Selectmen Skirt Budget Issue

At their weekly meeting last night, Peru's Selectmen got some encouraging news about the Town's fiscal standing. Chair Tim Holland read a letter from Maine DOT that a long-awaited check for the state's share of the Town's new sand/salt shed, constructed five years ago, will be arriving "shortly." Exact amount: $92,123.61. Add an expected hike in Municipal Revenue Sharing in FY2012 of $7,773 (according to revised projections released earlier this month by the State Treasurer's office), and you get a year-over-year revenue boost of almost 100 grand.

Auditor Keel Hood was present to update the Board on his inspection of the Town's books. He will finish his on-site activity on Tuesday and told the Selectmen that "I do not anticipate major problems." Though he does not yet have final figures, he expects to find that the undesignated surplus at fiscal year-end was about the same as a year ago. Unpaid taxes have not increased dramatically in the past year, but Hood warned the Board that aging liens are "a sign that people are having a hard time paying their taxes." The townspeople should have the audit in their hands at least a month earlier than they did in 2010.

On the spending side, the Selectmen were still struggling with how to shave $10,000 from the Town Office budget, as per the voters' directive of June 28. Under consideration is a reduction in the amount set aside for annual assessing from $7,000 to $5,000. Wages for the Deputy Town Clerk may be dropped from $5,000 to $3,000. However, those cuts will be offset by $4,500 for software updates and IT support, an amount somehow omitted during budget deliberations last spring. The position of Selectmen's Secretary was described as a "fixed" cost by Holland, who cannot see the Board functioning without a full-time secretary.

If the Town picks up the secretary's health insurance on January 1, 2012, as planned, then the costs of that position will rise to nearly half of the budget target for Town Office operations. Everything else is small change. One is reminded of the legendary remark by Willie Sutton, when asked why he robbed banks. "Because that's where the money is," said Willie. At some point during the fiscal year, the Board will finally have to recognize where the money is.