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Budget committee presses for reconciled impact-fee accounting after town report
Summary
At its April 6 meeting the Brentwood Municipal Budget Committee reviewed an impact-fee accounting presentation and requested a reconciled report showing receipts, expenditures and compliance with the six-year statutory window; staff agreed to produce quarterly reconciliations and tie bank statements to spreadsheet records.
Brentwood — The town’s budget committee asked town staff on April 6 to produce a reconciled, quarterly accounting of the municipality’s impact-fee receipts and expenditures after a staff presentation showed gaps between the spreadsheet and bank statements.
Ambrose, who walked the committee through the Excel reconciliation and TD Bank statements, said the town has “collected $834,000, and we only have about $420,000 left,” and that some recent receipts had not yet been transferred into the escrow/subaccounts. He said there is a roughly $30,000 timing discrepancy that will be disbursed from the general fund while staff completes the reconciliation.
Chair Jim read statutory language noting a reporting requirement: “no later than 60 days following the end of fiscal year we shall have a report listing all expenditures of impact-fee revenue for the prior fiscal year,” and asked staff to prepare the report so the public can track whether fees were expended, retained, or refunded.
Why it matters: impact fees are collected from new development to pay for projects such as school capacity, police and fire equipment and town facilities. State RSA provisions and auditor expectations require municipalities to show when fees were assessed, collected and spent so that fees tied to developments can be tracked within the statutory period.
What staff said: Julie and Ambrose said the worksheets reconcile most accounts but that several subaccounts (police, town office building, recreation) show activity that needs documentation. Ambrose said he will produce a version of the report that includes both receipts and expenditures tied to bank statements and will aim to deliver quarterly updates so the committee can see current-year activity rather than only year-end balances.
Committee requests and next steps: committee members asked staff to include a simple “waterfall” or ledger showing the date each fee was assessed and when corresponding expenditures were made, and to flag any fees nearing the six-year statutory window. Members also recommended including the reconciliation in the town report where practical. Ambrose said auditors typically use sampling and materiality when reviewing impact fees, but he agreed to prepare the detailed reconciliation and return with a reconciled statement of receipts and expenditures.
No formal policy change or vote was taken; the committee directed staff to provide the reconciled report and quarterly updates and to bring supporting documentation for expenditures that are currently unclear.
The budget committee will review the reconciliation at a future meeting; staff also discussed putting the required annual impact-fee report into the town report where the public can access it.
