The South Hadley Selectboard asked the tax people for a Financial Management Review of their town government.
SOUTH HADLEY – Most people don’t consider the Department of Revenue a good buddy, especially at this time of year.
But the Massachusetts Department of Revenue does offer towns a free gift, and South Hadley recently benefited from it.
The South Hadley Selectboard asked the tax people for a Financial Management Review of their town government.
This is a free consulting service of the Department of Revenue through its Division of Local Services.
The process involves sending a team to a town to comb through records, interview employees and make recommendations for cutting waste and increasing efficiency.
It’s not an audit, said Robert Bliss, spokesman for the Division of Local Services. There’s no scoring system, and nobody checks back to see if the town followed the recommendations. “It’s a very collegial enterprise,” said Bliss.
The program was established in 1984 as a “post-Proposition 2½ program,” Bliss said, referring to the law that limits how much Massachusetts towns can get from property taxes.
At a recent meeting of the South Hadley Selectboard, members seemed taken aback at what they deemed the good sense and clarity of the 30-page review, which the public can read at the South Hadley Public Library and online.
After praising the town for its conservative approach to spending, the review offers recommendations to “enhance financial operations.”
Among them: Give the Town Administrator more authority, update bylaws, convert some positions from elected to appointed, create financial guidelines, fix the personnel pay-for-performance program and look for ways to regionalize.
“I was very impressed,” said Selectboard member Robert Judge. His colleague Bruce McCulloch praised the “common sense” of the document.
“I think we should go forward with as many of these recommendations as we can,” said member Frank DeToma, though, like the others, he said he had a few caveats.
DeToma was pleased that the review was consistent with a report the Selectboard had commissioned by Municipal Services, Inc. “Together they make a nice guidebook,” he said.
The Selectboard is planning more study of the review.
Said Town Administrator Paul Beecher: “I’m charging departments to look at these recommendations, and have asked department heads to come back with a timetable.”
For more information go to www.mass.gov/dls , email tacontact@dor.state.ma.us or phone (717) 626-2321