Fair is fair, right?

On a selectmen meeting om February 26, 2018, the initial fiscal year budget/spending plan was presented and the spending plan books were handed out. The seven member Advisory Committee was invited and all members were emailed informing them of this meeting.

Of the seven, only two members showed, Robert May and Jeff Bennett. There can be many reasons for not showing, but you cannot question or critique without expecting some in return, even from within.

On the flip side, selectmen scheduled a few budget meetings on days of already, ahead of time scheduled regular meetings of the Advisory Committee. This equals less time for the Advisory Committee to meet and discuss and plan for a pre-town meeting and annual town meeting. Yes, the committee could choose alternative dates to meet, but some volunteers plan ahead by using the regular schedule of meetings. One solution would to begin earlier in the year, have these meetings on Mondays when selectmen do not have their regular meetings and then Advisory could hold regular meetings and have more time for discussion, questions etc., Be that as it may, the advisory committee will probably do what they usually do, spend more time, as in longer meetings to get done what needs to get done. In my opinion, this scenario puts Advisory at a disadvantage which also puts the residents/taxpayers at a disadvantage, less time to gather information and ask questions of Advisory Committee. There has to be a better way.

What the board of selectmen seem to want you to void; they are looking for Town Meeting to approve the selectmen to continue to pack committees with members of the select board, who later fail to show up for those committee meetings.

Massachusetts General Law chapter 268A

Section 21A: Members of municipal commission or board; restrictions on appointments to certain positions

Section 21A. Except as hereinafter provided, no member of a municipal commission or board shall be eligible for appointment or election by the members of such commission or board to any office or position under the supervision of such commission or board. No former member of such commission or board shall be so eligible until the expiration of thirty days from the termination of his service as a member of such commission or board.

The provisions of this section shall not apply to a member of a town commission or board, if such appointment or election has first been approved at an annual town meeting of the town.

Selectmen are also involved in trying to limit what the Advisory Committee can comment on at Town Meeting. The question I have is; why do the selectmen wish to limit what the Advisory Committee has to say concerning the Town Meeting warrant? I do know one thing, selectmen cannot stop individuals from asking questions or commenting on warrant articles, not yet anyway.

Capital Planning, the meals tax, a new fire engine, financial policy and plan B

First, the above are but a few reasons people should be packing these meetings where they could ask questions, if allowed.

A new fire engine to replace the one that has been discussed is going to be in the half million dollar range at the least.

I question to use of a meals tax to pay for new equipment because I heard selectmen state that we were set financially, we had a good plan in place now and they put money into capital stabilization fund and they still had over 300 thousand dollars of "working capital on the table. (remember the special town meeting this past fall?)

A plan B was mentioned concerning the police station project - as in they should begin to at east think of one.

One of the things in the selectmen's financial policy is that free cash (so called) will be used to replenish other reserves, such as the Town's reserve fund, which the selectmen state cannot be increased from 35 thousand to 80 thousand dollars this year coming (fiscal year 2019)

Interesting item in the new FY2019 spending plan (budget) book - page 8.

Remember that school inspector fee amount that came out of the free cash back in, $25,000.00. in case we forgot. Well in fiscal year 2019, that school inspector fee number is stated to be $50,000.00, to come from that "working capital" free cash left on the table (good thing we had that money) That by the way is listed as annual town meeting article 25 (this May ATM)

There is also a FY2018 supplemental (additional) dollar figure in the amount of $75,000.00 - to be taken from that working capital - looks like there were more than one hiccup in that FY 2018 plan.

Article 27 is a buy down lease principal on DPW/Police in the amount of $12,500.00

Article 28 is a fire capital buy down lease principal in the amount of $25,000.00.

Article 28 is capital budget - A in the amount of $40,000.00.

So,as I look at the $199,000.00 that is being rolled over I have to ask my sef why?

My first thought is more hiccups must be expected in FY2019, the state numbers will not really be good until after the fiscal year ends (June 30, 2018) and selectmen need all the money they can get to back fill their spending plan. Remember, since we under fund snow & ice, the needs to be money to cover that deficit.

