent document of expenditures or the budget versus actual and we do not see the accounts and records in the detail required to look at and analyze the spending and care of taxpayer dollars. For instance, with the current presentation, the committee cannot see if the Town has paid group (health) insurance in full, which if done, saves taxpayer dollars. This is one of the reasons for the committee asking for a return of detail in the monthly expenditure reports sent out from the office of the Town Accountant. With the addition of more staff, assistant town accountant, the committee feels this would be a simple and beneficial step towards bringing resident confidence back to town government.


respectfully;
Jeff Bennett
Advisory Committee vice-chairman
on behalf of the committee