Hartford
Pullar’s budget includes new funding for the Hartford tree warden and the West Hartford Library, two areas that have been the focus of public concern in recent months.
To achieve level funding while also adjusting for fixed-cost increases in such places as salaries, Pullar said he has trimmed various small expenses, revamped accounting procedures, implemented more efficient work procedures for town staff and delayed the replacement of capital equipment, such as snow plows, according to a video of a Hartford budget workshop meeting broadcast on CATV.
He said unusual accounting practices that were in place before he began as town manager this summer have come to light, and are causing confusion about certain expenditures.
The budget, part of which was reviewed for the first time last week by Selectboard members attending a budget workshop, would establish a $5,000 tree maintenance budget that town Tree Warden Brad Goedkoop says will help the town protect an investment of more than a quarter of a million dollars in new tree plantings.
“I am absolutely thrilled with it,” said Goedkoop, who earlier this year had submitted a proposal asking for $15,000 in funding. “This will improve the value of Hartford and lower costs in the future.”
As an example, Goedkoop pointed to a population of disease-resistant elm trees that were planted at the Town Hall about 15 years ago.
“It was all with the best intentions,” he said. “But they were a cultivar that requires a lot of intensive upfront work. If you look at those trees now, you see these large, weak branching structures. A lot of branches have broken off. Others, I’m not sure if we can save them.”
If resources had been spent on them in the years after planting, Goedkoop said, “they’d be well on their way to becoming gorgeous specimens.”
If the budget is approved, Goedkoop said, he will identify area arborists who would be available to bid on pruning jobs. He mentioned one area of concern, Hartford High School, where recently planted trees have drawn complaints for obscuring a digital sign display. Goedkoop said they could be trimmed to move their crowns higher.
Pullar’s proposed budget also would increase the budget of the West Hartford Library to $47,700 from $20,000. Last year, the Selectboard cut the budget to $20,000 while expressing concerns about circulation rates and friction between the West Hartford Library leadership and other entities, including the Selectboard itself.
The $47,700 is an increase over the roughly $35,000 the library received before damage caused by Tropical Storm Irene caused it to be closed for an extended period of time.
Library Director Sandie Cary said patrons have been anxious about the library’s budget, and how it might impact their access to its services.
“They’re very concerned,” she said. “They want more hours instead of less hours.”
She and recently appointed West Hartford Library Trustee Harry Dorman, the former president of the Alice Peck Day Health System, both said that the circulation numbers should no longer be a cause of concern.
“There’s more people coming in than ever have,” Cary said.
Dorman said that last year, the library served patrons more than 5,000 times, a dramatic increase over the roughly 1,800 people that used the library for the five years leading up to Tropical Storm Irene in 2011.
Dorman said the current year’s austerity budget has been difficult.
“We’re making it work with some slimmed-down opportunities to acquire books and other media,” he said. “But we’ll make it through this year.”
The full funding, he said, would allow the library to move forward in its dual role as a community center by expanding on programs such as a Trunk or Treat activity on Halloween, or a community holiday party held earlier this week.
He said the relationship between the West Hartford Library, the Selectboard and the town’s other libraries is “much improved.”
During the budget workshop last week, Pullar said it’s difficult to provide comparisons between his proposed budget and the current budget, because the proposal was produced under a new accounting system.
Pullar was hired as town manager in July, and Gail Ostrout was hired as finance director in the fall.
Pullar said they are sorting through what he called “frustrating” accounting procedures that were in place under former Town Manager Hunter Rieseberg, who resigned in August 2015.
Roughly $1.2 million in municipal revenues, Pullar said, were actually cases in which the town paid itself for services in what he called an “internal accountant movement of funds.”
For example, Pullar said he had questions about whether what was classified as revenue and was, in fact, the transfer of money from reserve accounts into the general fund, may have artificially inflated the budget.
Rieseberg, who now is working as the interim town manager in Newport, said on Thursday evening that he would need to learn more about the issue before commenting in depth, but that in general, he relied on the town’s finance director to develop and manage the accounting system.
“Nothing you’ve described rings a bell. I would yield to the finance director who managed those accounts,” Rieseberg said. “It sounds like it’s a good question to review with the auditor.”
Rieseberg said that no auditor ever raised any concerns about the practice with him, during or after his employment with the town.
When Pullar made his report to the Selectboard, member Mike Morris asked him to clarify whether any money had gone missing.
Though the system has been confusing, Pullar said, there is no reason to think that the town lost money.
“There’s been no indication that any money is missing. I don’t believe any money is missing,” he said.
The town has gone through a series of short-term finance directors over the past year and a half, as administrators have tried to replace longtime Finance Director Andrew Larkin, who served under Rieseberg.
Pullar said he plans to change to a different accounting firm, because the town’s current accounting firm should have caught some of the problems during its annual audit.
Larkin and the auditing firm, Montpelier-based Sullivan Powers & Co., did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.
He and Ostrout continue to document the problems, Pullar said, to bring clarity to the current budget process.
Matt Hongoltz-Hetling can be reached at mhonghet@vnews.com or 603-727-3211.