Just wanted to clarify the question about budgeting for fuel. The fuel depot gas and diesel accounts are simply “pass-through” accounts – a place where we can pay for the fuel purchased and then bill the public schools, the Academy, fire depts and ambulance service for the fuel that they use. If you look on the revenue sheet you will see that an equivalent amount of money is listed as income. At any point during the year the fuel depot line items will appear to be overspent due to timing of the billing to other users. Fuel that is used in the operation of the Highway Dept appears in the highway budget. Hope this information helps.
Barbara Rich
Thanks Barbara. Admin
Below is the “Fuel Depot Budget” within the town operating budget (proposed for 2008-09) which cites the fuel budget for this current fiscal year and expenditures on fuel from July ’07 through Feb. ’08. It shows that by the end of February ’08 diesel costs had already exceeded the budgeted amount by $15,644.43. This may be understandable given the rise in fuel costs since March 2007 when this budget was formulated by Ms. Wholean. However, note that next year’s proposed budget is only $15,000.
How could this be?
Why would our Selectmen underbudget the fuel costs, when it is unlikely that these costs will go down? This kind of budgeting, or lack thereof, is hard to fathom given the numbers staring us in the face. What could be the justification for not estimating fuel costs reasonably?
Good pickup. The next BOF meeting is 4/8 to review combined budgets. Perhaps a good time to ask about this.
Barbara, Shouldn’t the proposed budget be readable and understandable to the public? Since the cost of deisel fuel has risen higher than regular gasoline, why haven’t the deisel costs increased more than 9%? On page 24 the fuel+water+electricity highway facility budget proposed for 2008-09 is $13,400. On page 26 the proposed budget for deisel alone is $15,000. So these number don’t agree. How can the taxpayers understand this budget if there are no notations/explanations annotating these figures to explain these anomalies. Finally, how can it be that the fuel costs for the highway facility are approx $15,000 while the school bus fuel budget is $94,500 even though the buses are not driven during 3 months out of the year (summer, Christmas, winter & spring vacations)? Also, aren’t pass-through accounts supposed to zero out?