People in Alna get to be treasurer by living there and getting elected. But that could change in 2017 if voters in 2016 agree to make it a hired job that people in and outside Alna can seek.

First Selectman David Abbott on Sept. 23 told accountant Bill Brewer that the board wants to propose the change at the annual town meeting next March. Voters will elect the next treasurer the day before town meeting; if voters want selectmen to start appointing each treasurer, the switch would take effect the following year, selectmen and Brewer said.

Brewer said his firm, which works for dozens of towns, is a big advocate of the treasurer’s job being appointed, not elected.

“From our experience, popular vote doesn’t always benefit the community.”

Accounting work for a town is very different from the private sector, but an elected treasurer may not realize that until after they begin the job, Brewer said.

Brewer encouraged the board to also look at having the treasurer not be the only town official who reviews the town’s banking for outstanding checks or other issues. “You can’t segregate the duties enough,” he said.

Brewer was at the meeting to discuss a review the board has asked him to do to straighten out the town’s payroll taxes and other accounting issues. The town’s software shows checks that may never have been sent, but that were not voided on the software, town officials said.

The checks date to when Aaron Miller was treasurer, selectmen have said. Miller resigned in April after he and the board had started to address state and federal tax problems.

Based on interim treasurer Honora Perkins’ description of some of the issues, it’s possible that some W-2 and other forms will need to be amended, Brewer said.

Third Selectman Doug Baston compared the challenges of recent months to dealing with an iceberg. “Every time that we think we’ve got the whole iceberg, we find that we’re just a little further down the tip.”

No one on the board is an accountant, Baston added at another point. He said he can’t balance his own checkbook; his mother believed that as long as she still had checks in the checkbook, she still had money, he said.

Selectmen told Brewer they hope he will be able to determine how much the town either owes the Internal Revenue Service, or has coming back from a $9,800 payment made last spring to try to catch up on the taxes.

Brewer outlined steps he will take to find out; based on the $9,800 already paid to catch up, the town could still owe another 30 percent of that in penalties, he said.

Brewer said he would get the board a job description for treasurer; and, in about another week, he would give Town Clerk Amy Warner an estimate on the cost of his planned financial review.

“I feel a lot better,” Second Selectman Melissa Spinney said about having a new plan to resolve the issues.

Another approach to legal questions

Selectmen had planned to have town attorney David Soule find out their legal options to possibly recover any losses due to the tax and accounting issues. But they said Soule said he is no longer doing litigation.

He recommended some Portland-area attorneys, selectmen said. Baston asked the board to first let him try doing some legal research. Baston’s findings and Brewer’s review may give them a clearer picture of what the options are, members said.