2010-2011 Annual Town Report

Today was a historic day for Lisbon. Today, the Town of Lisbon released the 2010-2011 Town of Lisbon Annual Report. This report covers 1 July 2010 through June 30, 2011. Do you realize it took the town 349 days to complete this report? In 16 days, the town will begin 2012-2013. The reaction time for reporting demonstrates total gross negligence on the part of the town manager (Chief Administrative Officer). The information in this annual report is totally outdated. The town paid $1,120.00 of our tax dollars to publish 350 copies.

On June 8th, 2012, I received via email the March and April 2012 Managerial Reports. These reports took approximately 100 days to publish the March report and 69 days for April’s report. Taxpayers deserve to have information in a timely manner. Residents of Lisbon are paying a fortune in taxes for services which are not being provided in a timely manner. This information is truly outdated and impossible to address to the Town Council for action. Again, it is the Chief Administrative Officer’s responsibility to provide these reports in a timely manner; especially since he is being paid in excess of $85,000.00 of our tax dollars.

I asked why it took so long to publish the annual report and was told it was because the salary report ends December 31st of the year. This is strange since the budget and wages are approved for July 1st through June 30th of the next year. The Annual Report is from 2010-2011 and includes the entire FISCAL year and not calendar year; so why is there so mush delay in getting the report published? These reports should be published in a timely manner: (1) Annual Reports should be published and available 45 days from the end of the fiscal year, (2) Managerial Reports should be available 15 days after the end of the month. The citizens of Lisbon deserve to have this information in a timely manner since we are paying dearly in taxes.

I will have to say the town has a huge sense of humor. On the cover of the Annual Report is the “Mission Statement”. Part of the mission statement is “We are committed to serving the public, being accountable with integrity, honesty and responsibility.” and “We are committed to sharing information with our citizens and including them as partners in the decision making process.” These two statements are false if you review their track record.

First, the Town Council restricted the Public from speaking on agenda items after having the sponsor explain the proposal, and having the councilors discuss the item. Instead, the Public is forced to speak on agenda items without the benefit of knowing why the sponsor is raising the issue. On May 8th at the Public Hearing on the town’s budget, numerous residents’ spoke out against any wage increase and they were totally ignored. Also, the Advisory Board recommended unanimously NOT accepting the proposed municipal budget and the town council totally ignored them too. So where is the “including them as partners in the decision making process?

I had to sue the town twice to get information I was entitled to. I also had to call the state to have them step in to obtain information I was entitled to by law. Does this sound like being committed to sharing information or including the public in the decision making process? This just goes to show there is NO integrity, honesty or responsibility by the town manager and the town council.

At what point are the taxpayers going to receive what they are paying for?

Larry Fillmore
Concerned Citizen