#1 2009-10-05 13:34:29

BREAKING NEWS!

HNN, Ham News Network, has received reports that the school department will release the results of its investigation into the health care fund. this afternoon.  Sources tell Ham that there are reports that anywhere from $800,000 to 1,000,000 (one million dollars) out of the health care fund have gone missing under the Selectmen's watch!  What happened to that cash?  The public deserves to know!

Reports also indicate this bombshell is likely what the selectmen met for during an illegal meeting late Saturday afternoon, likely a damage control planning session.  Further reports indicate the selectmen plan on fighting any attempts to make the town pay the missing money back to the employee health care fund. 

Imagine that, selectmen don't want to put the money back to the health care fund, but had no problem decimating town services and cutting employee wages to give money back to the sewer users.  Hypocrites!

Stay tuned for when the school department releases its official report, but this is what Ham's vast network of dime droppers have told him.

Ham demands a full accounting of this missing money be made and calls for all selectmen to resign!

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#2 2009-10-05 13:42:24

so ham what your saying is that the town under the leadership of the crooks brenda  and brucehas lost  1million dollars from the employee health care funds , where is the missing money gone , is it paying there legal fees in sewing there  enemies , i think we need to storm town hall tues and tar and feather these  scoundrles.

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#3 2009-10-05 13:46:05

my god they wil have to have massive over rides to cover up there  mis mangement of the town, we should have had a recall before now

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#4 2009-10-05 13:53:15

These crooked select-scumbags should resign immediately!  Recall them all before they bankrupt the town!

Is this how they got money for the computer audit, the anti-blogger SWAT team, that they've refused to answer questions on where they got the money for?  Where did this money go?!  Call the DA!  Call the District Attorney! Call the Attorney General! Call the Governor!  Call the National Guard!  Call Obama!!!

Resign immediately!  Resign immediately!  Resign immediately select-scumbags!!!! 

RECALL THEM ALL BEFORE THEY BANKRUPT THE TOWN!!!!

Last edited by Hamatron5000 (2009-10-05 13:54:35)

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#5 2009-10-05 13:54:36

Where is the missing Selectman?
Snitch?

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#6 2009-10-05 13:58:01

IS CRONAN THE SNITCH?

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#7 2009-10-05 14:03:13

I have been reading this site for a very long time. I have not always agreed with the method, but the message is right on the mark. We need change and we need it quickly. I fell for Bruce Savague the first time around and voted for him. I wish I could take back my vote. He is a disgrace. Since I am coming clean I used to pick up a copy of the observer every week. never again.

I vote we recall every single one of them and toss rob slager out on his ear. i have a question to ask. if you walk in a bank and the owner is a complete idiot and tax cheat do you leave your money in the bank? this is what we are doing. we are asking idiots to manage our hard earned taxes. we cant change banks, but we can change owners. get rid of them before they ruin the town.

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#8 2009-10-05 14:03:41

I think this has been going on for years. Let's find out the facts before we get too crazy. How did this start? Who is responsible? Why were the bos not aware of it, or were they? Will there be reparations or just doing it right from now on? Too many questions just yet.

Let's not do a ragboy imitation. This site deals in facts. The meeting at town hall is at 3 pm. Anyone free to attend?

Good work Ham for breaking the story.

By the way, I heard they did "post" the covert meeting. Where? Who knows. How long do they consider "immediately" before they announce the meeting? who knows. This is not verified, just what I heard.

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#9 2009-10-05 14:05:24

You're going to prison behind this shit, Bruce. Pack your toothbrush now.

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#10 2009-10-05 14:10:06

Resign immediately select-scum!  Resign immediately select-scum!  The town should sue them personally to recover every last dime!!!  Resign immediately select-scum!!!

Oh great, Ham is foaming at the mouth.  Oh well, the occassion calls for it. 

RESIGN IMMEDIATELY SELECT-SCUM!!!!!!

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#11 2009-10-05 14:41:23

Thanks Ham, once again. I felt like this was a big issue that wasn't being brought up enough. Just another in a long line of screw-ups.

PShooter

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#12 2009-10-05 14:55:31

It's very disturbing, the selectmen cry the town is destitute, and no doubt it does have economic woes, and yet, they always seem to come up with money to finance their own personal vendettas and wars.  We've been asking for months where did the selectmen get the money to pay for the anti-Blogger SWAT team?  Where do they get the money to fight all their vendettas, wars, and legal battles?  Have they been dipping into the employee health care fund to finance their own personal war?  What did they spend this money on?

They should be sued personally to recover every last dime.  Select-scum, resign and get real jobs and pay the town back for your douchebaggery.

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#13 2009-10-05 15:27:49

They can't blame skyrocketing Legal Fees on "economic woes", try as they might.

PShooter

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#14 2009-10-05 15:44:29

Alright, I gotta ask, and maybe there is no answer to this yet...but...

When somewhere around a million dollars "goes missing", what are we talking about?  Literally stolen by someone who used the money for personal gain?  Transferred to another department?  Used to pay other town bills?  What does this actually mean?

