In reviewing Edgecomb’s town audits for 2012/2013, Town Auditor Fred Brewer discovered a calculation error. There were a few expenses that were left out of the commitment, which is the amount the town requires in taxes yearly from its residents and businesses.

Budget Committee Chairman Northrup Fowler said that as a result, the tax rate was lower than it should have been. “The town didn't collect enough money to cover expenditures,” he said at the Edgecomb Selectmen meeting March 10. “It was a calculation error.”

To cover the expenditures, money was taken from the town's surplus account, leaving those funds in need of restoring. Now selectmen have to figure out how to get that money back into the surplus fund.

Fowler said that the town has been working slowly to build up the surplus, which he describes as “a cushion to carry the town through rainy days.” The town needs to come up with a projected budget to decide what to spend, he said.

Selectman Stuart Smith made no bones about placing blame for the discrepancies on the town's assessor, Dennis Berube of John E. O'Donnell & Associates. “This is clearly O'Donnell's mistake,” he said.

When Selectman Jack Sarmanian asked Berube if he was surprised to see the error, he said, “I was just disappointed that I didn't pick up on it.”

He went on to say that John O'Donnell, owner of the firm, felt that some of the confusion was created by wording in the town meeting warrant. “But I'm not trying to place blame.”

Edgecomb Town Attorney Bill Dale said this wasn't the time to play the blame game. “The John O'Donnell firm has a very good reputation. This is a one-time mistake. The question is, what do we do moving forward?”

Dale went on to say that a town should always be mindful that if money is taken from the surplus it will have to be made up. He said that the town did not spend more money than the town meeting had accounted for. “There is no money missing,” he said. “Any money that got spent was money people voted on.”

But, he said, a mistake was made; and selectmen should “fess up” at the town meeting in May. “This is the best place to do it, when the most people are going to show up.”

Smith said that the town pays the O'Donnell firm $17,000 a year to do the paperwork.

He suggested that the best way to tackle the issue in the future might be to hire the auditor, Brewer, to review the numbers before moving forward. “Fred caught the mistake. We'll prevent it from occurring again by having him look at it,” Smith said.

Brewer said it was up to the board of selectmen to come up with a resolution.

By Smith's calculation, the amount the town is looking at making up $251,700.

Asked what the surplus for the town of Edgecomb should be, Smith replied, “We've always tried to shoot for 10 percent. We're going to have to recover some of the surplus.”

Smith said one way to get money back into the surplus would be to send tax bills out early. He said not everyone would pay their bills early, but that some like to get them out of the way.

Another option discussed was a TAN, a Tax Anticipation Note, but Dale and Brewer said that might not be the answer. Smith agreed. “We've identified the problem and we have it under control. We'll be making up the loss,” he said.

Does this mean property taxes in Edgecomb will go up?

Smith said a plan will need to be set up with the budget committee. “It's too early to know where we'll be at town meeting time.”

Selectmen will meet on March 17 at 6 p.m. with the budget committee.