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School committee says $700,000 Boil Athletic Complex obligation needs accounting; repayment plan to be negotiated
Summary
Committee members said a now-defunct fundraising committee had accepted responsibility for repaying a $700,000 town pledge for the Boil Athletic Complex; the expense does not appear clearly in audits and school and town leaders agreed to meet to determine how to record and repay the amount.
Members of the Smithfield School Committee raised concerns on Nov. 14 about roughly $700,000 tied to the Boil Athletic Complex and the absence of a clear, auditable repayment trail.
A committee member recounted minutes in which a town council member was said to have approved $700,000 for the project to be repaid over time through fundraising; that committee has since dissolved. As one member put it, "That committee no longer exists. So...where does that ownership fall?" The committee expressed concern that, as currently recorded, the funds can look in the audit as if operating money was spent without a defined obligation.
School and town leaders said they have discussed a technical approach: recording the amount as a loan on the school department’s books to be paid back to the municipal fund, but with explicit terms and an audit trail. A council member and school leaders said they expected to meet with the superintendent and business office staff to confirm how the transaction should be classified and to propose a repayment mechanism that would appear properly in audits and restore the school fund balance.
No final accounting action was taken at the work session. Officials said they will convene a smaller working group (town and school finance staff plus elected liaisons) to develop a concrete proposal and to report back to both bodies at the next joint meeting.
Next steps: town and school finance leaders will meet to reconcile audit entries, define the repayment vehicle (loan or other mechanism), and recommend how to record the obligation so the district’s fund balance and the town’s ledgers reflect the arrangement.