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#15 2009-10-05 15:50:49

It's not as simple as that Cas. What it is is the the town is responsible for 75% of the health care cost and the employees are responsible for 25%. I'm not sure when it began, but apparently the employees contribution has amounted to more than the 25%. In effect, the town owes the employees money for the difference. This is where it gets a bit iffy. The admin has been dipping into the fund to supplement other expenditures and now has to repay the money to the fund. Of course, the town is broke and I'm pretty sure the Selectmen will lay this entirely on the ITA and former TA's. They would be correct to do so if they would stay away from day to day business, but we know better. My opinion is that it will be tossed in Saguinet's lap and it will end up costing him his job.

Just a side note: They will find a way to hang part of it on Bob Bliss.:)

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#16 2009-10-05 15:52:33

Cas,
Just a bit more. After the town pays the health care costs, they should have calculated the the actual split, and refunded it to the employees or reduced their health care payments. Instead, they used the money. Technically, it is not stealing, but it is a very bad practice.

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#17 2009-10-05 15:54:18

So Larry, would it be correct to say that the town has under-contributed their portion?  Did I read your comment right?  How much "under" are they in terms of percentage?  Is a $1,000,000 shortfall a 5% "underfund"?  Is it 50%?  Have any employees been denied health coverage because of this?

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#18 2009-10-05 16:49:55

Larry   Your right they are going to let the ITA take the fall all by himself. Didn’t they hire and independent auditor to come in and check the books after Bliss left? Supposedly everything was fine, no irregularities. You would think a good auditor would have found their little shell game or should I say $1,00,000 shell game.

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#19 2009-10-05 16:56:53

Bobo has the story. The selectmen are blaming all the TA"S from Hartman until now. Butt Monkey doesn't think the numbers are correct. The selectman may not be accountants but it their fault it took over a year to appoint a new TA. Maybe if they had found someone who was smart they would have found this problem a lot sooner.

Last edited by marny (2009-10-05 17:08:09)

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#20 2009-10-05 17:23:25

We have been talking about the fact that the bos won't hire a new TA for a long time on this site. Why has it taken this long to hire a competent professional? Why don't we have a TA in this town?

And McAuliffe didn't have time to do one budget when he got the boot from the bos because he wouldn't decimate the budget by  returning the entire sewer admin fee all at once. He shouldn't be blamed for anything regarding this issue.

And if the auditor said the books were ok, how was this missed?  And how did the school committee miss it for so long?

Many unanswered questions, but I have to say, it's just another black mark against this town.

Last edited by Molly (2009-10-05 17:24:08)

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#21 2009-10-05 17:29:40

i agree too many ?'s..

slagers name on the story about this.. he wasnt even in the room when this meeting happened only andrea s...i wonder how he got bruce's commentsbruce wasnt even at the meeting...

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#22 2009-10-05 17:40:07

Who are (In my opinion) the incompetent auditors that did not discover what apparently is an very easy thing to spot.
How much did the Town pay them?

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#23 2009-10-05 17:54:20

Tuesday's Selectmen's meeting should be interesting. Get ready for major spin and it's not my fault.

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#24 2009-10-05 18:04:50

I believe the Town is claiming they thought they were entitled to re-allocate the funds for other purposes (legal fees?). Because the premiums paid, were in excess of claims filed, admin. fees, etc., the surplus should have been refunded back in the same proportions (75% Town, 25% Plan participants). I look at it like this, if you and I went into business together (75%/25% partnership), and I took ALL the profits for myself, how would you like that? I think I read that the Town believed they were "self-insuring". As I said about this before in an earlier post, this is a ridiculous "assumption", especially considering a certain Selectman is an insurance professional. This is my assessment of it, but who knows, maybe I'm way off.. 

PShooter

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#25 2009-10-05 18:22:59

There's the concern about the selectmen, but how about the chairman of the finance committee?  From The Observer, on July 3 of this year:

Richard Paulsen, chairman of the Finance Committee, is disputing a story in the Standard-Times that suggests the town took a “substantial amount of money” from the Health Trust Fund and may be forced to give it back.
    According to Paulsen, School Committee Member Geoff Swett approached the FinCom during a meeting Tuesday night, questioning a five-year-old town policy that allows surpluses in the Health Trust Fund to roll over each year in order to prevent shortfalls in the future. Paulsen said Swett, a board member of the Citizens for a Better Wareham, wants the town to re-examine that policy and consider giving any yearly surplus back to employees in the plan (employees are currently responsible for paying 25 percent of the fund).
    “At this point we don’t even know if there is even a surplus,” Paulsen said. “This doesn’t have the appearance of being a really significant issue. A question has been asked. Geoff brought it to our attention. Changing policy would be up to the town administrator.”
    When told the local hate bloggers are claiming selectmen stole the money to pay for the audit of town-owner computers, Paulsen burst out laughing.
    “What these people write is beyond me sometimes,” he said. “I don’t know whether to smile or just shake my head. Sometimes I feel like doing both at the same time. The policy to roll over surpluses has been in effect for years.”

