Lakeville introduces new town accountant Mike Ellis; he will manage CPC accounting and projections

Mike Ellis, the Town of Lakeville's new town accountant, introduced himself to the Community Preservation Committee at its Dec. 19 meeting and outlined his municipal finance experience and near-term plans for CPA accounting.

Ellis said he had spent 12 years in municipal accounting previously and moved to Lakeville in August. "I spent 12 years in the town of Born, about evenly split as the assistant town accountant and then town accountant, CPA from day 1," Ellis said. He told the committee he lives in town with his wife and three young children and had taken the Lakeville position after the previous town accountant left.

Ellis told committee members he had imported revenue numbers into the town accounting system (Munis) after the tax-rate certification and planned to maintain the committee's spreadsheet. "The spreadsheet is something I plan on putting on the website yearly, most likely around September when we generate the CP1, CP2, and CP3. So that it kinda makes sense to update it and put it post again," he said. He also said he would prepare estimates for fiscal 2026 and aimed to send preliminary numbers the week after the meeting and follow up in January.

Committee members welcomed Ellis and asked questions about how returned funds would be handled; Ellis described posting reimbursements back to the original funding sources. The committee discussed administrative allocation levels for the CPA (3% vs. the 5% maximum) and signaled a preference to stick with 3% for 2026, with final numbers to be set after Ellis's projections.

Ending: Ellis will provide conservative revenue estimates and confirm posted figures at the committee's next meeting in January.