Did the Board of Selectmen Spend Funds Illegally?
Method of purchasing the grader and off-road vehicle questioned
Following the Board of Selectmen’s December 23rd decision to use unspent funds from the town’s operating budget to buy a $424k road grader for the Highway Department and a $20k off-road vehicle for the Police Department, two readers contacted me with concerns that the board acted illegally. Both cited RSA 32.8:
No board of selectmen, school board, village district commissioners or any other officer, employee, or agency of the municipality acting as such shall pay or agree to pay any money, or incur any liability involving the expenditure of any money, for any purpose in excess of the amount appropriated by the legislative body for that purpose, or for any purpose for which no appropriation has been made….
As the operating budget did not include appropriations for the grader and the off-road vehicle, the argument is that the board acted illegally. The legal way they could have made these purchases using these funds is to have allowed the unspent funds from the operating budget to go into the unassigned funds account and then to propose warrant articles to the voters (the voters are the town’s legislative body) to purchase the grader and the off-road vehicle, using funds from the unassigned funds account.
Further, the board failed to abide by its own purchasing policy, which requires competitive sealed bidding for purchases over $10k.
According to the Town Administrator’s job description, the Town Administrator has responsibility for acting to ensure that the board complies with state law:
The administrator acts to ensure compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, Affirmative Action requirements, Family Medical Leave Act, Fair Labor Standards Act, and other state and federal mandates.
The Town Administrator is also responsible for carrying out policies established by the board:
The administrator carries out the direction, guidelines and policies of the Board of Selectmen.
It’s unknown whether any voters have taken action on this allegation. [Since initial publication, I’ve learned that a written complaint to the board has been submitted.]
Doug--thank you for doing that. I don't believe I was spreading a rumor but simply trying to confirm something. I too wrote to Ellen and received no response, which pretty well confirmed what I believed to be a fact. I heard/saw you ask the same question and as I said, believe the question has been answered.
Safety First, I'm just wondering if you've conducted a scientific study to be able to state with such certainty that "everybody in town everybody online agrees with Doug"? I'm just as certain that your claim is false.