Marny & Dick,

per the DOR, a revolving Fund "allows a community to raise revenues from a specific source and use those revenues without appropriation to support the service".

"each fund must be re-authorized each year at annual Town Meeting"

"the aggregate of all revolving funds may not exceed ten percent of the (levy) in the most recent year"

"No more than one percent of the (levy) may be administered by a single fund"

BUT, in a description of Schedule A-3, Revolving Funds (the form used to report Revolving Funds, it gets filed with the Town's Recap sheet as part of the tax-rate setting process), the DOR says the following: "Each department's revolving fund cannot exceed 1 percent of the prior fiscal year's tax levy."

So. In one case, they apply the one percent limit to a single fund; in the second case they apply it to a department. That's a little unclear, and that might be the reason this problem occurred.

Schedule A-3 is signed by the accounting officer & the Board of Assessors. give the Assessors a pass on this one; but the ACCOUNTANT is the Town's backstop in this case. but it doesn't stop there. the DOR reviews the A-3 as part of the Recap and should have flagged the excess over 1 %. Perhaps they did, but it is not clear whether their 'catch' was during the tax-rate setting, or in the subsequent management report.

others missed this one, as well. Griz & the COA, Sanguinet, the Fincom. how 'bout Town Counsel?

I can't address Marny's second, and valid question without more info. Like the Schedule A-3 for that revolving fund. But note with interest the DOR's verbiage: "Wages or salaries for full-time employees may be paid from the revolving fund only if the fund is charged for all associated fringe benefits." What about part-time and/or seasonal employees?

the DOR deals with a mountain of stuff, and sometimes these kinds of ambiguities creep into their documentation.

Hope this helps a little.....

Nota thank you, thank you and thank you Dick for your help ( :  We have the smartest people on this site. Nota I don’t know if you are from Wareham but if you are you might want to think about running for selectman. We need smart people like you on the BOS.

So Marcia has 200,000 in the revolving account for the senior day program. If there are 8 people in the program that’s $45.00 a day times 8 people  = $360.00 times 4 days a week =$1440 times 52 weeks = $74,880. What I don’t know is if this money goes into the revolving account so it is part of the revolving account granted by the town or is it additional money. . Regardless it is still a LOT of money. Someone told me there is only one full time staff person in the senior day program the other 2 or 3 are part time. The full time person probably makes between $35,000 and $40,000. That leaves a LOT  of money unaccounted for where does all that money go? What is Marcia spending all that money on?

My other question is should the town even be in the senior program business. Senior day programs are becoming a huge business. The trend however is towards MEDICAL senior day program where they have MEDICAL staff on hand and COUNSELORS to work with the families. Wareham has medical day programs we have Gateway and I have heard great things about Active Day in Fairhaven and New Bedford. The reason for adding MEDICAL to the name is basically so they can charge additional money but also because certain insurance companies and Medicare will help cover the cost. When people come into the COA and ask about the senior day programs and what is available, are they told about Gateway or Active Day where some of the cost might be covered and medical staff is available, or do we ( the town) stay silent so the town can make money? Shouldn’t seniors who come into the COA for advice and information be given a list of all the alternative programs that are available?

Last edited by marny (2010-08-14 08:35:35)