WHY DID THE TOWN COUNCIL FIND IT NECESSARY TO ELIMINATE THE FINANCE COMMITTEE?

Last Tuesday night’s Town Council meeting, the Council voted to eliminate the Finance Committee.  They provided three reasons:  (1) the first was that the Town Manager and the Finance Director are more than qualified to handle the situation, (2) the lack of applicants, and (3) finally the finance committee could never get organized to make recommendations to the Council. 

This was all a setup to gain absolute control of all financial matters in town.  In a democracy, there are checks and balances to safeguard against corruption.  It has nothing to do with the integrity or character of those in charge but more eyes on the subject enables all aspects will be evaluated prior to a final decision.  This Council has eliminated all checks and balances and changed our form of government from a democracy to tyranny.  In this case, the Town Council has absolute control of both the School Department funds and the Municipal funds with no one checking what they are doing.

The idea that the Town Manager and the Finance Director will be able to decipher the School budget this year is ludicrous.  Mr. Rick Green and Mrs. Catherine Messmer have a history of doing an outstanding job on their budget.  The members of the School Board are very pleased with their performance and have complete faith in them to do all they can to present the best budget possible.

The Town Council has directed them to cut $600,000.00 tax dollars out of their budget or the Council will refuse their proposed budget and place before the people to vote on what the Council figures is a valid school budget.  The voters in Lisbon need to reject any and all budgets the Town Council puts before them. 

This Town Council is out of control and ONLY the people can regain control of their finances by voting all Councilors up for re-election out.  This town needs honest candidates who will always put the best interest of the town before their personal agenda.  Our current Council has forgotten it is all about the community and not themselves or following anyone else’s agenda.

The correct manner to form an efficient Finance Committee is to have the School Board appoint three members and the Town Council appoint three members with the Chair to be changed every year by a School Board member and a Councilor.  This will ensure members are familiar with both sides and can provide recommendations to the School Board and the Town Council.  As it was, the Town Council appointed all members and the majority of them were former Councilors.  These were the same individuals who created the financial situation the community is in today to include reducing our Undesignated Fund by more than two million dollars ($2,000,000.00) tax dollars.  None of these members wanted anyone to find out how they put us in this position.

At the time the Council voted to eliminate the Finance Committee there were two members on the committee.  The Councilors had two candidates to review and the Town Manager did not include the two additional applications she had received prior to the meeting.  This means the Town Council had four additional candidates to consider which if approved would have meant the Finance Committee would have six members and this was plenty to have a quorum.  With six members the Finance Committee would have been able to make the recommendations the Town Council was looking for and would keep the checks and balance in the system.

Absolute control over everything is what the Town Council was looking for and finally succeeded at getting.  
The only way to retake control of our community is find three incorruptible individuals to run in November to replace the Councilors who have sold their souls to the dark side.

VOTE THEM OUT IN NOVEMBER.  OUR FOREFATHERS FORMED THIS NATION BY DEFEATING TYRANNY.  IT IS TIME TO GET OFF THE COUCH AND RETAKE OUR COMMUNITY.

Larry Fillmore