Mayor Junkin:

You know that financial transparency and financial accountability are at the core of my campaign for councilor in ward 2.   Thus I need to respond on your post that this FIR award is somehow recognition of financial transparency here in Pelham.

FIR is an acronym for Financial Information Return

The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing defines this recognition as “…These municipalities are being recognized for their efforts and contributions in ensuring that timely, reliable, and accurate financial information was submitted…”

That’s it.

• Timely means the required information was submitted by the government deadline
• Reliable means the Ministry believes it can trust the information
• Accurate means the Ministry believes it is correct, exact, and free from any mistakes

Those three attributes are essential in accounting and financial reporting and I applaud the Town and Treasurer for this achievement.

Now let’s talk about what financial transparency is.  It has these attributes:

• Open Disclosure:  Sharing accurate details about cash flow, profits, losses, and liabilities, in a timely manner, without hiding negative data.
• Accessibility:  Reports are easy for stakeholders to find and understand.
• Accountability:  Using clear reporting systems to build trust and show ethical responsibility.

The town’s budget setting process which drives property taxes is not built upon the Town’s actual financial performance.  The administration builds the next budget on the current budget and ignores current year performance (i.e. surpluses).   The Town puts forth the impression that it is explaining or justifying these increases but the notes are superficial and simplistic.  This is not Open Disclosure; it does not demonstrate Accountability to you Mr Mayor, or the Council or the tax payers.  It is an artful technique to raise taxes without proper and supporting detailed justifications.

There is a further lack of accountability and a lack of open disclosure during the course of the year.  There seems be a total absence of comparing actual spending against budget spending.  

We need to see deviations from budget spending plans by department/director or manager; this applies to both town operating spending and capital spending.   These comparisons should occur two or three times during the year and be timely enough that you My Mayor have visibility and the opportunity to enact corrective actions.  

Apologize for hijacking your post.  Just felt the need for correcting the record on this topic.

Thomas Svob, CPA CMA

Ward 2 Candidate