"Surprise, Surprise, Surprise" Lisbon Town Manager Conceals Money From Taxpayers

Gomer - Pyle

Eldridge

2014 TOWN MANAGER’S BUDGET PRESENTATION FLAWED

On Tuesday night at the last town council meeting, Town Manager, Stephen Eldridge provided the council and audience with the 2014 Municipal Budget.  This presentation contains numerous attempts to conceal tax dollars from the people.  Below is a listing of a few that were obvious:

Slides 7 & 8 – Department Initial Request and the Town Manager Recommendation – I believe these two slides should reflect the same items in order to compare apples to apples.  Instead there are different line items in both.  This is another deliberate attempt to confuse the council and the people.   

Keep in mind, the council transferred $19,800 tax dollars out of the Town Building line item on August 21, 2012.  Also, on both slides are additional costs for the Communication Center listed under Increase Staff/Wages; Capital Reserve and PSAP Fee. The total additional cost for the Communications Center by the department is $118,000 tax dollars and the Town Manager is $65,000 tax dollars.   

This Communication Center is costing the taxpayers more and more each year when this cost (approximately $219,045 plus this year’s increase) could have been eliminated if the council had voted to allow the Androscoggin County Commissioners to consolidate Lisbon Communication Center with the Androscoggin County Dispatch.

Slide 11 – Town Tax Allocation – This was a feeble attempt to reflect the tax dollars used by departments.  It shows the Police Department ($958.474) is second to Public Works ($985,354).  You continue down the list and you come to Communications ($219,045).  Communications comes directly under the Police Department and is supervised by Chief of Police David T. Brooks.  So these two figures should have been combined $958,474 and $219, 045 for a Police Department total of $1,177,519.00 which makes the Police Department the most costly to operate.

 Brooks

Slide 15 – Wages & Benefits - This slide has numerous problems.  The first one is it reflects an increase in Retirement & Social Security.  Well how can you have an increase in Social Security when last year $5,600 tax dollars was transferred out of this account less than 60 days into the new year?  Insurance had a carry forward of $100,000 tax dollars on August 21, 2012.   

But the biggest problem with this slide is the statement “Align Budget with Actual Expenditures”.  In other words charge the expenditures to the actual line item number it applies to.  This should have been a normal accounting practice all along instead of concealing the cost in departments that do not apply to the purchase.  This might even eliminate the misappropriation of town funds that has been going on for years.

I understand this proposed budget is a work in progress and during the next few months these figures will change some.  It is a fact; this council will support anything Chief Brooks wants for the Communication Center and the Police Department.  I just hope it is not at the cost of a tax increase like last year.  Once the tax increase was in effect; the Finance Director reported a $1,103,326.23 carry forward.  In other words, the town did not use over a million tax dollars from the previous year.  Tell me again why the taxpayers had to suffer a tax increase with so much left over?

These are a few issues pertaining to this year’s budget.  Is it possible to put a stop to this madness?

Larry Fillmore

We the People