Well, we obviously now know there wasn't a surplus.  We also know that Swett seems to have been right about there being something fishy going on with the fund, even though his question doesn't appear to be dead on.  The S-T story (which I can't find at the moment - can anybody help?) also appears to be accurate.  Was the FinCom chair just asleep at the switch?  Who appointed him?  Is this issue related to the fact that the fincom can't get any numbers from the ITA?   Lots and lots of questions here

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#26 2009-10-05 18:53:12

THE LOSS TO THE HEALTH CARE FUND IS  CLOSE  2 MILLION DOLLARS, THE TOWN OF WAREHAM OWES THE FUND THIS 2 MILLION DOLLARS , IF THE SCHOOL DEPT SEWS THE TOWN FOR THE MONEY, THE TOWN COULD BE LIBABLE  FOR TRIPLE  DAMAGES. MR PAUSON BLAMES  HARTMAN , MR PAULSON THE HEAD OF THE FINANCE  COMMITEE  WHO DOESNT GET ANY INFO FROM THE SELECTMAN ON THE BUDGET IS FULL OF SHIT ,BRUCE TOLD SWEAT SUE US  YOU ARNT GETTING THE MONEY.THESE  SELECTMANWHO RUN THE DAY TO DAY ACTIVTIES BLAME THE TA , THERE WAS AN AUDIT WHEN THE ACCOUNANT WAS FIRED WHO SAID THE BOOKS WERE CLEAN, BRENDA AND BRUCE HAVE BEEN ON THE BOARD OF SELECTMAN FOR AT LEAST 5 YEARS .  THEY KEEP BLAMING OTHERS , I DONT REMEMBER ANY TIME  IN MY LIFE AS BIG AS A  SCREWUP AS THIS EXCEPT BRUCES  SWIFT BEACH  FIASCO , I DONT BELEAVE IT THEY GET RID OF GOOD PEOPLE AND HIRE AN ACCOUNANT WITH OUT A DEGREE , I SAY TO THESE SELECTMAN WHERE DOES THE BUCK STOP , WHERE IS THERE RESPOSEBILITY , THEY ARE FULL OF CRAP THEY HAVE BEEN RUNNING THE TOWN FOR AT LEAST 4 YEARS , AND WE NEED TO THROW THESE  CROOKS OUT. AND SLAGER YOUR ACCOUNTING OF THE FACTS OR SHOULD I SAY BRUCES ARE FULL OF SHIT . ANY BODY WITH  HALF A BRAIN KNOWS WE NEED TO THROW YOU GUYS OUT.

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#27 2009-10-05 19:02:58

Okay, I know Mr. Slager et al including our BOS read these blogs. So, let me say my piece. Do they all suffer from CRS? Wasn't it just a couple of years ago that Selectmen Ekstrom, Selectmen Donahue and the entire BOS insisted that the budget came under their jurisdiction? To the point where all but one member of the FinCom resigned? And, doesn't Selectmen Donahue professionally work in the Comptrollers Office for the US Navy? Shouldn't she be an expert on budgets?
So why did they claim then that the budget belonged to them and now claim they play no role in the budget. Also, when the Tobey Trust Fund was overspent, didn't they claim that Selectmen Parola and Selectmen Abbott should have been watching the FUND more closely and known about the overspending? They placed the blame on both of them, as Selectmen, but now they claim they have no connection to the FUND?
One thing for sure, how they fix this will be on their shoulders and will be entirely their responsibility. They can't blow that off or spin it any way.

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#28 2009-10-05 19:09:34

Cas, I couldn't find the ST article either. But here's a partial repost from one of my earlier threads, that included the link to the Courier story.

Two hot topics were brought up near the end of the last BOS Mtg.. Back to back they discussed the School Committee Health Care Trust, then the Affordable Housing Trust.

Starting at (10:20) of BOS MTG. 9/1/09

The Standard Times had a story about it awhile back, but the link appears broken. The Courier's story can be found at Wareham School Committee OKs Health Trust Fund analysis

PShooter

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#29 2009-10-05 19:25:30

TO BRUCE, SLAGER, PAULSON AND BRENDA  SCREW YOUR SELFS YOU ARE A BUNCH OF ASS HOLE LIARS.

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#32 2009-10-05 19:36:49

story already in the s-t by steve urbon...

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbc … /910059984

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#33 2009-10-05 19:37:14

Please correct me if I'm wrong but I thought during last fall town meeting, when they had to make the emergency cuts to the budget the ITA, BOS and FinCom all discussed using this money to close a budget gap. I recall the ITA saying he changed things regarding employee benefits and there was extra money available.  Now if they (ALL) knew at this point during OPEN TOWN MEETING that this was wrongm, where was our Board of Selectmen to stand up and question it??  Can a copy of the town meeting be located?    They are all to blame, removal of this current town administrator and board of selectmen is a must!  Mr. Hamatron you hit the nail on the head, Resign Immediately
Employee insurance fund fraud  1.9 mil
wrongful employee terminations 100K +++
Legal Account over run             365K +++
Computer audit                     40-60K
Town administrator payout          35k
How much was spent on Maple Springs Road fiasco?
I am also hearing the part time Police Chief is getting
full time pay?  (this should be looked into also) If this is true, I want a full time police chief!

