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Selectmen amend warrant article after finding accounting error, reduce proposed transfer to capital reserve
Summary
After identifying a bookkeeping error that overstated available unassigned funds, the board voted to amend a warrant article and lower a proposed transfer to the capital reserve from $726,000 to $113,468 and approved corrected amounts for other warrant articles before the deliberative session.
Selectmen voted to amend warrant language and amounts after an accounting review revealed an earlier miscalculation. Committee member (speaker 9) explained that a $500,000 debit had not been recorded during a prior adjustment related to property-tax rate relief, producing an apparent but incorrect surplus. "I had thought we had an extra $726,000," the speaker said, adding that the corrected, affordable amount for transfer is $113,468.
After discussion, the board moved and approved a motion to amend the warrant article to read: "to see if the town will raise and appropriate the sum of $113,468 to be added to the future capital improvements capital reserve fund previously established; the sum to come from unassigned fund balance, no amount to be raised by taxation." The board also revisited other warrant items: the amount for the ambulance/revolving fund (article 13) was updated to $216,692.32 and approved for the warrant packet.
Board members emphasized transparency and that changes would be reflected in the deliberative session packet and ballot materials. One member said he would revise the warrant report language to show the corrected figures and renumber articles as needed before posting.
