BUCKFIELD — The Select Board agreed Tuesday to pay less than half of the two unexpected invoices totaling $12,242.50 received in December for auditing and accounting services for the 2020 town audit.
The decision followed much discussion and a meeting two weeks ago with the auditor.
The board unanimously voted to pay $5,637.50 to the accounting firm Ron L. Beaulieu & Company of Portland. The figure was arrived by subtracting $4,967.50 previously paid for accounting services and $1,967.50 for unspecified charges, which town officials said were never adequately explained, from the total of the two invoices.
Previous Town Manager John Andrews had signed a contract with Beaulieu in early 2021 to perform the audit for $4,900, a figure unknown to town officials, who never saw the contract until recently. Andrews also agreed to have Beaulieu perform accounting services in order to create financial statements since Andrews was working with a new office staff after the previous staff resigned soon after he was hired. Once again, the board was not aware of what those charges would cost.
The town received three invoices this past summer from Beauileu’s office totaling $7,942.50, which the town paid. Selectman Janet Iveson said at the Feb. 15 meeting with Beaulieu, that former interim Town Manager Bradley Plante thought the bills were paid in full, which is why town officials were stunned to receive two more invoices several months later in early December.
While the town was charged $4,900 for the audit, the accounting services on the bill totaled $15,285.
The paid invoices for $4,967.50 for accounting services never included a cost breakdown. When Selectman Michael Iveson asked Beaulieu to provide such a document, Beaulieu responded he could not because those charges had been deleted from his computer program after the bill was paid.
While Beaulieu claimed his program made it impossible to charge twice for the same services, Town Manager Lorna Nichols and the board are suspicious since some of the dates listed for services on the December invoice were for work done earlier than the date of the previous invoices.
Without the supporting documents for the earlier invoice and the lack of specifics on some of the more recent charges, the board agreed to pay only a portion of the bill.
In other business, the board agreed to pay $28,818.73 from American Rescue Plan Act funds for a power loader for the Rescue Department.
The town will need to begin a revaluation process before the end of the year, Nichols said. The last one in 1998 was not a full revaluation. The last complete full revaluation, according to state officials, was done 40 years ago, Nichols added.
The Hall Bridge replacement project is expected to start later this month. A temporary bridge is expected to be built by the end of April, with the existing bridge torn down in May or June. The new bridge is expected to be open for traffic by late November, with final paving in spring 2023.
The Hall Bridge spans the Nezinscot River on Route 117 about 3 miles from the Turner town line.
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