Second, if you have $199,000.00 in your pocket and you wish to buy a truck for $85,000.00, why not pay for it right up front and avoid future bills? The truck would be paid for and in say two years, that truck would still have value and it could be traded or sold to aid in the purchase of a newer truck, thus avoiding high maintenance costs.

As for capital planning, I wonder where the selectmen are regarding salt storage, which is an expensive item and requires some care so it is available for use. It basically needs to be kept dry. It is not the end of the world if it gets some moisture on it, but it broadcasts/spreads so much better when kept dry. I believe it was stated at a selectmen meeting it is actually cheaper to use salt than sand, so for future financial planning, plans for a proper salt storage facility, is that even in the discussion?

Speaking of snow, looks like it is possible for this weekend - ca-ching, or as a boat refers to, bust out another thousand.

finished watching the meeting of February 27, 2018 - elementary school building committee.

Invoices were approved in about 5 minutes.

One from Strategic Building Services for the month of January, 2018 - $    45,324.00

One from SMMA for the month of February, 2018 -
Contract Administration                                                                             $  49,508.69

One for payment application Fontaine Brothers - construction                  $824,628.50

It was sstated that Holly, administrative assistant in the board of selectmen office is stil handling the invoices rather than the Town Treasurer/Collector.

The foundation is still there because of unexpected finding of more asbestos and price discussion for removal.

Bob M5:15 PM

To all who are concerned. What do you suggest is done if the Taxpayers vote NO to the override?
How about if the voters don't approve the meals tax? If neither of those pass we are talking $375K plus $42K or $416K

First off, in the book you received Monday evening Bob, there is a description of free cash on page 8.

It shows $199,692.00 to be rolled to fiscal year 2018 free cash, which if all goes right, would be available at a fall special Town Meeting where it could be allocated to pay for a new police cruiser and truck for highway department. It would be similar to what happened this past fall.

As for the $375 thousand, which is to pay for full time ambulance workers and is being used to make the point about having full time fire department as well.  If Templeton does not man the ambulance service 24/7, it has been stated the Town would lose it's ambulance service license. In which case, the Town could either regionalize ambulance service or contract it out, either way, residents would still have access to ambulance service. As for fire coverage, it could remain on call, I mean I thought Templeton had or has a good dedicated group of volunteers who step up for the good of the Town, right? I believe the only way cuts would come into play is if the selectmen insisted on keeping or going for a full time ambulance service, which has already been stated that the Towns people were sold a bad deal, again.

Those two issues will be decided by Town Meeting with statements/ questions etc., the same as you posted. 

Oh, property tax abatement is  there, along with other things, but they too have to be paid for. There is an item in the budget/spending plan book that shows that dollar figure to cover those costs. When there are discounts, does that equal less property tax collections and therefore even less money available for spending?

So, let us say we close the senior center, sell it and then what? What will we cut next year to come up with 200, 300 or 400 thousand dollars? When we get down to a treasurer/collector, assessor, town clerk, police, fire and DPW, what do we cut then?  

Looking at the end of the year revenue and expenditure report from the Town Accountant for fiscal year 2017, the as time it was in detail line item format.

Under revenue, it shows the council on aging / MART revolving fund as having taken in $85,408.63 and another $2,160.60 in COA donations.

When looking at the expenses of running the senior center / council on aging, one might wish to investigate the reimbursements from MART as well as the Massachusetts council on Aging (MCOA) and one would be well informed if you visited that website and see what they deal with and help with.

I also think if one checks, when it was discussed about inviting Phillipston residents to use the Templeton Senior center, it was put out there would be a Phillipston Town Meeting warrant article concerning that matter. To the best of my knowledge, that warrant article never happened.

I am still wondering what happened with that bond rating by June 2016, which many of the now serving selectmen stood behind.

On the bright side, fiscal 2019 which begins July 1, 2018 is the last year of the over 400 hundred thousand dollar Templeton town payment for the high school. I think it is around .52 cents per thousand. Oh wait, that is gonna stay on for another 28 years to pay for the new school. Them selectmen are cagey. I think they are craptastic!

