Saugus Town Meeting approves troubled water and sewer accounts

SAUGUS – Saugus Town Meeting voted unanimously to approve the 2013 water and sewer accounts Monday night, the same accounts which a forensic audit found were used to illegally pay salary and other general fund expenses.Article 4 appropriates $4.47 million for the water enterprise account, including $291,000 in salaries. Article 5 appropriates $4.18 million for the sewer enterprise fund, including $227,000 in salaries.Town Meeting member Maureen Dever thanked Town Manager Scott Crabtree and the Board of Selectmen for providing “such a level of detail.”?I think we (passed this) because of the detail and clarity of information that I?ve never seen in 26 years as a town meeting member,” said Dever.In other business, Town Meeting voted unanimously to pass article 34, which gives the Board of Selectmen authority to hire an auditing firm to conduct the town?s annual audit. It also voted to pass article 3, which transfers $680,000 in unused money from the 2011 budget into the 2012 budget and article 11, which transfers $25,000 to pay for upkeep of Riverside Cemetery.?What we?re doing is taking the current year?s budget and comparing them to the budget we approved last year,” said Town Moderator Bob Long of article 3. “As always when you do projections there are budgets that run over and some that run under. We?re taking those budgets that went under and putting them into the budgets went over.”Town Manager Scott Crabtree said the transfers are based on the forensic audit findings.Article 35, which seeks to compensate members of the Retirement Board $3,000 to $4,500, was indefinitely postponed while Town Meeting voted to refer article 37, which seeks money for asbestos abatement for the Blemonte Middle School repair project, and 38, which seeks money for additional renovations at the school, back to the Belmonte Building Committee.Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected].