Wareham is working to get its fiscal house in order, and the Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee held a joint meeting on Wednesday to discuss some of the financial issues that the town is facing.

Interim Town Administrator Derek Sullivan presented both boards with a quarterly report, and a chart outlining Wareham’s expenditures from July 1 (the beginning of the fiscal year) to September 30.

Members of the FinCom praised Sullivan's report, saying it was the clearest view of Wareham's finances they have been provided with for awhile.

“I think this report is generally good, and is better than what we’re used to getting,” said FinCom member Samuel Gray.

Some town departments have almost exhausted some of their accounts, despite only being a quarter of the way in to the fiscal year.

“Any expenditures that were glaring outliers were looked at to see what’s going on,” said Sullivan.

The Accounting Department has spent nearly 100% of its expense account, due to the need to pay and train staff. Former town accountant Brian Kudish left the post earlier this month, and additional staff were brought in to assist the department.

Another unexpected expense came in the Inspectional Services department. The clean up of a burnt down house at 118 Sandwich Road was expected to cost about $5,000, but ended up costing approximately $30,000. This has left the "expense" account of the department almost entirely depleted.

“At the fall Town Meeting, we did make some transfers to account for this,” Sullivan noted. Budget changes made during Town Meeting were not reflected in the report.

Sullivan expressed concern about the expense account of the unemployment budget, which took a hit last June when a number of teachers were laid off.

“Right now we are trending to overspend in that account,” said Sullivan.

Some departments spent more than expected in the first quarter due to bills and dues that must be paid at the beginning of the year.

In the budget for the Selectmen, for example, about 54% of the expense account has been spent due in large part to expenses that had to be paid at the beginning of the fiscal year.