SOUTHAMPTON — The leader of the town’s Finance Committee has resigned after a rocky budget season, saying that the panel doesn’t have enough volunteers to meet its obligations and that even if it did, the town often provides out-of-date or inaccurate financial information for it to be able to make recommendations.

Vicki Leigh Moro, who has served on the committee for two years, turned in her resignation to the town clerk’s office May 10, a day after the annual Town Meeting.

Moro, who previously worked as Southampton’s town accountant for eight years, said she volunteered to be a part of the Finance Committee as a way to help the community with the transition shortly after she left the municipality to become Westfield’s city auditor.

“I was hoping that with my leaving I could help guide a new person since I had a history of what was done or accomplished. I knew the ins and outs of Southampton’s finances,” she said. “I thought the new person could benefit from someone who had worked for the town, so if they wanted to change procedures or maintain current ones, I could help. But it didn’t work out that way.”

Despite being well versed in the town’s finances and having a desire to do what’s best for the municipality, being a part of the committee has proven challenging, she said.

Since Moro was elected, the five-member Finance Committee has been short two members. The responsibility, she says, was a lot for the three members. That combined with less time on her hands with her children attending high school, Moro said she felt she could not devote the energy needed to perform her duties as well as she liked.

Additionally, Moro said it was hard to make any type of financial decision when the information received by the committee was either “incomplete, not up to date or simply wrong.”

“Going to meetings every night a week during budget season for every department — it’s a lot to take in,” she said. “And when you’re trying to discuss, ask questions or make suggestions and get pushback, you start to wonder: ‘why am I doing this?’”

Select Board Chairperson Chris Fowles confirmed receipt of Moro’s resignation, but noted that the board had not formally acted upon it since they would not be meeting until May 23.

Fowles said the committee has had challenges in organizing and satisfying the schedules of all the members, which was more obvious in collaborating for joint meetings regarding the budget.

Typically, the Finance Committee goes through the proposed budgets of the schools as well as the Police and Fire departments, and then passes them along to the Select Board with comments. However, Fowles said that the committee was not successful in taking the lead with budget season.

“The Select Board took it upon themselves to tackle the budget,” she said. “Since March, the board has met twice a week and used Thursday nights as budget hearings.”

She also noted that the committee was always invited, but that there was never a full committee to hold a discussion.

Admittedly, Fowles said communication has not been the best. Still, from her perspective as chairperson of the Select Board, she feels that the board had to do much more than they normally would to discuss the budget.

“We value the members on the Finance Committee and their expertise. They bring something to the table with their background, and we try to take advantage of their expertise,” said Fowles. She suggested possibly scheduling more frequent meetings throughout the year in addition to the budget season.

Fowles admitted that there have been times where the information is not up-to-date, but that it’s corrected during regular expense reviews.

Noticeably absent from this year’s Town Meeting package was the Finance Committee’s recommendations. Moro said that the committee was unable to meet until the Monday before the Town Meeting, which was originally scheduled for Tuesday, May 2, mainly because of conflicting schedules. She also questioned how the committee could proceed when the financial books from the previous fiscal year weren’t closed.

Even on the night of Town Meeting on May 9, Moro said she was disheartened that no one asked the opinion of the committee.

“Whether or not there was a full board, the financials are not where they need to be so it would still be difficult to make or advise financial matters for the town,” she said. “I had thought that by knowing what I know that I would be able to make a difference, but that is just not the case.”

With Moro’s resignation, the remaining members of the Finance Committee include Rebecca Plimpton and the newly reelected Donna Whiteley.

With only two members, Town Administrator Ed Gibson said the Select Board could appoint an individual until the next election to fill Moro’s vacancy.

Emily Thurlow can be reached at ethurlow@gazettenet.com.]]>