While watching the selectmen meeting of August 14, 2017, I heard several interesting items;
There is an amount of "cash" not yet accounted for, $9,400.00.

Carter Terenzini stated the town will have these issues for a few years, but I thought with the audits completed, the town now has good clean numbers. What happened? Did someone mispeak?

There is a deficit due to property tax of $64,000.00, apparently the town does not collect all of the property taxes available every year, imagine that, perhaps the town (selectmen) should take a more conservative approach to taxes and revenue. Where have I heard that before?

With regards to the E911 grant, which according to the town accountant, has not been properly accounted for.  In 2013, 2014 and 2015, it was not done correctly. Apparently, the town has to spend all of it or the left over funds have to be sent back to the state.

Question: How much do Templeton taxpayers spend on dispatch service, including benefits such as health insurance and pensions and labor contracts? How much does Phillipston pay Templeton for the exact same dispatch service? I believe if Phillipston is not paying half the costs, Templeton taxpayers are getting screwed over by those who sign the agreement.

You can create all the policies you wish, consolidate and change things around as much as you want, but eventually, it will all come down to available funds. Perhaps it is time for the selectmen to lead and make some real change that could save Templeton taxpayers money in the long run, long term, and still provide a service. Might be that is the action to take to free up funds to be spent on important things, like more free stuff for davey. Just kidding, but as Carter stated at the August 14 selectmen meeting, counting pencils and paper clips will not get the job done. I kind of agree, but I bet a hard look and a detailed plan on those things could save some real money over the long term.

Speaking on detail, seems like the selectmen, town accountant and Carter have decided to jumble things up and make it harder, as in less transparent to find out financial information. This question has to be asked and explained in a public forum. Plain, simple, in the open accounting of taxpayer money has to be available to the public!

An example of what the real problem might be:

Note: There is an email from the Town Accountant that shows the work of Advisory Committee was correct, there was an error on the number shown on the expenditure part of a budget versus actual document provided as part of a transfer request. The response from davey smart could be an example of the real problem at finding highway department employees.

Monday, July 24, 2017

Town Vehicle Fuel update:

Upon looking back through the Budget versus Actual documents, provided by the Town Accountant, show numbers that do not match Town Meeting appropriations and transfers made both at Town Meeting and end of year financial transfers. This is why it is important for the end of the year financial transfer information to be included in a Committee's report for the annual town report.

The Budget versus Actual document dated September 12, 2016, shows Town Vehicle Fuel as having an appropriation of $100,000.00. The Budget versus Actual document provided by the Town Accountant dated November 7, 2016 shows an appropriation of $80,500.00, due to transfers done at the October 20, 2016 special town meeting.

The Budget versus Actual document provided by the Town Accountant shows Town Vehicle Fuel having an appropriation of $80,500.00 and the Annual Town Meeting of May 13, 2017, article 1, shows transfers from Town Vehicle Fuel in the amount of $3,500.00 to inspection services, a transfer from Town Vehicle Fuel in the amount of  $5,000.00 to group insurance expense and a transfer from Town Vehicle Fuel in the amount of $2,500.00. So, $11,000.00 was transferred from Town Vehicle Fuel. With the Budget versus Actual dated May 11, 2017 showing an appropriation of $80,500.00 and with the transfers from Town Vehicle Fuel on May 13, 2017 totaling $11,000.00, and the  Budget versus Actual document dated June 29, 2017, that was provided by the Town Accountant, shows an appropriation of $73,000.00?


This should not bother me because the audits are completed and now we have good numbers. Remembering that the audits were presented on April 25, 2017.  Besides, asking questions concerning this item might be seen as being disruptive, causing trouble and getting in the way of moving forward. Oh, wait, I forgot, we have turned a corner!

posted by Jeff Bennett