WELLFLEET — Heading into the annual town meeting this Saturday, June 26, there is still a lot that town officials say they do not know, including exactly what the tax impact of a whopping 24-percent budget increase will be.
On June 22, four days before town meeting, finance committee chair Fred Magee said his committee had not yet recommended or even discussed the town’s fiscal 2022 operating and capital budgets because it had not seen them.
The town meeting warrant shows an overall spending increase from $23.1 million in the current fiscal year to $28.5 million, including more than $3.5 million in expenditures proposed in warrant articles other than the operating and capital budgets. Charlie Sumner, the interim town administrator, said he will know the tax impact by Saturday and will explain it to the voters. But, he cautioned, Wellfleet is dealing with an accounting fiasco, and he is discovering new deficiencies daily.
“Every spreadsheet has totals that aren’t accurate,” Sumner said. “That’s why I’m here. We uncover problems every day and we try to fix them. Will we solve these problems by Saturday? These have been two years or more in the making.”
The town is employing two part-time accountants who were hired by Sumner to correct municipal accounting deficiencies going back years and come up with new procedures going forward. This came after the town accountant was fired last fall by a new town administrator, Maria Broadbent. She hired a new accountant, Heather Michaud, in December. In April, both Michaud and Broadbent resigned, amid revelations that the fiscal 2022 town budget had not been prepared. The select board brought in Sumner, a retired former Brewster town administrator, in May. He and the two part-time accountants have been consumed with correcting longstanding accounting problems ever since.
“The reality for us,” Sumner said this week, “is we’ll go to town meeting on Saturday, and we’ll present a budget for the fiscal year and we feel we’ve gotten that firmed up. We have concerns about fund balances and revenues, but those will take time to analyze.”
What does this mean for voters who must approve or reject a major spending increase? The figures in the warrant include $3.1 million in new debt exclusions, or borrowing articles, to fund a wastewater treatment plant for a future affordable housing project and several new trucks, cars, and radios for the dept. of public works and the marina, fire, and police departments.
Usually, the finance committee reviews all spending articles and provides advice on whether requests for new equipment or projects are reasonable.
This year, due to the last-minute scramble to create the budget, the finance committee will make its recommendations at 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 24, Magee said. At that point, he hopes to have enough answers either to support the administration’s requests or to reject them. The committee may also opt to abstain or reserve its recommendation if it is still unable to get sufficient information from the town administration.
“We know that Sumner and several accountants are working on getting correct values and year-to-date spending, and that won’t be finalized until after town meeting,” Magee said. “The real numbers don’t yet exist. People will get angry at town meeting. I think that’s another thing we can predict.”
In previous years, Wellfleet’s town budget has risen modestly. It went from $21.8 to $22.2 million from 2019 to 2020, a 1.9-percent increase, according to the warrant. In 2021, it rose to $23.1 million, a 3.7-percent increase.
When asked about the nearly 24-percent jump this year, Magee said there might have been a typo or miscalculation in the warrant. Everything had to happen so fast this year, he added.
Magee said it is also conceivable that not all the borrowing articles presented to voters will go out for financing, if the town comes up with the money through untapped revenue sources discovered over the summer.
Sumner and the select board have agreed to hold a town meeting in the fall, when the town might have access to its free cash. That is surplus funds that the state Dept. of Revenue must certify and can then be used to pay expenses. Due to accounting blunders, Wellfleet’s free cash was not certified this year, leaving the town without access to about $1 million.
“Is Wellfleet in such bad shape?” Magee asked. “Well, we don’t know that yet. All we know is that the accounting is messed up. I think Wellfleet is better off than people think it is. I think a big part of the select board and Charlie’s challenge is to calm the waters and not be patronizing.”
Wellfleet Town Meeting
When: Saturday, June 26, 10 a.m.
Where: 100 Lawrence Road, Wellfleet Elementary School Ball Field
Wellfleet Town Election
When: Wednesday, June 30, 12 noon to 7 p.m.
Where: Wellfleet Senior Center, 715 Old King’s Highway
