Trustees of Trust Funds
Trustees of Trust Funds Meeting of December 14th 2015 Minutes (unapproved)
Meeting called to order at 9:30 am
Attending: Helene Matesky, Linda Terry, Chris McAleer; Martha Benesh was unable to attend
Minutes of Trustees of Trust Fund November 16th 2015 were approved.
The first order of business was the request by the School Board for a withdrawal of $40,000 from the School Bus Capital Reserve Fund 0001 for the purchase of a school bus. The School Board voted on this request in a November 16th, 2015 meeting.
At the March 5th 2015 School District Annual Meeting a warrant article authorized raising $57,000 in tax revenue for this purpose and an additional $40,000 to be withdrawn from the School Bus Capital Reserve Fund for a total of $97,000.
However, the bus was actually purchased back on October 4th 2015 as indicated by invoice and e-mail from SAU9 Finance Director Becky Jefferson. The cost was $83,493 or $13,507 less than what was initially authorized at the March town meeting.
In reviewing the minutes of the School Board Meeting of November 16th, specifically section 8.C, it was unclear whether the School Board had been aware that the bus had been purchased and if so, why would the Board then ask for Funds that exceeded the purchase price. It was noted that any of the $40,000 from the School Bus Capital Reserve Fund not expended could be put back in the budget. The Trustees found this to be in error as monies from the School Bus Capital Reserve Fund are restricted to the purchase of a school bus and for no other purpose.
Helene said that the Trustees had never been asked to expend more than actual cost as indicated by invoice. For clarification Helene had forwarded this question to the State Attorney General’s office which in turn forwarded it to the Department of Revenue. The DOR have not as yet responded by the time of our meeting.
Linda also pointed out that the language of the March Warrant Article regarding the bus was clear in that monies from the School Bus Capital Reserve Fund were for purchase of a bus and that alone.
The notes of the School Board November 16th meeting also suggested that The Trustees of the Trust Funds had made the request for funds for the school bus but this was not the case. Helene had asked Becky Jefferson about this and though the minutes may be confusing Becky said the minutes were reflecting a procedure implemented 7 years ago by the Trustees requiring that all School Board requests for funding be made at a public hearing and approved by a majority of the Board. Helene reiterated that even if there are several sources of revenue standard procedure requires all requests for withdrawals from Trusts must include invoices that account for the full amount of the expenditure before the Trustees can release funds.
For the reasons discussed above the Trustees unanimously agreed that no more than the difference between the actual cost of the bus at $83,493 and the amount of $57,000 that had been authorized or $26,493 could be expended. The Trustees voted 3 to none to withdraw $26,493 from the School Bus Capital Reserve Trust Fund to cover the balance of the bus invoice.
Helene noted that monies had been received from SAU 9 in the amounts of $25,000 for the School Bus Capital Reserve Fund 0001 and $5,000 for the Whitney Center Maintenance Fund 0066 as had been authorized at the March School Board Annual Meeting. The funds were deposited into the appropriate Trusts. Thanks was given to Becky Jefferson for her prompt service.
Helene reported that the Trustees received an inquiry from the Jackson Water Precinct for a withdrawal but the funds were subsequently found in another JWP account.
Helene also received an inquiry from Julie Atwell about funds for office equipment, specifically computers, that could come from Trustee Funds. Helene replied yes, with a copy of the invoice required when the actual purchase was made, but had not heard back from Julie by the time of the meeting.
Linda presented a draft of a Warrant Article that needs to go before the Town that would authorize the Trustees to hire outside Investment Advisors to aid in investing the Trust Funds. Any fees involved would come from the Funds themselves and not from taxpayers. The purpose of this proposal is to increase what have been meager returns in a low interest rate environment without imposing any substantial risk.
As part of this process Linda also presented a draft of a new investment policy update that outlines what procedures, processes and goals would be involved in this endeavor to better returns on the Trust Funds.
Comments and suggestions on both these drafts were discussed by all. The Warrant Article was amended and approved. The Board deferred approval of the Investment Policy pending revisions.
At 10:40 the meeting was adjourned and the next meeting set for the week of January4th 2016. Exact date to be established.
Chris McAleer December 17th 2015
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