What does this equal?

Services reductions
Our town looking like SHIT! (sorry for the vulgarity but its true)
No Lifeguards
Butchered Library
No Recreation
Trust me, senior services will be affected
Schools suffer

And the list goes on Please feel free to add.


Thank you

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#34 2009-10-05 19:39:40

Good evening,

Re: this health care trust fund:

It would be very difficult, perhaps not impossible, but very difficult to move funds from a health care TRUST fund to a general fund for the Town. I looked at the Town's 4-page recap sheet on the State's web site for FY2009. It lists a sum of about one-third of a million dollars as transfers from available funds. This amount is well below any numbers being tossed around. And, even if one assumes that prior years are included, they would be wrong. The DOR would NOT approve a tax rate based on a transfer from a fund dedicated to a specific purpose; that is, without jumping thru lots of hoops which would be quite public.

So. The more likely scenario is that projections on which the employee contributions were based were consistently low. In other words, the actual experience of the fund was BETTER than expected, in terms of employee helath expenses. This should have triggered adjustments going forward from year to year in Town/employee contributions to the fund. If this didn't happen, then the employees "overpaid". It would seem that this could be corrected going forward as future adjustments. But maybe the Trust documents require a payback from the Town.

More to follow. Got called to dinner. Can't miss that.......

Last edited by notalawyer (2009-10-05 19:41:09)

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#35 2009-10-05 20:15:09

When this hits the papers tomorrow, maybe it will aggravate people enough to show up at tomorrows selectman’s meeting. I wonder if the selectman will announce their selection of a new TA at tomorrows meeting.  I’m sure they would like to fire the ITA but they need him for Town Meeting.  It would be difficult for a new TA to get up to speed before the Town Meeting.

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#36 2009-10-05 20:23:56

Town Audit? Now, I feel better.

Interim Town Administrator John Sanguinet, who has been meeting with school officials, sat in the audience at the meeting and indicated that he and the town accountant dispute some of the calculations made by the auditor, Claude Boudwin, LLC.

But he gave few specifics except to indicate that there was some concern about figures involving federal and state grant money. “We are questioning their numbers,” he said, indicating that the town may now initiate a more thorough audit of its own.

PShooter

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#37 2009-10-05 20:32:12

Bobo you predictable rump swabbing Brucey lackey.  You've ripped the BOS critics for far less.  But $1.9 million dollars is lost under this board's watch, and you're going to help them sweep it under the rug?  What a lackey.  What an incredible lacky.

Bobo the Sell-out.

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#38 2009-10-05 20:33:35

Order another Audit? More of our money waisted. May as well burn it in the fireplace.

Last edited by wareham pride (2009-10-05 20:36:25)

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#39 2009-10-05 20:36:34

Okay, let me use my accounting training:)
Every year, the employees are informed of how much will be required from each check to cover their health care expense. That number is based on a calculation. The actual cost of health care for the fiscal year, any increase expected, and THEN they should have calculated the employee portion for the previous year. From the announcement, they left out an important part of the equation. So, what they are saying is they have passed on increases each year to the employee without considering their adjustment from prior years. Does this make sense? The employees have a major beef with the people running this town (administration and elected). Who thought it was okay to miss that portion of the calculation? Who thought it was a great idea to call what was left in the trust account a surplus? Wow, not only does the town now owe the trust account the money they spent, they also owe employees their fair share of the suplus (which is probably going to be adjusted from the employee deduction for health care). This is a big mess!
My next issue is why wasn't this addressed before? I have a packet from the meeting and I will read through it.
In my opinion, you cannot hold the Selectmen blameless. Even though they are not supposed to participate in day to day activities, they are the ones who hired McAuliffe and thought it was a bright move to keep Saguinet. They also fired Bliss and allowed this town to run off consulting until they hired an accountant with no degree. These are executive decsions that they have made, so let's be clear. Their hands are not clean. They can whine all they want about "not my problem" but that is the problem!

This could be a set up to show how bad it is to have a TA, but that doesn't make sense. A good TA should have spotted this! What is the FINCOM's responsibility in this? I don't think the Selectmen should be able to walk away from this and blame it on everyone else.

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#40 2009-10-05 20:40:40

ACCORDING TO STEVE URBONS ARTICAL THE PLAN STARTED BY HARTMAN TO BE SELF INSURED SAVED THE TOWN CLOSE8 MILLION DOLLARS , THIS SHOWS HE WAS A GOOD LEADER AND SAVED THE TOWN A LOT OF MONEY, YET WE FIRED HIM AND  THEN WE HIRED BUTT MONKEY A TOTAL MORON,THOSE WHO VOTED FOR THE PRESENT BOARD OF SELECTEM SHOULD HANG THERE HEADS IN SHAME AND WHERE A SIGN BUTT MONKEY.  IT IS THE PRESENT PEOPLE WHO SCREWED THINGS UP.

