HATFIELD — When residents cast votes in the town election May 15, the remaining two years of the collector and treasurer positions will not be on the ballot.
The Select Board on Wednesday voted, based on advice from legal counsel, to rescind an earlier decision that would have given residents the chance to elect a new treasurer and a new collector following the resignation of Laura Lee Bertram last month.
Betram left both positions, to which she was first elected in 2015 and then re-elected in 2017, on Feb. 16.
State law allows the board’s appointment of Edwina Palmisano, formerly an assistant treasurer, to remain in both positions through May 19, 2020.
Select Board Chairman Brian Moriarty told his colleagues at Wednesday’s board meeting that Palmisano will work alongside Baystate Municipal Accounting Group of Maynard, which has already been providing assistance to the offices.
Baystate will do more of this work, Moriarty said, as the town continues to focus on getting its financial house in order.
A recent audit cited concerns with the town’s financial practices. Voters at a special Town Meeting in January agreed to plug a $315,000 gap in the town’s 2018 and 2017 budgets, identified by the state’s Department of Revenue, by transferring money from stabilization accounts and making cuts to the current year’s budget.
Still, property tax bills have not been able to go out, though third and fourth quarter bills are being printed and are expected to be mailed next week, Assistant Treasurer Sharon Strzegowski said. The bills for the third and fourth quarters will be due May 1.
Town Clerk Lydia Syzch said residents interested in running for various positions have until March 27 to turn in nomination forms with 20 signatures from registered voters. No one had inquired about pulling nomination forms for the collector and treasurer positions, she said.
The Select Board is still considering putting on the Town Meeting warrant an article asking voters to make both the collector and treasurer jobs appointments by the Select Board.
A similar warrant article failed in the past, even though the Department of Revenue’s Division of Local Services has recommended this as a way to improve the town’s financial records.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
