Are Lisbon's Taxpayers' Getting Fleeced By The Town Manager ?

THE FLEECING OF LISBON

 Lisbon Town Manager Stephen G. Eldridge

The darkest day in the history of Lisbon was when Chief Brooks talked the Town Council into hiring Stephen G. Eldridge as our Town Manager.  In 2008, when Mr. Eldridge took over as Town Manager, there was over three (3) million dollars, that’s right, three million dollars in the town’s Undesignated Fund.   

The Undesignated Fund is an account where the funds have NOT been designated for a purpose.  It is to ensure the town has at least 12.5% of the operating cost in case of an emergency.  The Charter Commissioners and the Town Fathers felt this was important to protect against bankruptcy.  These were very wise men and cared a great deal for this community.

According to the 2013 Municipal Tax Rate Calculation form submitted by the town to the state, the tax for commitment which is what is utilized to compute the Undesignated Fund was $10,422,328.02 and you multiply this number by 12.5% you will come up with $1,302,791.00 which should be what our Undesignated Fund Balance should be.  

 But if you go to the Annual Audit and look, you will see that the Undesignated Balance is $1,076,332.00 which means the town is SHORT $226,459.00.  This is what the auditor meant when they wrote “The Town’s Unassigned Fund Balance changed from 2012 to 2013 as a result of an unfavorable expenditure budget variance.”

If you notice no one explained the “unfavorable expenditure”.  

 This means that during Mr. Eldridge's reign of terror the town has spent over two (2) million dollars somewhere.  It certainly was not on our roads, so where?  This town is in desperate need of a forensic audit in order to hold someone accountable.

Now with our Undesignated Fund being short $226,459.00, Mr. Eldridge is proposing a wage increase for town employees.  As I have stated in the past, I am not against the actual town workers receiving a wage increase but I am against Mr. Eldridge and Department Heads receiving anything because their salaries are drastically inflated.  Also, Mr. Eldridge’s annual increase is based on the same percentage as the employees.   

Who do you think negotiated the increase; that’s right Mr. Eldridge?

Now, I am going to show you the latest tactic utilized by Mr. Eldridge to get his way.  For years, wage increases were included in the budget when it was presented to the people at a Public Hearing?  Because so many people were outraged at the last two Public Hearings and the Town Council was getting the reputation of not listening to the people; Mr. Eldridge had to do something new.  This year there was no mention of wage increases in the budget at Public Hearing.    

That is because Mr. Eldridge started with the Unions first.  Always before, Mr. Eldridge established a wage increase percentage for the town employees and then negotiated with the Union for the same or below.  Now, he has negotiated with the Unions first in order to jam a wage increase down our throats. 

Mr. Eldridge has a very special manner in which to confuse the Town Council and the people and that is by using different terms such as Town Surplus Fund Balance instead of Undesignated Fund Balance.  There is no such term as Town Surplus Fund Balance in our Town Ordinances.  Section 86-1 Fund Balance Policy (See Below) outlines the Undesignated Fund Balance requirements.   

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As you can see in paragraph (c) the council cannot approve the Supplemental Appropriations because the Undesignated Fund is below the mandatory requirement.  Given the history of this council, I am sure the town will approve this Supplemental Appropriations because the majority of the council could care less about our town Ordinances.

How much more of our tax dollars are going to be misappropriated by our Town Manager?  How long do the taxpayers have to pay over $91,000 tax dollars to have someone run this community into the ground financially?

Larry Fillmore