The following shows the reason (s) behind the upcoming Templeton annual town meeting, article #3 (article # as of right now)

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From: Terenzini, Carter <cterenzini@TempletonMA.gov>
Sent: Thursday, December 12, 2019 2:22 PM
To: Adam D. Lamontagne <alamontagne@TempletonMA.gov>; Bennett, Jeff <jbennett@TempletonMA.gov>; Currie, Michael <mcurrie@TempletonMA.gov>; Diane Haleybrooks <DHaleybrooks@TempletonMA.gov>; Richard, Julie <jrichard@TempletonMA.gov>; Griffis, Terry <tgriffis@TempletonMA.gov>; Young, Holly <hyoung@TempletonMA.gov>
Cc: Pontbriand, Kelli <kpontbriand@TempletonMA.gov>; Royer, Luanne <lroyer@TempletonMA.gov>; Richardson, Cheryl <crichardson@TempletonMA.gov>
Subject: ReCap

 

Good Day:

We had three issues with our recap and it appears it will NOT require a resigning.  We will advise you ASAP if it turns out otherwise.

1. We had place a miscellaneous revenue item in one reporting column when DOR asked us to report it differently.  This threw the recap off.  They subsequently advised we had done it correctly; once moved back it was AOK but…

2. They then had questions on our FY ’20 DE-1 (monies to be raised as the result of a debt exclusion).  Let me start by saying that, during the course of construction, one never knows exactly how much one will need nor what the interest rate will be;  With the two windows to work with (Town Meeting and Recap) we are not always spot on the amounts needed during the BAN phase of the financing.  We budgeted, in May of ’19, $90k for interest on BANs we issued in November of ’19 and are due in February of ’20.  At that time we will convert some portion thereof to General Obligation Bonds.  It turned out that the interest is only $51,954 leaving an excess of $32,046.  We also budgeted $75k to make advance paydowns on the BANs thus reducing the GOBs we had to raise and the annual principal and interest payments.  In simplest terms; DOR wants to see only the amounts that are shown as owed on a debt statement that we “need” to pay down in that FY.    They do not want to see us raising the added amount we “want” to pay down. They subsequently approved the inclusion of these monies on the DE-1 But advised us to not do so again in the future.

3. Notwithstanding prior legal advice that Article 2 of the July STM was a proper method of authorizing the BoS to cut the General Fund budget to accommodate the final NRSD budget; they subsequently opined that it was not permissible.  That said, they did earlier today approve the use of that  method provided the Chair and I sign a letter committing to seeking an appropriation of the same amount as we cut the general fund to out all of the accounts.  The end result is nil as we use FY ’19 free cash to satisfy them which simply becomes FY ’20 free cash as it never actually gets spent.

With this behind us, Luanne advises all comments have been submitted and we expect a rate by Monday; a date we had established as our “drop dead”.

Over the coming months we will ask Town Counsel to arrange a meeting with DOR Chief Counsel and our Bond Counsel to discuss these differing legal opinions that we might learn more.

Many Thanks

Carter Terenzini

Town Administrator

Town of Templeton

160 Patriots Road

East Templeton, MA 01438

1.978.894.2755

Why spend further tax dollars meeting with lawyers, just follow the guidance of the Department of Revenue; you cannot do what you did, plain and simple.