Annual Town Meeting, 2005:
On a motion duly made and seconded the Town voted to authorize Revolving Funds for certain Town departments in accordance with the provisions of Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 44, Section 53E1/2, for fiscal year 2006 as follows:
one of the revolving funds - Revolving Fund for the Emergency Medical Service: to deposit receipts collected from operation of the ambulance service and to authorize the Fire Department to expend such receipts for the purpose of maintaining the ambulance service, provided that the amount to be expended in fiscal year 2006 shall not exceed One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($49,000.00).
Passed Unanimously/May 11th @ 8:32.
That revolving fund went away in 2006; I have been told by some that after selectmen saw how much cash was brought in, they decided to slide it into the general fund and it stayed that way until 2011, when ambulance receipts reserved for appropriation was created.
Article 7 of 2015 annual town meeting:
To see if the Town will vote to transfer a sum of money from the Fire Department/Ambulance -- Receipts Reserved for Appropriation Account (22-300-3560- 3283) to fund the second year of a lease/purchase agreement for an ambulance for the Fire/Ambulance Department; or take any other action relative thereto. Submitted by the Board of Selectmen On a motion duly made and seconded the Town voted that Fifty Seven Thousand Dollars ($57,000) be hereby appropriated for the Town Administrator to expend to pay for the second year of the ambulance lease/purchase agreement, and to meet this appropriation $57,000 be hereby transferred from the Fire/Ambulance Department - Receipts Reserved for Appropriation Account, (22-300-3560-3283)
Passed Unanimously/May 16th @ 10:41am
In 2017,money began to be siphoned off of that account to help cover costs of the general fund; you are charged to use Templeton ambulance but the money goes to pay town administrator or to pay off debt. There is no way to track where those funds go after they are transferred to general fund. It is time to go back to a revolving fund, follow intent of town meeting and have a fully funded ambulance service paid for by the charges to use that service. Note - if you pay wages out of a revolving fund, you must also pay benefits out of it. The town will have to wean itself off the 270 thousand it has become dependent on since 2017; that is when the town administrator told selectmen they had to start drinking from that bottle, ambulance receipts and it is time to get off it and stop the financial disallows on ambulance service. You voted for it, you should get your original intent.
