Middleborough cultural council corrects grant math, restores library funds and ups Bristol-Plymouth award

The Town of Middleborough Local Cultural Council approved adjusted allocations of its 2025 state cultural funds after members resolved a calculation discrepancy over which line on the accountant’s form to use to compute the 20% local set-aside.

The council voted to restore $213 to the Friends of the Middleborough Public Library, increase Bristol Plymouth’s award by $500 (to $750), and move $164 into the ticketed-events line for Burtwood School — changes council members said balanced the final report and allowed award letters to be sent.

The adjustment followed a staff explanation of the accounting form used by the town accountant and treasurer. “This is the form that is used by the town accountant to just go through and review by our treasurer for the purposes of identifying what we have for veil funds and consists of a series of boxes that different numbers are put in,” one council member said during the discussion, pointing to two boxes on the form described in the meeting as box H and box I.

According to the figures discussed at the meeting, box H — the state-allocated amount for Middleborough — was $19,000, while box I — labeled “available funds” and including unspent carryover — was $23,384. The difference affected how the council’s 20% local allocation was calculated: using box I produced a 20% figure of $4,677 (which the transcript shows had been applied to the Middleborough 250 project), while using box H produces $3,800 for that set-aside. Council members described a related reconciliation that produced $877 in unallocated funds, which were redistributed as described above so that the final reported expenditures matched the available balance of $23,384.

Council members said one change made at the December 5 meeting had been a $213 reduction from the Friends of the Middleborough Public Library; the motion approved at this session restored that amount so the Friends would receive $1,000. The motion also increased Bristol Plymouth’s award to $750 and raised the Burtwood School ticketed-events line to $539. After discussion the council called for the vote; members voted in favor and the chair directed staff to finalize and send award letters.

The council’s discussion emphasized that the discrepancy came from using different boxes on the town form — the transcript repeatedly contrasted “allocated” (box H) and “available” (box I) when describing which base should be used to calculate the 20% set-aside. Members said the corrected allocation and the small internal adjustments brought the final report into balance and allowed staff to notify grantees. One member noted, “Everyone should receive their letters as of now,” as staff checked the outgoing notifications during the meeting.

No public comments were offered at the start of the meeting. After approving the adjusted allocations and confirming that award letters would be sent, the council adjourned.

Next steps noted in the meeting: staff will send award letters to grantees and file the corrected final report reflecting the allocations based on the form values agreed during the session.