Monday April 11, 7 PM Paris Selectboard will meet at the town office. Agenda here.
Most members on our selectboard, in addition to regular selectboard meetings and responsibilities, have been doing double duty by attending the current sessions of budget committee meetings. These sessions are open to the public, though, since it is a committee work time, no public comments are allowed. A reporter or two has dropped by, and a few citizens. The sessions will end with a public hearing April 22 (that is not really a hearing at all, but a preview presentation of the final budget for any interested citizen).
The already flattened budget proposed by Town Manager Tarr, is being ironed further by the budget committee. [editor's note: A budget flattened except for this $180 K truck that he says we must have... Only a few have pursued the question of why now, in this flat lined budget, when even the streetlights may become endangered species...] The committee is hammering his proposed budget into a document for voters in June 2011 - in the hopes that if spending has the same dollar amount as June 2010, our taxes will be kept in check.
[editor's note: Though municipal spending is a large factor, it is actually the mil rate that determines what the final tax dollar amount per citizen. Mil rate is effected by several factors; 2009 calculation page listed here for reference.]
TPR post 4-01-11, along with others, questioned both the million dollar bond and the forming of a local road works operation as a short term financial solution. At the budget committee meeting 4-7, Mgr. Tarr presented a very different approach for the road work issue, offering 3 choices with various financial implications and long term effects. The budget committee chose to do what will be an extra belt tightening action: "Perform ditching, culverts, and any other ancillary work on Oxford Street. Place a thin layer of asphalt over the worst sections of Oxford St. and Paris Hill Road to get by for the next year or two. Money to do this would come from the $88,000 already in the capital budget, or the operating budget, and would negate the need to borrow this year."
But now another critical question arises. What dollar amount from 2010-2011 are we going to flat line our 2011-2012 budget to?
Budget Chair Vic Hodgkins, in a frustrated statement at the end of Thursday's meeting, exclaimed "...the numbers don't seem to work! ". He went on to explain what his goal has been for the committee, that he will "...make sure that whatever this committee puts out for numbers is not one penny more than what we voted on last year. And that figure changed." He explained his understanding of how the figures in the material the committee had been working with had been achieved, and his commitment to keeping the total the same this year. "Now, I look at the figure we get tonight, that's dated 4-6-11, same, same categories, same thing, and all of a sudden the numbers have changed."
A composite budget sheet (from the 6-12-10 town meeting plus the 7-26-2010 special town meeting) show a total municipal expenditure for 2010-2011 of $3,346,186; the expenses totals on the 2012 Budget Committee Department Review show a figure of $3,398,590.
This is a difference of $52,404. The composite sheet lists things in single stand-alone categories; and, where there is more than one item in a category, the single items are listed and a total given in the category as well. For example, line item #1 is a stand-alone category; line 2 & 3 are in another category, and line 4 is the total of 2 & 3. Line #2 is $494,716; line #3 is $325,289. And in this line is the rub, because the total is $820,005, not $767,602, as listed. This is a difference of $52,403. Give or take one dollar for rounding up or down, this error had been corrected in the 4-06 budget total.....
...but somehow, no one had thought to tell the budget committee, several weeks into their work sessions ( and for Chairman Hodgkins, much longer). Management evidently working from one figure, workers from another.
So, what dollar amount are we supposed to flat line to, folks, if we're going to do this thing?
And, who has the bottom line responsibility to make sure the numbers are accurate? During Thursday's budget meeting, after Chairman Hodgkins' statement of frustration, Mgr. Tarr was quick to point out the changes in finance officers and all the other changes and new people that have gone on in this town.
TPR wishes to pose the question: Who has the word Manager beside his name? He's been here through 2 budget cycles now. What has he been doing while all this change has been going on?
