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Tisbury FinCom flags accounting backlog, pushes Responsible Budget Management for FY27
Summary
The Tisbury Finance & Advisory Committee called out multi-year accounting backlogs and a lack of timely financial information as central causes of a difficult FY27 budget season, and recommended Responsible Budget Management, succession planning, and quarterly briefings with the Town Administrator.
The Tisbury Finance and Advisory Committee on April 15 described a strained FY27 budget season driven by a transition in the finance office and a lack of ready financial data for volunteer reviewers.
Town Administrator Joe LaCivita and committee members said several factors compounded the problem: departments entering budgets directly for the first time, the recent retirement of the long-time finance director, and an accounting backlog. Committee members credited new Finance Director Elena De Foe and contracted consultant Amy Tierney with starting to clear the backlog and instituting monthly reconciliations to provide timely information.
The FinCom recommended instituting Responsible Budget Management (RBM) procedures to better estimate revenues and control year-end surpluses. The minutes note the committee asked for regular, joint budget scheduling and quarterly meetings with the Town Administrator to keep boards and department heads aligned. An unattributed excerpt in the minutes stated: "It was not too soon to start thinking about FY28."
Committee members emphasized succession planning and mandated training for department heads to avoid operational gaps during staff transitions. The committee highlighted that, without clear accounting outputs, volunteers could not perform necessary review, troubleshooting, and public presentation of budget recommendations.