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#41 2009-10-05 20:42:46

They're going to pin this all on Hartman?  Pathetic and ridiculous, which by the way, are two good words to describe Bobo the Hobo.  They kicked that guy out how long ago, 4 years ago?  How long have they been in charge?  This is exactly why the selectmen should FOLLOW THE CHARTER and NOT GET INVOLVED WITH THE DAY TO DAY OPERATIONS OF THE TOWN!

We need, I repeat, NEED an experienced town administrator professional to be overseeing the day to day operations of the town.  We need someone watching out for this stuff.  We have not had a professional town manager in this town in 4 years.  FOUR YEARS.  They keep throwing town administrators under the bus because they don't pucker up and kiss Sweet Brucey's ass hard enough. 

If we had a town administrator in there for any length of time in all these years, then this would have been caught.  Instead, we have the selectmen breaking the charter and taking on the administrator's role. 

Sanguinett has been nothing but a glorified office manager, keeping the photocopier warm and the rubber stamp pad inked up, ready to act on the BOS' every command.  This would not have happened if they had put a professional administrator in there and allowed them to do their jobs.  This would not have happened if they had followed the charter.

They should have to pay this money back to the town personally.  Bobo, how did this happen on your watch?  I thought you were an ace reporter.  Oh right, you don't care, you don't pay any taxes in Wareham so this doesn't affect you.

THE PRICE TAG OF BOS INCOMPETENCE - $1.9 million

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#42 2009-10-05 20:44:15

I don't think waiting to april is going to happen. This BOS needs to resign. I've never seen executives in ANY company toss up their arms and say "not me!" more than this group. They think they are exempt because why? They hired and kept these professionals. They are as responsbile as the the admin. Of course, they will toss them under the bus, but whatever credibility they have is lost! What makes this worse is how in God's name could Bobo come out and show support? Geez, exactly what part of this do you see as looking at out for the "good people of Wareham"?

Enough is enough. It is more obvious than ever....TAKE BACK WAREHAM....

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#43 2009-10-05 20:48:14

THROW THEM OUT BEFORE THEY BANKRUPT THE TOWN!!!

Seriously people, be honest.  Would you hire a so-called "financial planner" who owes $181,000 in back taxes and had his car repossessed to run your business?  No?  Then why the hell do you let him hold the highest elected office (BOS Chair) in town?

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#44 2009-10-05 20:57:30

Rip Dinkle here....(que the music Ham)...

I just received a call and sources tell me that there are plans in the works for every employee of the town (maybe even the ones laid off) to show up at the BOS meeting tomorrow night. If they don't feel they are responsible, perhaps the employees can set them straight?

Tell me Mr. Chairman, how do you justify saying "We’re not accountants. We don’t handle the money. We have to trust our administration on things like this. We have to trust our town administration and we have to trust our accountants. This is something that was put into place by Michael Hartman. Hartman’s contact wasn’t renewed. A resolution was drafted to terminate the contract of his replacement, John McAuliffe. The former town accountant is the former town accountant. This is what we’ve been saying all along. People need to do their jobs."

Is that what the audit of all computers is about? Trusting employees? Don't forget to say we aren't lawyers! But we did stay at a Holiday Inn Express.

It's a sad day in Wareham and support for this group continues to drop.

Rip Dinkle......Good Day!

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#45 2009-10-05 21:11:49

The current ita buttmonkey should resign Now or be fired. They hired the last two administrators, they picked all of the financial comm members, the current bos, fired the town acct, let positions go unfilled for years, hire an acct with no degree. They bos are surely to blame.

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#46 2009-10-05 22:27:40

acasualobserver wrote:

So Larry, would it be correct to say that the town has under-contributed their portion?  Did I read your comment right?  How much "under" are they in terms of percentage?  Is a $1,000,000 shortfall a 5% "underfund"?  Is it 50%?  Have any employees been denied health coverage because of this?

I guess you could state that the town under-contributed, but it's easier to grasp if you say the employees over-funded their portion. I will continue to look through the numbers tomorrow.

It's a two fold problem. First you have the excess that was created by the employee over funding and then you have the problem of the money not being in the fund.

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#47 2009-10-05 22:34:15

Sauvageau hopes something positive will stem from this situation.
    “Incompetence has a cost, a huge cost,” he said. “So does laziness. This is what we’ve been preaching for a long time now. If people aren’t doing their jobs they need to be replaced.”

I agree. Unfortunately, look at the record of "replacing" people. Who does that fall under? I could sit here all night and write about incompetence and the Selectmen, but it would be preaching to choir. It does have a huge cost, and the citizens of Wareham will pay for it. The problem isn't preaching, it's performing. Show me where you have brought accountability to the town of Wareham? Show me your great fiscal responsibility. Show me the professional behavior that the citizens so richly deserve. You preach but you don't back it up with results.

The best part is you are right. If people aren't doing their jobs, they need to be replaced. Remember, you said that Bruce!

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#48 2009-10-05 22:56:19

Okay, let's go backwards. If the fund is off limits, then the balance that the employees over funded the account would still be there, correct? Then it should be a simple fix. Either reduce employee contributions to the fund and offset the difference with the fund surplus. In effect, they have rebated the money to the employees and corrected the issue.

