HARTLAND – The next selectmen’s meeting in Hartland could yield results with a resolution to a long-standing issue. Selectmen will meet at the town hall at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 15.
   

First Selectman Harry Gould is hopeful negotiations with Peggy Morgan’s attorney could result in an amicable resignation from the long-time town manager. Without a resignation, Gould said, the Board of Selectmen will be forced to move forward with a “resolution for termination.”
    It’s not a route Gould favors, but he is also adamant the town cannot step backwards after the progress made in its financial situation. Under Morgan’s administration, the town found itself more than $400,000 in arrears with MSAD 48 for monthly school assessments. Following that initial revelation, officials learned other debts also remained unpaid and a major portion of the last four budget years were appropriated without funds raised to cover the expenditures.
    Research into the last budget years determined the town never raised taxes to cover a growing shortfall after the former Irving Tanning Company filed for bankruptcy. Gould emphasized the shortfall was not caused by the tannery, but the administration’s failure to compensate for lost revenue in those years.
    “We’re very fortunate we’ve got Larry (Post),” Gould said last week. “I’m feeling a lot better about our situation. This turned out to be a lot more technical than I anticipated.”
    Post as acting town manager is talking with banks to negotiate a long-term loan to fund the town’s outstanding debt, bring accounts current and stretch out the repayment over a 10-year period. With the outstanding debt to the school district, the town’s portion of county tax, a past default on a tax anticipation note, the town’s debt is more than $1.2 million.
    “There have been a lot of ‘band-aid’ solutions over the past four years that are not sustainable,” Post said. “There is no choice these debts must be paid.”
    Once the town has the 10-year-debt under control, it can begin building the reserves needed to conduct business affordably and without continuous fluctuations in the tax rate. This year, taxpayers will face a new tax bill, similar to a “supplemental tax bill” that will ask for another 3 mills in tax revenue to account for the funds not raised for the 2008-09 budget. Within the next month, taxpayers will be billed for half of that extra tax rate, while the balance will be applied to the second tax payment due in April. To keep that additional tax to a minimum, town officials have deferred costs as much as possible as there was not a lot of discretionary spending to cut.
    The goal under Post’s administration is to review town operations to become better organized and more efficient, he said. One of the area’s due for review once the town finances are under control again, will be the town’s solid waste transfer station and the disposal of recyclables.  In addition, the Kennebec Valley Council of Governments is assisting with a grant application to assist the town with corrective actions required at the town’s sludge landfill. The Department of Environmental Protection has the authority to fine the town up to $15,000 for failure to correct deficiencies.