DOR ‘pleased’ with Saugus

SAUGUS – The town’s financial situation may not be as dire as one year ago, but that doesn’t mean Big Brother isn’t still watching.Officials from the Department of Revenue popped in last week, but Town Manager Andrew Bisignani said they seemed satisfied when they left.”A representative stopped in,” Bisignani said. “He met with us and indicated he was pleased with what he saw.”Bisignani said the DOR had some concern regarding estimated receipts for 2009, but they went through the budget issues and were fine with what they found. He also said the DOR doesn’t make a habit of randomly dropping by, but it is still keeping a close eye on the town.The state office also asked for some estimated year-end figures and was reportedly pleased that there was no operation deficit.”We’ve complied with all their requirements,” Bisignani said.It was just about a year ago that the DOR penned a letter telling the town it was pleased with its financial progress, but that it still wasn’t out of the woods. Trouble centered on the fact that healthcare costs were continuing to escalate and the effectiveness of a plan to pay off the Kasabuski Arena deficit was questionable.Bisignani said those areas have since been addressed and, while the financial picture for the town may not be rosy, it is stable.The town countered high healthcare costs by joining the state’s healthcare program, which Bisignani said turned out to be favorable for the town. And final contract details regarding the rink sublease should be hammered out by midweek, which unburden the town of a $725,000 deficit.Bisignani said outside auditors are set to start the town’s annual year-end audit in a few weeks.”In the short term the worst is behind us,” Bisignani said. “The water and sewer enterprise accounts look good, we have some small surpluses. I’m hoping to go back to Moody’s next year to see if we can get our bond rating back up.”