A state review of the town's financial management criticizes the Wareham Board of Selectmen and Finance Committee for their inconsistent and over-reaching leadership.  It cites specifically the way sewer funds have been managed and overspending in several areas because town officials did not know how much money was available to spend.

The same report also praises the town's technology manager, and the Assessor and Treasurer/Collector offices.

The review, undertaken by the state Department of Revenue at the request of Wareham Selectmen, is dated June 2010 and provides 42 recommendations intended to be used by the town to improve operations.   The same agency conducted a review in 2001 and many of the same problems are found in both reports.

Department of Revenue analysts specifically cited the fact that in the 10 years between reports there have been 7 different Town Administrators.

"Turnover in the town administrator position has had a far-reaching effect on the administration of town government over the last four years. Dissatisfaction with prior occupants of the position, for whatever reason, seems to have prompted the board of selectmen and the finance committee members to separately seek to take a greater role in town administration and financial matters than they might otherwise."

Board of Selectmen Chair Jane Donahue said that although she was unsurprised overall by the report's findings, it was unfortunate that it focused on the turnover in town administrators as responsible for the lack of progress in the 2001 recommendations.

There were "lots of things I knew needed to be worked on since I was elected as Selectman... and even before on the Finance Committee," Donahue said.  "We had a Town Administrator and Town Accountant for six years and couldn't implement the recommendations from 2001."

Among the report's key findings and recommendations:

Sewer funding

Over the last 3 years, the sewage treatment system has cost $1.26 million more than was collected from sewer users.  To fund this deficit, town leaders chose to use betterment fees instead of raising sewer user fees, a practice that the reviewers said was "lawful, but not prudent."

The betterment fee are collected from those recently connected to the sewer system and are intended to repay money the town borrowed to extend the sewer system.  The report cited: "User rates should be reviewed annually to verify that revenues adequately cover the total operating costs."

Over spending

The report was critical of town management, the Selectmen and the Finance Committee for failing to know enough about the state of finances to prevent inadvertent overspending. Specifically:

Officials thought they had taken care of a small amount of overspending in 2008 and 2009 by getting Town Meeting to approve an additional $20,850 in 2010. In fact, the state found, the total amount overspent was not $20,000 but $232,220 - which will have to be paid for with 2011 tax revenue.

The town routinely overestimates the amount of Community Preservation Act funds that will be available and runs the risk of asking Town Meeting to spend money that will never be available.

Selectmen and the Finance Committee successfully recommended that 2009 Town Meeting to spend more money from school and Council on Aging "revolving accounts" than was actually in the accounts - simply because the officials did not know how much money was in the accounts.

Information Technology

The Department of Revenue report praised the work being done by the current Data Processing Manager, Matthew Underhill, and made several recommendations to expand his role and influence in many critical areas.  They acknowledged that budget cuts in the department have greatly overburdened him, and stressed how dependent the town is on technology to complete critical regular tasks.

The report said "The data processing department's scope of responsibility is significant and is a heavy workload for one individual. The town is fortunate that a knowledgeable and experienced manager who continues to demonstrate an ability and willingness to juggling multiple tasks and projects."

Town Administrator Mark Andrews said that he has established a financial management plan which lists the recommendations, assigns responsibility for their implementation and monitors the progress of achieving each goal, as the centerpiece of his weekly meetings with Town Department heads.

"I'm taking it very seriously to report back to the DOR, how many of the 42 items or recommendations, have been resolved to-date," said Andrews, anticipating that the "progress report" will be issued in December or January.

Robert Bliss, Director of Communications for the DOR (and no relation to former town accountant Bob Bliss) said that actions such as these are exactly what the Department hopes to see.

"It's our hope that with a Town Administrator that he could use this report as a checklist to bring some immediate improvements to the town's finances," Bliss noted.  "If that's how the report is used, it would be a great use of it, and from our point of view, it would be mission accomplished."

The entire report can be downloaded in PDF form below.