By Lindsay Tice,Staff Writer

POLAND – More than 40 people crowded into the Poland Town Hall on Tuesday night to learn that a math blunder had left the town with a $2.7 million budget shortfall.

And they weren’t happy.

“As a Poland voter, who do I hold accountable? Who do Poland voters hold responsible?” demanded resident Mark Ferguson.

The answer, according to Board of Selectmen Chairwoman Sandra Knowles: no one and everyone.

“It was a mistake all around,” she said.

The accounting error was discovered in February by an audit of the town’s books. Like all towns, Poland figures its tax rate by comparing the money it needs to raise against the total amount of taxable property in the town.

However, property meant to be shielded from the town’s value – via tax increment financing deals with the Poland Spring Water Co. – was accidentally included in the calculation, according to auditor Bruce Nadeau.

By doing that, the tax rate, just over $21 per $1,000 of valuation, was kept artificially low. Less money than budgeted was raised, since the taxes taken from the water company were, as planned, set aside for special projects.

Slowly, the town slipped into the red.

On Tuesday, the auditor gave his final report to selectmen. He said the mistake likely went back several years and was due to the tax increment financing deal’s complexity.

Audience members demanded to know why past audits hadn’t found the problem, why town officials didn’t know what was going on. Knowles asked them not to lay blame.

“We are not going to to that. We are not going to cast stones,” she said.

Then, minutes later, she relented, saying everyone was responsible for the $2.7 million error. Even Poland Spring Water.

“My feeling is they should have noticed. They have auditors, too,” she said.

Selectman Wendy Sanborn and several audience members wanted to know why the town moved forward with town meeting this spring, knowing it had a large deficit.

“Because we did,” Knowles said.

Audience members grumbled loudly. Sanborn called the situation a “bogus deal.”

As the auditor went through his report line by line, a few residents gathered outside the hall to talk about the failures of officials. A couple of the residents wanted the town manager to resign.

“The town has failed. Failed badly,” said resident Ernest Ray.

Town officials plan to talk with Poland Spring Water officials in the coming weeks. The town expects to hold another public meeting to discuss ways to make up the $2.7 million shortfall.

But Knowles said she already knows how it will likely have to be done.

Higher taxes.

“I understand that people are upset. But it’s happened, and we have to fix that,” she said.

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