A tiny Maine municipality has temporarily shut down after residents decided this week to keep elected officials from spending money that would allow it to pay its bills and offer basic services.
During a special meeting Monday, residents of The Forks Plantation voted down an article, 14-4, that would give its Board of Assessors permission to spend up to 25 percent of the previously approved 2023 budget, or about $147,116, in the next 90 days. This is common and allows a town to function in the time between when a fiscal year ends and approval of the next budget.
Distrust has grown between residents and the three assessors after an independent auditor called out leaders for not following proper procedures and mishandling taxpayer money in 2021, said Charles Hathaway, who has lived full-time in the remote plantation for about six years.
That tension was ultimately what led to Monday night’s decision, which some attendees abstained from, according to a recording posted on YouTube. Now the plantation of about 48 people in central Somerset County cannot pay bills, process the payroll and offer services such as motor vehicle registration.
“The public is saying: We don’t trust you,” Hathaway said. “You [assessors] haven’t proven or earned our trust. You haven’t shown us that you take care of our money responsibly, period.”
An accountant who performed The Forks Plantation’s annual audit for 2021 stopped short of saying its leadership was committing fraud, but described several unusual practices in a letter filed with a report to the state.
The most questionable action was the second assessor, who is also the tax collector, issuing a check to herself without board approval, and then shortly thereafter paying her back taxes that were a similar amount, according to Keel J. Hood, a certified public accountant based in Fairfield. Town officials made deposits without documenting them and recorded payments that never happened, Hood said in his report.
After Hood failed to provide clarification that assessors sought, they hired another accountant, RHR Smith & Company, for a professional evaluation and to complete the 2022 audit, Timothy Woodcock of Eaton Peabody in Bangor said in December. He represents The Forks Plantation.
RHR Smith’s review, dated June 26, found issues with banking and tax reconciliation, general accounting, payroll administration and cash receipts, among other practices.
The plantation has “little to no written politics on internal fiscal controls” and has no back-up for the treasurer position, which is vital to running the town, according to the review. The plantation’s system for tracking capital asset purchases was not maintained or updated consistently, which makes it difficult to replace aging infrastructure and plan for the community’s future.
“Based on our findings of the review, it is very apparent that The Forks Plantation was carrying on longstanding and outdated fiscal practices,” the review said. “The Assessors need to review its existing practices and develop better internal fiscal policy and procedures and adhere to them.”
The plantation has implemented better practices and made changes, First Assessor Sandra Thompson said during the meeting, noting she was proud to still be standing before residents with the other assessors. A resident disagreed with her sentiment, pointing out that assessors have withheld information, been unwelcoming and made it hard for townspeople to understand how the plantation’s finances are being managed.
Assessors could not be reached by email or phone on Thursday.
Auditor Ron Smith recommended at Monday’s meeting that residents keep their town from shutting down. They should allow assessors to conduct normal business and start having conversations about what new practices would look like because that will start the process of healing, he told them.
“Did we find bad practices? Yeah, we found a lot, and that’s pretty obvious,” he said, but he could not say that leadership was committing fraud.
RHR Smith & Company is also working on the plantation’s audit for 2022, which is not yet complete and will be presented at a future meeting, he said Thursday. It contains many of the same problems as the previous year’s audit and review, he said.
Residents approved the plantation’s annual town meeting, which will be held at 6 p.m. Aug. 21.
