Auditors for the Town of Dresden and RSU 2 have come to an agreement: Dresden owes $128,000, thus settling a dispute the town had over the amount.

The town will also receive a credit of $45,552 toward the current school year payments, according to Trudy Foss, Dresden administrative assistant. 

“It doesn’t make any sense to me,” Foss said. “They tried to explain it.”  

At its November 5 meeting, the Dresden Board of Selectmen voted unanimously to use at a time of maturity (to be determined) funds to pay off the $128,000. Board members decided they have to obtain the maturity dates for the accounts and then determine which ones to use to pay off the amount.

The board discussed moving funds around to have more interest. They said the RSU has agreed it is not putting anyone on a time limit.

At the October 4 selectmen’s meeting Foss said the town had been making payments totaling the balance she thought the town owed of $85,000. She said the total amount the town had agreed to pay over a period of up to five years amounted to $235,000, which was the town’s share of funds for the formation of the regional school unit 3 years ago.

At that time, the RSU 2 superintendent informed the town it had a credit of $150,000, which would make the town’s balance $85,000, Foss said.  

The town made two payments to cover the $85,000, according to Foss. “That was what we paid, and we thought we were golden,” she said. 

Recently the new superintendent, Virgel Hammonds, gave the town a “heads up” about the $128,000 figure the RSU 2 figures showed. He said the school unit would examine the disputed figures.

“We’re going to look into that,” he said. “We’ve always worked well together.”

Apparently there never was any $150,000 credit, according to Foss. “The credit never should have been given. There never was any money to be given.”

The whole matter came up when Hammonds spoke in person with Selectmen Chairman Phil Johnston about the balance the RSU 2 claimed the town owed. At the October 4 selectmen’s meeting the issue created quite a stir as board members scratched their heads in an effort to understand how that could have happened. 

At the time, neither board members nor Foss knew how the RSU 2 came up with the $128,000 balance.

After that meeting, Hammonds said the town has been making payments all along and that the report was only an initial discussion on the matter. When the various towns joined RSU 2, most of the towns agreed to pay the full amount over a 5-year period, he said.

Following the meeting, auditors for both the town and the RSU went over figures to come up with the current agreement about the $128,000 balance.