Do not lose faith - remember there was talk from the selectmen about debt smoothing.

This is not about the school per say but it is about the handling and spending of your tax dollars. I believe there was enough financial evidence to show the mistakes over the years, of which I was part of making some of them. However, I was not part of telling taxpayers that all is well, the fiscal year 2017 budget is all balanced, we have a good financial team in place. Then an auditor tells the Town, after looking at records, that there are like 17 shortcoming involving the Town Treasurer/Collector.

The Town voted at Town Meeting to combine the positions of Treasurer and Collector and to hire experienced and certified Treasurer/Collector. That has not been done.

On a document dated October 30, 2015 and made available to all who attended the special town meeting of November 9, 2015, page 9 at the top left, is a illustration that shows Costs to Templeton and it has the cost per year at 3.5% equaling a yearly payment of $1,406.800.00.

It goes on to show Less NRSD debt end of $438,073.
so, Net new debt will only be $968,792.00 for a net new tax increase of $1.74.

My thought is if you are going to use the debt payment amount in effect right now as a means of paying for the new school, it is not really going to go away. I believe you could ask Diane Haley Brooks about this, since she was one person who tried hard to stop any discussion on this matter after that special Town Meeting. It was a sales pitch, in my opinion, to get something passed. See, you are already paying that .52 so you are not going to notice it on your tax bill as an increase, which you have been paying for over 20 years, so another 28 should not matter.

It will be, using the presented information, $1.74 pus the .52 which according to my 4th grade math, is a cost of $2.26 per thousand. No one really knows what it will be until it goes on the books. I believe the plan is to schedule the opening of the school in the fall of 2019, so we will find out soon, I hope. My contention is, the information should have been $2.26 per thousand based on what is available now, at the time, 2015.

If people wanted a school and I mean really supported it (I voted for it) then the $2.26 would not have mattered. In my opinion, it is called truth in lending, the selectmen asked for your money, $47 million dollars, so a school could be built. You should have been given the larger number and let you decide.

On the 47 million, you were asked for that amount because no one can say exactly how much MSBA will pay for. If you read what was presented to you to vote on,  The Town acknowledges that MSBA's grant program is a non-entitlement, discretionary program based on need, as determined by the MSBA, and any project costs the Town incurs in excess of any grant approved by and received from the MSBA, through the Narragansett Regional School District, shall be the sole responsibility of the Town. It was voted on but I still feel it was not presented in a good way.

These are the same selectmen who now wish to try and limit what Advisory Committee can report to Town Meeting. If you publicly disagree or criticize this board of selectmen, they seem to try anything to shut you up and shut you down. That is my opinion.

It was put out at Monday's selectmen meeting that the proposed meals tax dollar number is an estimate from the Department of Revenue (state DOR) A tid bit of info on the state level, MA DOT is not currently paying it's snow & ice contractors because of budget problems. Back to Templeton, the $42,000.00 estimate that has not even been approved yet, is the basis for a spending plan to pay for a $42,225.00 3 year lease on a new police cruiser and a $85,000.00 3 year lease on a new 1 ton dump truck with a plow and wing. What happens if the meals tax does not pass? Is there a plan B for these items above? According to the spending plan book, there is $199,000.00 of left over taxpayer money that will be allowed to roll over into end of the fiscal year so called "free cash" - which is not really free as it all originates out of your pocket books. On top of that, this spending pan is built around asking you taxpayers for a tax override, which is a permanent increase in your taxes, whatever the amount, it is there forever, unless you all put forth and pass an underride. If an override passes, it must go to pay for a specific item for the first year, after that, it is just absorbed into the tax collections and can be used for anything. That is why selectmen meetings should be packed on days when this spending plan will be discussed.

Budget/spending plan discussion dates as of now are:
Monday, March 5, 2018 at Town Hall. Proposed is an override for a full time fire/EMS department - (ALS service that was over sold to you)
Wednesday, March 7, 2018 at Town Hall
Monday, March 19, 2018 at Town HAll
Wednesday, March 21, 2018 at Town Hall
Monday, March 26, 2018 at Town HAll

It is your money - pack the house and let them know you care and are watching.