Council to meet to transfer funds Pittsfield officials want to move $54,630 to different town accounts

PITTSFIELD – Town Manager Kathryn Ruth is calling a special meeting for Dec. 30 to attend to “a housekeeping process” which involves transferring fund balances from where they were not needed to where they were needed.

In all, $53,630 will be shifted from eight accounts into five – finance, legal, police insurance and general assistance.

This transfer process has not been done since 1997, said Ruth, and the town’s auditors have recommended that it become a regular end-of-the-year practice.

The accounts that had unencumbered balances are community development, animal control, public works, buildings and grounds, recreation, airport, debt service and contingency.

Ruth explained that the police department, which is getting $18,800 to balance the books, had an extremely busy year.

“Employees left during the year with new employees hired who had to be outfitted with uniforms and equipment,” said Ruth. The town is also required to pay for the training of one officer, Marty Cochran, who has been at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy for several months. In addition, the department paid out $6,800 for the cost of motor vehicle repairs while the insurance claim reimbursement went into the town’s revenue account, not the department’s expenditure budget.

The finance department will also get $16,360 which reflects the higher-than-anticipated audit costs. “The town’s audit costs have been high for many years due to the financial records, lack of financial reconciliations and an out-dated repetitive bookkeeping system,” she said. The council recently authorized the purchase of updated software to help alleviate this problem.

The legal account is also getting $3,150, after a busy year of resolving a number of long-standing issues. “In the 2003 budget, the legal costs were approved at $2,000 more than the 2002 budget in order to address this,” said Ruth.

General assistance, always a gamble, went over budget by $9,820. Ruth said the number of applicants went up considerably this year.

Insurance was overdrawn by $5,500, said Ruth. “Maine Municipal Association advised the town that we have filed the first complete application for our insurance coverage in a long time,” said Ruth. “Therefore, the town had more up-to-date inventories, provided coverage for the tax-acquired properties and so paid more for this coverage. We also purchased an airport liability policy for $2,950 to provide new coverage not previously held by the town.”

A special town council meeting has been scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 30 to hold a public hearing on an ordinance shifting the funds. It is the only item on the agenda.