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Selectboard debates new accounting line for police vehicle repairs
Summary
The board discussed adding a $5,000 police vehicles line to capture DPW labor costs, with the police chief expressing concern about how the town will track time and avoid confusion over fixed payroll distribution.
During a detailed budget review the board considered a new $5,000 line-item to capture the cost of public-works labor used to service police vehicles. Chief Humphreys and other members debated whether that accounting change clarifies expense tracking or simply reassigns fixed salary costs without adding new budget dollars.
Chief Humphreys described the practical challenge: DPW employees are paid the same salary whether they work on water, sewer, municipal buildings or police vehicles, and he said tracking hours is difficult. He asked whether outsourcing or developing a time-tracking program might better reflect actual costs. A board member said the $5,000 is primarily an accounting measure intended to make historical averages and audits clearer; the chair said the dollars overall would not change this year and the board will revisit the approach in the fall.
Chief Humphreys summarized department activity with service totals and cautioned that the public may misread the presentation if the accounting changes are not explained: "...you would think that police just implied this much up this budget by the 32,000 when they've averaged 27," he said. The board agreed to retain the $5,000 line for now and directed staff to improve tracking and present clearer figures at a later meeting.
