The coverage of the debt issue Peterborough’s proposed fire station faces failed to cover the most important point of all – no one at any level of town government was apparently aware of the town’s debt limit.
If they had been, they would not have approached the state with this request, or they would have at least amended it. That did not happen. The formula the state uses to calculate the debt limit is very simple, and should be ingrained in the town administrator’s office, the Finance Department, the Budget Committee as well as the Select Board.
That none of these groups raised this issue is completely reprehensible, and borders on breaching their statutory, or at the very least ethical, fiduciary responsibility. Add this to the $2.3 million internet scam theft, and it seems to me no one’s watching the store.
Deflecting the current issue with “Well, it will cost more if we delay further” is wrong. This is not a “no harm, no foul” issue by any stretch of the imagination. There’s a serious accountability problem in and around the Town House. It’s time someone took responsibility, instead of being allowed to “resign” or “retire.” But there are so many people that should have known, I don’t even know where to begin.
Rick Villaume
Peterborough