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Foster resident raises concern over $120,000 change to land trust capital request
Summary
At the April 24 Foster Town Council meeting a resident, speaking on behalf of the Land Trust as a private citizen, said a $120,000 capital request was altered after the trust’s submission and without the trust being notified before the April 10 meeting.
Linda Tibbetts of Mill Road told the Town Council during public comment that she attended a budget workshop and the preliminary budget hearing and that the land trust’s capital budget request had been changed without the trust receiving notice.
Tibbetts said she will need to explain the unexplained change to the land trust’s trustees because the town’s April 10 meeting agenda reflected a different request than what had been submitted. She told the council the change appears to remove $120,000 of capital funds that the land trust expected to see on the budget that will be presented at the town financial meeting on May 6.
Council members responded that the item was not on the night’s agenda and therefore could not be discussed in detail at that meeting. A council member suggested placing the matter on a future agenda, but Tibbetts said that would be too late because the town financial meeting is scheduled for May 6. A follow-up exchange in the meeting record indicates staff had spent nearly two hours earlier that day explaining the paperwork to Tibbetts.
A separate commenter during public comment clarified a procedural point cited by Tibbetts: conveyance-tax allocations to the land trust do not come out of the general tax pool in the sense of an additional municipal charge; rather, those allocations are part of the town’s handling of conveyance tax receipts. That commenter asserted that removing the requested $120,000 would effectively slow or impede the land trust’s acquisition plans; a council member agreed the funds would remain associated with the land trust account if not allocated to specific line items.
Because the item was not on the council’s agenda for the April 24 meeting, the council did not discuss or take action on the matter. Tibbetts said she planned to present the concern to the land trust’s trustees at their next meeting and hoped the council would provide clarification before the May 6 town financial meeting.
The council noted the procedural limit — matters not on the posted agenda cannot be discussed — and suggested following the formal process to have the item placed on an upcoming council agenda so it can be addressed publicly prior to the financial meeting if feasible.
