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Thompson fumes extra road $ hurts town finances

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Royce Heath ... said meeting was basically over, but actually, it wasn't

LEBANON - Lebanon Selectmen Chairman Ben Thompson on Saturday said that with recent irresponsible moves made by his colleagues on the board, the town could easily be forced to take a Tax Anticipation Note later this summer or early fall.

Selectmen Royce Heath and Paul Nadeau recently pushed through proposals to add an extra road for paving, at a cost of about $74,000, and $28,000 left in the Roads budget from fiscal year 2014-15 that had been earmarked to go back in the general fund.

"So now we've added on over $100,000 which hurts the cash flow over the summer," an angered Thompson said.

The move to release the $28,000 back to roads came under questionable circumstances during Thursday's regularly scheduled selectmen's meeting.

Toward the end of the meeting Heath told Deborah Wilson and Sandy Adams of Lebanon Truth Seekers (who were videotaping the meeting) that there was only clerical chores left to do and nothing more substantive to be discussed, and the two left.

Then Heath made a motion to return the $28,000 to Road Commissioner Tom Torno's budget to expend this year prior to Tuesday, the end of the current fiscal year.

Thompson fumed openly on Saturday about the high jinks.

"He had just told them (Wilson and Adams) that there was nothing substantive left to the meeting on videotape," he said. "I told him (Heath) he'd better go out to the parking lot and bring them back."

Then, with cameras rolling, selectmen reopened the meeting and Heath and Nadeau swiftly pushed through the decision to release the $28,000 to Torno's budget.

Thompson also questioned how Nadeau could've seconded Heath's motion so quickly without the two discussing the proposal by themselves beforehand which they both denied.

Any funds not expended by Tuesday will still go back into the general fund.

If a TAN is needed prior to property tax revenues flowing into the town in October, residents will feel an extra bite, the cost of interest for using those TAN funds.

"We (the former board) did a lot of work trying not to take a TAN and now they're working so that we may have to," Thompson said of Heath and Nadeau.

Heath refused comment on this story on Friday, while Nadeau said he seconded it because he thinks Roads don't get enough money.

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