Transparency??

Mountain Times
8/5/15

Dear Editor,

My letter to the editor in the July 16-22 edition was a simple question of transparency. I asked why the auditor’s report showed (on page 9) a $815,491 debt from Irene. Nowhere did I mention this money was due to an outside entity. In Selectboard Chair Patty McGrath’s response last week (the July 30-Aug. 5 edition) she mentioned twice that I inferred this money was due to an outside entity. This is not the case, or the issue.

My question once again is: why does the auditor’s report show a FEMA debt of $815,491 as of Dec. 31, 2014 and the town report does not? I’ve searched the town report with no luck finding it. When I asked “please explain why,” I was not asking how much we spent, how much was owed from federal and state, or even if we did all the work to get our town back together. The question was about lack of transparency since one set of financials shows a substantial debt while the other does not include this debt. As a taxpayer, I expect our town report financials to include ALL of our receipts and debts. I wouldn’t expect certain financial numbers to be backed out so that I have to seek it from another source. So Patty, my question is: where in the town report would I find this debt accounted for? Even if we borrowed it from ourselves, it should still be in the report somewhere.

Jim Haff, Killington