REHOBOTH, Mass. (WJAR) — The Town of Rehoboth has filed a civil suit against the Dighton-Rehoboth Regional School District over ongoing financial issues between the school district and the town.

The suit filed Tuesday argues the school district has violated its agreement with the the Town of Rehoboth by failing to supply financial records.

The litigation was filed after the school district argued it needed for funding from the town to properly fund the school for the current school year.

The town argues that for the past five years, the school's proposed budget is above the the state minimum set by the department of education and that it has a burden on its taxpayers.

"To preserve the integrity and stability of its educational institutions for the imminent 2019-2020 school year, the Town (Rehoboth) was compelled and thus once again coerced to stipulate most of the district's unreasonable and disparate budgetary and assessment demands," the suit reads.

The town also said the district has used political tactics to get its budget demands, claiming the district has caused a public uproar by alleging if the Town of Rehoboth did not cede to the budget demands that the student's extra curricular activities and teaching positions would be cut.

According to the suit, the town alleges that the district has denied requests for financial records and by doing so "reinforced the Town's concerns that the finances of the district are, and have been mismanaged, and evidence of such is now being purposefully concealed by the district."

The Town is asking a judge to force the school district to turn over financial records dating back from the 2012-2013 school and year and to cooperate with a financial audit.

The lawsuit comes after the school district said if additional funding from taxpayers were not received that sports and teaching positions would likely have been eliminated.

The town and the district were able to work out an emergency agreement to sustain funding for the fall season.

Dighton-Rehoboth Superintendent Dr. Anthony Azar and school committee chair Katherine Cooper, who are named in the lawsuit, both said they received the lawsuit Wednesday afternoon and forwarded to the school district's attorney.

What the Massachusetts Department of Revenue says about so called Free Cash".
Free cash is a revenue source that results from the calculation, as of July 1, of a community's remaining, unrestricted funds from its operations of the previous fiscal year based on the balance sheet as of June 30. It typically includes actual receipts in excess of revenue estimates and unspent amounts in
departmental budget line items for the year just ending, plus unexpended free cash from the previous year. Free cash is offset by property tax receivables and certain deficits, and as a result, can be a negative number.

The DLS certification protects communities from relying on free cash that might not materialize due to inaccurate local estimates.
The Technical Assistance Bureau (TAB) recommends that communities understand the role free cash plays in sustaining a strong credit rating and encourages them to adopt policies on its use. Under sound financial policies, a community strives to generate free cash in an amount equal to three to five percent of its annual budget. This goal helps deter free cash from being depleted in any particular year, which
enables the following year's calculation to begin with a positive balance. To do this, the community would orchestrate conservative revenue projections and departmental appropriations to produce excess income and departmental turn backs.
Overall, TAB recommends that communities adopt a free cash policy that avoids supplementing current year departmental operations. By eliminating the expectation of additional resources later in the fiscal year to back-fill budgets, department heads will produce more accurate and realistic annual appropriation requests.

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"Saying the Town could pay the full amt. was out of line, in my opinion"

Could the above comment be one reason people do not attend town meeting? Is that why some wish a paper ballot at town meeting, so no one sees how you vote?

How is someone speaking their opinion or thought about an issue at town meeting out of line? Oh, I know, sometimes you have to be a team player, except when that does not jive with my opinion. Perhaps a better approach is after that was stated, get up and ask moderator for explanation or clarification. Better yet, stand up and state you disagree with the statement that the town has the funds to pay school assessment and then make your case. That is an approach right out of town meeting times. Town meeting is the legislative body of the town and all registered voters are allowed to attend and speak, their thoughts or opinions should not have to follow any "party line".

Interesting times on face book; critique a member of say, advisory committee, concerning their actions or statements in official capacity and that is a personal attack; criticize a resident stating their thoughts at town meeting and that is a personal opinion. Well now, we sure are in interesting times. Remember, if say, selectmen talk about being a team player, that is bad, but at town meeting, you need to be a team player.

Speak of interesting times, we here on Partridgeville Road are singing, we have some new drainage pipes going in. Seems like the highway superintendent has an interesting theory; before you spend thousands of dollars on paving a road, you replace/upgrade things under the road first, so you do not have to dig up a newly paved road to do it after the fact. What a concept.

We can have free lunch for all kids at all schools, if you wish to pay for it, as in increase in school funding.

What is "Free Cash"? Well, it certainly does cost to get it, your tax dollars come first and then they are "assigned or appropriated" to go towards certain things; paper, pens, salaries, heat, lights and on and on. At the end of the year (fiscal year or after June 30) what ever is left from those allocated dollars or if more dollars come in than expected, all of that equals so called free cash; in other words, not appropriated or assigned to any specific purpose. Technically, unassigned fund balance.
It varies from year to year.