If the surplus is not in the fund, where is it?

It's as simple as that.

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#49 2009-10-05 23:39:11

Notice how slager quotes Brenda saying that the town would have split the cost of the audit but urbons article said the ita buttmonkey refused to split the cost of the audit. Oh my head who to believe?

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#50 2009-10-05 23:46:21

IHATESLAGER wrote:

Notice how slager quotes Brenda saying that the town would have split the cost of the audit but urbons article said the ita buttmonkey refused to split the cost of the audit. Oh my head who to believe?

Believe your own eyes. There's no shortage of fairy tales in this town.

Last edited by billw (2009-10-05 23:47:11)

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#51 2009-10-06 06:47:30

Rip Dinkle wrote:

Rip Dinkle here....(que the music Ham)...

Tell me Mr. Chairman, how do you justify saying "We’re not accountants. We don’t handle the money. We have to trust our administration on things like this. We have to trust our town administration and we have to trust our accountants. This is something that was put into place by Michael Hartman. Hartman’s contact wasn’t renewed. A resolution was drafted to terminate the contract of his replacement, John McAuliffe. The former town accountant is the former town accountant. This is what we’ve been saying all along. People need to do their jobs." !

Let's remember the town meeting where the bos tried to shove THEIR budget down our throats instead of the modified budget that had been worked on by the treasurer and the Fin Com. TM had to be postponed a week. The bos budget cut the library by a huge amount and put money back into the sewer account. The bos were furious when the Fin Com chair immediately made a motion to use their budget. The Fin Com, all but one person, QUIT at that town meeting it got so bad.

So when this bos claim they have nothing to do with budgetary matters they lie. They claimed their budget was the more responsible budget. That would have to mean they had looked at it with more than a glance. They didn't "trust" their administration then. They fired McAuliffe over the sewer admin fee, don't think that wasn't the main reason--a budget issue.

They didn't appoint a fin com for a while and when they did it was their lackeys. The chair of the fin com they appointed quit not long after because he probably couldn't stand it. The rest of the fin com can't do any work because they don't get any data from ITA, probably on orders of the bos. The bos have their finger in the money pie in town and don't think they don't. They should at least take partial responsibility for this fiasco.

Their covert meeting the other day was to plan PR strategy. And what did they come up with? We are thankful that this is happening? Pure bulls**t. Hartman saved the town millions of dollars according to Urbon. The system was set up properly by Hartman if we saved so much. So, where did it go wrong? Who moved funds around? Who knew about it?

Let's get to the bottom of this. Let's demand this bos resign. We can't take another humiliation. TAKE BACK WAREHAM.

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#52 2009-10-06 07:21:32

I agree with Molly. Their spin falls way short of an explanation.  Real leaders should and WOULD take responsibility for something happening under their watch.  They should resign, and take Mr. Paulsen with them.

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#53 2009-10-06 07:23:16

IHATESLAGER wrote:

Notice how slager quotes Brenda saying that the town would have split the cost of the audit but urbons article said the ita buttmonkey refused to split the cost of the audit. Oh my head who to believe?

in the packet handed out at the meeting yesterday afternoon there is a letter asking the ita to split the cost of the audit $2900 he refused.. he was in the meeting and never denied the fact read outloud.. so i would believe he REFUSED..,

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#54 2009-10-06 07:34:18

“Personally I’m grateful for this,” Eckstrom said. “The Board of Selectmen has taken a hands-off approach to the audit requested by the School Committee (which requested the audit on behalf of school department employees). We even had discussions about splitting the cost for it.”


QUOTED FROM THE RAG. YEAH BRENDA AND THE TOWN REFUSED. THIS WAS NOT A COOPERATION AS RAGBOY WOULD MAKE YOU BELIEVE

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#55 2009-10-06 07:54:07

ACCORDING TO THE RAG EDITORTHE PRESENT SELECTMAN HAVE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR THIS FIASCO, I GUESS HE THINS THE POPE SHOULD CANNONIZE BRENDA AND BRUCIE AS SAINTS, SLAGER IS FULL OF SHIT , HARTMAN ,BLISS WRE HOUNDED BY THIS CROWD , HE SET UP A GOOD PLAN THAT SAVED THE TOWN OF WAREHAM CLOSE TO 8 MILLION DOLLARS  , ITS THE PRESENT BOARD OF SELECTMAN WHERE THIS FIASCO CAME OUT, SLAGER LIKES TO BLAME ANY BODY BUT BRUCE AND BRENDA , HE MIGHT AS WELL AS KISS THERE BUTTS ON TV , HE IS SO PATHETIC,I KNOW THE TOWN OF WAREHAM HAD DEPT HEADS IN ALL THERE DEPTS AND ALL DEPTS WERE RUNNING ON GOOD BUDGETS , SLAGER STOP THE SPINNING AND LIEING YOU CAND MAKE A SILK PURSE OUT OF A SOWS EAR , AMD YOU AND YOUR SELECTMAN BUDDIES CAN GO TO HELL AS YOU ALL ARE PIECES OF SHIT, YOU ALL NEED TO GET SOME BACK BONE. THINKS WERE A   LOT BETTER  WHEN HARTMAN AND THE  PREVIOUS  BOARD OF SELECTMAN  RAN THE TOWN , THE TOWN IS PURE HELL NOW SINCE  THESE CLOWNS  RUN THINGS,    AND SLAGER WHAT IS THE PAY OF THE PART TIME POLICE CHIEF.

