From The Gardner News - December 2024https://www.thegardnernews.com/story/news/education/2024/10/16/narragansett-regional-school-districts-top-earners-for-fiscal-2024-superintendent-principal-teacher/75622276007/

The top 20 highest-earning Templeton employees during fiscal 2024 all made six-figure salaries, many of whom were from the Police Department or Light Department.

The town spent $6,670,193 in FY24 on the payroll of 240 employees. In FY23, the town paid a total of $6,183,928 on the salaries of 215 employees, and only 13 employees earned a six-figure salary.

The highest earner is Police Sgt. Derek Hall, who earned a total of $170,339, which included $47,752 in overtime. After Hall is Detective Eric Smith, who earned a total of $154,557 with $35,251 in overtime. The third highest earner is Nicholas Malnati, a patrolman who earned a total of $150,354 with $46,203 in overtime in FY24.

The fourth highest earner is John Driscoll, the Municipal Light and Water Plant general manager, with a salary of $147,914. Following Driscoll is the department's Lead Lineman Nicholas Houston, who earned $11,997 in overtime and made a total income of $131,925. The sixth-highest earner is Joseph Parker, a lineman for the light department, who earned $11,971 in overtime and earned a total of $129,948.

Michael Bennett, the town's police chief, earned a salary of $128,251, which makes him the seventh-highest earner. Electric Superintendent Thomas Berry earned $125,386, making him the eighth-highest earner. The ninth-highest earner is Shane Egan, a lineman for the Light and Water Department with a salary of $125,386. Egan earned $8,563 in overtime this past fiscal year. Steven Flis, a police sergeant, earned $31,329 in overtime, giving him a total salary of $120,723 in FY24, making him the 10th highest earner.

Last Name	First Name	Employee Position	Total Earnings	Overtime/Other
Hall	Derek	Police Sergeant	$170,339.01	$47,752.76
Smith	Eric	Detective	$154,577.62	$35,251.77
Malnati	Nicholas	Patrolman	$150,354.78	$46,203.06
Driscoll	John	Municipal Light and Water Plant General Manager	$147,914.84	0.00
Houston	Nicholas	Lead Lineman	$131,925.83	$11,997.76
Parker	Joseph	Lineman	$129,948.49	$11,971.18
Bennett	Michael	Police Chief	$128,251.45	$0.00
Berry	Thomas	Electric Superintendent	$125,386.54	$0.00
Egan	Shane	Lineman	$123,830.49	$8,563.16
Flis	Steven	Police Sergeant	$120,723.83	$31,329.68
Welch	Noah	Police Officer	$114,777.97	$14,335.72
Daniels	Kyle	Firefighter/ Paramedic	$114,315.05	$44,439.05
White	John	Lead Lineman	$109,661.10	$391.50
Lamontagne	Adam	Town Administrator	$107,850.00	$0.00
Donahue	Daniel	Police Officer	$107,785.08	$14,158.04
Deschenes III	Robert	Police Officer	$106,519.65	$21,418.71
Schwinger	Scott	Water Superintendent	$105,649.47	$14,962.68
Gearin	Tyler	Groundsman	$104,614.06	$5,945.18
Matson	Caleb	Police Officer	$103,881.07	$19,969.05
Chapman	William	Police Officer	$103,122.03	$10,579.20

Templeton Town employees who had the top 20 highest earned salaries in FY24. Overtime/other earnings are included in the total earnings.

Use this link to check how much Templeton Assessors have put aside for overlay reserve.

https://dlsgateway.dor.state.ma.us/reports/rdPage.aspx?rdReport=Dashboard.Cat_1_Reports.OL1PerLevy351 

Town overlay fund

https://links-1.govdelivery.com/CL0/https:%2F%2Fwww.mass.gov%2Finfo-details%2Fhighly-recommended-understanding-the-overlay-and-overlay-surplus%3Futm_medium=email%26utm_source=govdelivery/1/01000195b58b0bd9-ec349c48-1f7a-42a9-aea6-ab1056119aa4-000000/umWznGcotERmjsRc-WqfyoSS5HzkloTfqWgFxQFIJmg=397 

https://dlsgateway.dor.state.ma.us/reports/rdPage.aspx?rdReport=Analysis.TaxImpactCalc

https://www.templetonma.gov/home/news/budget-book-for-fy26 

 A face book post by a Templeton resident, who may not be alone in their thoughts.

"Long meeting. So apparently the chair and the co-chair think they are the selectboard as a whole. It was the right thing for Currie to resign as chair. Now I think the co-chair should also resign. Since the two of them have been making decisions, seeking legal counsel prior to even telling the rest of the board. Currie refused to answer Jeffs questions about the complaint was it verbal, was it an email. What was the complaint. It was silence, I mean besides for saying he did feel like he did no wrong. Also listen to the taxpayers and stop just offering people promotions. We need a qualified with experience town administrator. This let's just keep promoting administrative assistant to new roles without putting out the job posting is the nepotism people are talking about. Also, no talk about how to deal with a regional school district with no legal regional agreement. This school system is too expensive on the taxpayers. 7 percent every year is not affordable. I've been saying that since 2018. We need an adhoc to look at cost comparison for the taxpayers, in regard to the school system. So, 2019 the selectmen ignored a vote and letter, from the then advisory board, stating we should have cost comparison that we can't afford these increases. We just lost a town administrator over the same issue. This is ridiculous. By the way selectmen you were elected to micromanage the taxpayer's money. You were not elected to go to bat for a regional school system which is a separate entity that simply currently educates the students with our tax money."

 No one had a problem back then, but was anyone going against a push for override?

October 18th 2019 

Sept. 19th, 2019, the advisory committee had a discussion, motion and a vote about the town having a need for an ad hoc committee in regard to the town's financial constraints within the current education yearly budgetary increases. When a town only has the ability to increase revenue based on a 2 ½ percent and consistently the school budget is being increased by 9 percent. In the past and present this has caused the town to make cuts in order to fund the total amount requested by the school, above the minimum contribution. In the long term for the town, we as the advisory committee feel that an ad hoc committee should be created to look at a comparison of municipal school finance versus continuing in the current regional school finance. Giving the town the ability to gather needed information to see what the best education solution would be to lesson these education budgetary increases. Regional School district investigation and comparison.

 As a committee look at the current Massachusetts laws to make sure the town is utilizing all its avenues in regard to the towns allowed roles within the process of being a district member. 

  Do a cost comparison of other regional districts similar in enrollment size. 

  Committee should take a look at the current regional district agreement, recommendations on any changes that could help curve the yearly school budgetary increases. 

  Projection of 5 and 10 years of growth and costs to the town if the current regional district is continued.  Research into what state laws could be changed to give the town a break on these increasing educational costs. Municipal school district Investigation and comparison. 

 Research if there is currently a way for the town to be able to sever its ties to the regional school district. Costs associated with changing the towns education from regional to municipal. 

  Do a cost comparison of local municipal school districts 

 Research costs of the town removing elementary school from the current school district.