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Select board reviews heritage fund procedures after commission seeks pre-approval for Plains Cemetery celebration spending
Summary
The board discussed whether donations designated for the Plains Cemetery celebration should be accepted and pre-authorized for expenditure by the Heritage Commission, and directed staff to develop a consistent written procedure for accepting and expending heritage fund donations.
The Kingston Select Board discussed March 3 how the town accepts and expends donations to the town's Heritage Fund, after the Heritage Commission asked that donations earmarked for a Plains Cemetery celebration be accepted and pre-authorized for spending by the commission.
The Select Board was told the Heritage Fund is authorized under state law (RSA) and was adopted by the town; however, Kingston 's local practice added the Select Board as an additional check on expenditures. "The RSA actually, says that the Heritage Commission alone can authorize and dispense funds out of the heritage fund, as long as they have a majority vote of their body," one speaker said. "When Kingston adopted the heritage fund, it added the select board to go to to to be an additional checkbox on the expenditure."
Ernie, chair of the Heritage Commission, told the board the commission is organizing a Plains Cemetery celebration in May and will be soliciting donations for it. He and other speakers proposed that when donations are designated specifically for that celebration, the board accept the donations and simultaneously authorize the Heritage Commission to expend them according to a specified event budget so the commission would not need to return to the board for each purchase.
Board members and staff agreed that pre-approval should be tied to a specific budget or itemized list of expenditures. "If you have a budget of $2,000 for the event and you now have x amount for this, that and the other, we get 2,000. If we apply to that budget, I think we're okay because now you have specific expenditures," one board member said, noting the need for an audit trail.
No formal vote was taken. The board directed staff and the Heritage Commission to present an itemized budget for the Plains Cemetery celebration and to work with the town's finance office to produce a written procedure for how donations to the Heritage Fund are accepted and expended. The town will maintain the funds in its accounting system; the board said it has asked Apollo (town counsel/consultant) to draft a standard procedure for handling donations and expenditures so future boards and commissions follow the same process.
Speakers noted the Heritage Fund has been used in the past to bridge timing gaps in projects (for example, paying contractors up front and reimbursing the fund when donations or grant reimbursements arrive). The board emphasized any pre-approval should include itemized expenditures to ensure proper accounting and auditing.
The Heritage Commission will return with a proposed budget and the board will consider a standing procedure for accepting donations and approving expenditures for designated events.