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#56 2009-10-06 08:02:20

Picture Wareham as a company and the citizens as the owners. If the the manager (the selectmen) of the company continuely got the company in trouble, it's financial state dropped dramatically, and the manager (the selectmen) fired capable personnel and replaced them with unqualified and interim personnel, what should the owners do?

The selectmen can put whatever spin on this problem they like. The selectmen can blame whomever they like. Bottom line they are responsible.

Do I believe they knew about this all along -- yes.

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#57 2009-10-06 08:33:48

Clowns are not just in Ringling Brothers Circus...

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#58 2009-10-06 08:58:28

I was just told by a friend that the ITA refused to respond to school department and union president calls, letters and even a registered letter. This is second hand info. But we know there was some monkey business with registered letters with the swift's beach debacle so I wouldn't be surprised to hear this was true.

Something tells me that even though the ITA got the first interview for the new TA position, that he is so far out of the running he is lost on the horizon. Here comes the super big bus and the ita has just been run over. Wait, the bus is backing up for another go ahead. Ouch. He'll never recover from this one.

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#59 2009-10-06 09:10:56

acasualobserver wrote:

So Larry, would it be correct to say that the town has under-contributed their portion?  Did I read your comment right?  How much "under" are they in terms of percentage?  Is a $1,000,000 shortfall a 5% "underfund"?  Is it 50%?  Have any employees been denied health coverage because of this?

Cas, I've will send an email this morning..but the answer is yes, the town has under-contributed their portion. You will have the report today on the estimated shortage that should have pushed to the employees portion or trust. To make a long story short, They town kept 100% of any surplus when they should have pushed the employee portion 25% back to the employees. The big question now is how did the town allocate the surplus? In other terms, what did they do with that surplus? This is a very big animal.

Before i go any further, I also want to address Article 1 for Town Meeting:

ARTICLE 1
To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate or appropriate and transfer from
available funds a sum of money to amend or supplement the Fiscal Year 2010 budget,
to defray the costs of a projected deficit or to do or act in any manner relative thereto.
Inserted by the Board of Selectmen at the request of the Interim Town Administrator.

This brings into the discussion another interesting avenue. If they do not return the employee portion of the surplus to the employee, this article appears to give power to the ITA to utilize that surplus to transfer money to balance any deficit (such as legal fees????) I'm leaning towards NAY on this

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#60 2009-10-06 09:32:59

Molly wrote:

I was just told by a friend that the ITA refused to respond to school department and union president calls, letters and even a registered letter. This is second hand info. But we know there was some monkey business with registered letters with the swift's beach debacle so I wouldn't be surprised to hear this was true.

Something tells me that even though the ITA got the first interview for the new TA position, that he is so far out of the running he is lost on the horizon. Here comes the super big bus and the ita has just been run over. Wait, the bus is backing up for another go ahead. Ouch. He'll never recover from this one.

i wouldnt doubt it he refused to respond to my request to view public records within the 10 days stated by the MGL's.. so the state stepped in on my behalf and he the ITA still refused to respond appropiately...

not oustide he normal actions...

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#61 2009-10-06 09:48:54

Predictably, Bobo's column is one big Brucey butt smooch fest.  He's twisting it around, saying we can't blame the selectmen because we say they should be out of day to day operations and the $1.9 million shortfall occurred in the area of day to day operations.

Yeah, precisely our point, THIS IS WHY SELECTMEN SHOULD STAY OUT OF DAY TO DAY OPERATIONS!  If we had a town administrator for more than 5 minutes during the past 4 years, something like this would have been caught.  Hartman put this together in his last year and initially, the word is it did save the town alot of money.  But then they canned him and the selectmen then created a revolving door where they tried a series of town administrators only to give them the heave-ho because they didn't kiss Sweet Brucey's ass hard enough.

McAulliffe didn't catch it.  He was the BOS' choice.  In his defense, maybe he'd have caught it if he'd been allowed to stay in his job for awhile. 

Sanguinett has been in a long time though, and he was completely under this board's control.  Make no mistake, Sanguinett has been little more than a glorified secretary.  He keeps the photocopier and the printer stocked with paper and ink and he waits by the phone awaiting Sweet Brucey's commands. 

The selectmen took over day to day operations, in violation of the town charter, and this was the result.  And why, with a "financial planner" that owes $181,000 in back taxes and had his car repossessed, why is that not surprising?  You wouldn't hire him to run your lemonade stand, why vote for him for selectman?

Throw these clowns out of office.  Put in a board that is going to hire an intelligent, competent town administrator that is going to roll up his sleeves and be allowed to stick around and tackle Wareham's problems for the long term.

