Special financial report to be published and it will not contain Town employee salaries, according to the Town Accountant. "It will be written according to the Town by-laws."

So what does the Town by-law say - Article VIII Records and reports.

Section 4. states The annual town report shall contain, in addition to the reports of officers, boards, and committees as herein before provided, a detailed report of all monies received into and paid out of the town treasury in the financial year next preceding. In my opinion, salaries are monies paid out of the town treasury, what do you think? showing separately payments made from the proceeds of loans as capital outlays for permanent improvements; the report of the collector of taxes, of receipts, payments  and abatements; statements of all funds belonging to the town or held for the benefit of its inhabitants; a statement of the liabilities of the town on bonds, notes, certificates of indebtedness or otherwise, and of indebtedness authorized but not incurred, and the purpose thereof : a statement  of transfers made to or from any appropriation; abstracts of the records of the meetings of the town held since publication of the last municipal year: and such other matters as the said report is required by law to contain, or as may be inserted by the selectmen under the discretion granted them by law.

So I will be making a public records request for a list of salaries for all town employees as that involves the spending of public monies and we will see where that leads.

On anther note, apparently the continued blogging about policies and procedures and the selectmen leaving public comment off the agenda (for the past 4 months) brought selectmen Brooks to broach that subject. Again, we will see for the next selectmen meeting if it is included on the agenda.

Now to go thru the meeting calendar and try to get an idea of how long it has been.

Oh, the selectmen are great dancers!

posted by Jeff Bennett

PS: to all the peeps on DHB face book - Howdy!

from my "stan" email folder which may show a few things such as why it is important for certain officials to do "their part" as in different portions of the tax recap being responsibilty of assessor, town clerk, town accountant etc. When one person handles it all and then departs, do all the "players" now know their part or is there a "stumbling in the dark" while they have to suddenly learn their part. This is one reason why it is important to have certified as in trained / experienced accountant, treasurer, assessor, accountant, collector. That is my opinion.

the email:

From: Fred Aponte [mailto:faponte@harvard.ma.us]

Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2012 10:46 AM

To: Wagner, Deborah

Cc: selectman@templeton1.org; towncoordinator@templeton1.org; assessors@templeton1.org; Assessors@templeton1.org;treasurer@templeton1.org; Mountain, Dennis P.

Subject: Re: Templeton 2013 Tax Rate Recap

I will look at it.

Fred Aponte

Accounting Officer

Town of Harvard

13 Ayer Road

Harvard, MA 01451

978-456-4100

"Wagner, Deborah" <wagnerd@dor.state.ma.us> writes:

Fred,

I think article 28 of the ATM was left off the B-2.

as posted prior, if it is article 28 from 2012 ATM, that involved possible use of stabilization funds but all of this leads back to why or how did the current board of selectmen/accountant give a stabilization number out and request a transfer from stabilization if the correct dollar figure for that fund was not known. In my opinion, that was a repeat of the transfer from fire/EMS salary to pay snow & ice deficit then having to put money back into fire/EMS because the original number given was wrong.

Which leads back to the Advisory Committee opinion of being more conservative with regards to revenue and why the town should at least use the percentage collected for a revenue base rather than the possible 100% if collected number, in my opinion.

posted by Jeff Bennett

more on stabilization fund - from ATM 2012;



Article 28. To see if the Town will vote to appropriate a total sum of Four Hundred Ninety-Seven Thousand, Five Hundred Twenty-Three Dollars ($497,523.00) for the Worcester Regional Retirement System assessment; said sum to be provided as follows: the sum of One Hundred Four Thousand, Eight Hundred Twenty-Eight Dollars and Ten Cents ($104,828.10) to be transferred from the Light Department, the sum of Forty-Two Thousand, Seven Hundred Thirty-Seven Dollars and Twenty- 11 Three Cents ($42,737.23) to be transferred from the Water Department, the sum of Thirty-Eight Thousand, One Hundred Sixty Dollars and One Cent ($38,160.01)-to be transferred from the Sewer Department, and the sum of Three Hundred Eleven Thousand, Seven Hundred Ninety-Seven Dollars and Sixty-Six Cents ($311,797.66) to be raised by taxation and/or transferred from the Stabilization Fund, or to take any other action relative thereto. Submitted by the Board of Selectmen

On a motion duly made and seconded the town voted to appropriate a total sum of Four Hundred Ninety-Seven Thousand, Five Hundred Twenty-Three Dollars ($497,523.00) for the Worcester Regional Retirement System assessment; said sum to be provided as follows: the sum of One Hundred Four Thousand, Eight Hundred Twenty-Eight Dollars and Ten Cents ($104,828.10) to be transferred from the Light Department, the sum of Forty-Two Thousand, Seven Hundred Thirty-Seven Dollars and TwentyThree Cents ($42,737.23) to be transferred from the Water Department, the sum of Thirty-Eight Thousand, One Hundred Sixty Dollars and One Cent ($38,160.01)-to be transferred from the Sewer Department, and the sum of One Hundred Seventy-One Thousand, Seven Hundred Ninety-Seven Dollars and Sixty-Six Cents ($311,797.66) to be raised by taxation and/or transferred from the Stabilization Fund.
 Passed Unanimously/May 16 th @ 9:15

It would have to be checked on how much if any money was taken from stabilization and if vote was correct. This was the last Town Meeting for the vender CPA and it was during this time that there was an interim town coordinator for a period of time due to the big recall happening earlier in the year.

posted by Jeff Bennett