It's time to stop the revolving door in the town administrator's office.  It's time for the selectmen to stop throwing people out because they don't pay enough homage to Sweet Brucey.

Throw these clowns out and put in people who are going to lead before this town goes into bankruptcy.

And for Christ's sakes, Wareham, stop taking advice on who to pick for your leaders from a bagel biting officeless dumbass from Halifax.  This is where it has got you so far.

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#62 2009-10-06 10:42:41

from: Minutes of the Wareham Finance Committee, Mar 4, 2009 (found online in Google)

Present: the chair & 5 comm. members,
              John Sanguinet
              Jane Donahue, BoS liason to the FinCom


"Mr. Paulsen discussed health insurance & what IBNR is. Mr. Sanguinet discussed the trust fund savings that is set up for health insurance. This fund holds two months worth of claims. Discussion ensued.

Discussion ensued re: the ratio of Town & employee contributions to health insurance payments."

So. what does this tell us? Lots, and omits plenty at the same time.

1. Is the IBNR the RESERVE fund that a self-insurer is REQUIRED to have? Is that equal to two months of claims, or is it over & above that? I suspect the latter.

2. Where does all of this come from. It is my understanding that a self-insurer is REQUIRED to use an outside consultant to review the Town's claim experience, probably for the prior calendar year. From this review, the consultant determines the cost of the insurance for the coming Fiscal year.
(In one Town (not Wareham), the consultant charges $25,000.) This review would include any adjustments to the required reserve fund. One would think that, as part of the review of the Town's claim experience, that the consultant would also recommend numbers based on a positive experience (i.e. - lower), or higher for a year with more claims than estimated.

3. But then, once the Town in the form of the (I)TA, BoS, & FinCom have the consultant's numbers, isn't it incumbent upon them to implement the proper adjustment to the two contributors to the fund? A rebalancing, as it were?

4. the town's contribution would be part of its annual budget, hence the FinCom involvement. Can anyone give me a link to the Town's budgets (not Recap sheets, the line-by-line stuff) from FY2005 - FY2010?

Look, notalawyer is also notaninsurancedude. This does not appear to be unique to Wareham, as the article mentions Walpole & Bourne. Perhaps someone with a Bourne connection can find out what they did over there in a similar circumstance.

More to come......

Last edited by notalawyer (2009-10-06 10:44:47)

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#63 2009-10-06 10:53:12

Not,
Drop me your email address in a private message. I have something you might just like to see :)

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#64 2009-10-06 11:33:37

By the way, just thought I'd note the man that pushed for this investigation was Geof Swett, a guy that Bobo has been bashing left and right, painting him out as an evil power elitist.

Let's see, an audit that was the selectmen's idea last 5 months, costs untold amounts of money, still nothing...meanwhile a "power elitist" that Bobo doesn't like calls for an audit and its over in a short amount of time and shows the selectmen botched their duties to the tune of $2 million dollars.

Cheers for Geoff Swett, since Bobo the Brucey Boot Lackey won't cheer him.  You can learn a lot by Bobo, not just by the "leaders" he supports, but also the real leaders he doesn't want you to have.

Jeers for Bobo the Brucey Dupe.

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#65 2009-10-06 11:43:41

BREAKING NEWS: Methinks Bobo doth protest too much!

Claims that the Board of Selectmen stole $1.9 million from the town instead of giving the surplus from the health care trust fund back to town employees – Finance Committee Chairman Dick Paulsen noted that it isn’t theoretically possible for any member of the Board of Selectmen to personally take money from the fund. Any surplus in the health care fund was rolled back into the town budget. Selectmen do not have any control of the town budget nor can they issue checks to themselves (selectmen are unpaid). Only the accounting department can issue checks. There is no mechanism in which selectmen could have transferred money from the town into their own bank accountants. That can only be done through the accounting department, which was recently audited at the town’s request. There was no evidence, or even the suggestion, that funds were illegally transferred to selectmen.

Someone take a look at the thread above to double-check, but I don't think any of us accused the selectmen of stealing the $1.9 million for themselves.  I did suggest that it was possible that they could have been using the money to pay for computer audits, witch hunts, legal bills, etc all part of their ongoing carrying out of their impossible to satisfy personal vendettas on the taxpayer's dime.

"There is no mechanism in which selectmen could have transferred money from the town into their own bank ACCOUNTS" is what you meant to say, Bobo.  Not accountants.  Bobo, your spell checker doesn't catch everything.  It won't catch it if you used the wrong word if the word is spelled correctly.  We really do need to start billing you for proofreading services.

But Bobo, what the hell?  Why are you launching into defending the selectmen from claims they took the money for themselves when no such claims have been made?  Do you know something we don't?  What do you know, Bobo?  Come on, spill it.  Do the BOS have a little extra bling bling we don't know about?  It's awfully odd that you'd go down that path when we didn't, Bobo.  Awfully suspicious.

Methinks Bobo doth protest too much.

Last edited by Hamatron5000 (2009-10-06 11:45:02)

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