HYANNIS – The Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates Standing Committee on Finance is wrestling with the over $150,000 Cape Cod Municipal Police Academy deficit, though is moving cautiously.
“When all is said and done, the actual deficit—which included the cash deficit, the amounts and warrants payable and encumbered vouchers payable—at the end of FY21 amounted to $156,148.73,” said Deputy Finance Director Stephen Amara to the committee at their most recent meeting.
“The $170,000 was an estimate that we had made early on in the month of June and I think that we couldn’t really nail down what was going to happen at that point.”
Amara said that he couldn’t see any alternatives to passing the ordinance transferring the police academy’s deficit, as the deficit occurred in Barnstable County and under the county government’s watch.
“I don’t you suing anyone for the amount of money. We can’t sue ourselves for it, we can’t sue the department for it,” said Amara.
“We spent money that we didn’t have, and all I can say is that we really can’t kick the can down the road on this much further.”
Amara said that the operational deficit would negatively impact the credit standing of Barnstable County until addressed.
Chairman John Ohman asked if there were different rules for county governments as opposed to other municipalities, though Amara said he has not found any expressly outlined guidelines to follow for county accounting responsibilities.
Amara said the deficit would be moved to free cash if the academy was a town, though the real issue stems from the lack of an initial meaningful budget.
“That’s where the trouble began, we did not end up with a meaningful budget and it’s time to put an end to it.”
Vice Chairman Jim Killion asked how similar issues can be prevented in the future, to which Amara answered that budgets must be made and paid attention to for all programs going forward.
The committee said that it needs more legal clarification on what is required of the county before it can move forward on any action, and tabled the issue.
“I would not want to vote to approve anything until we have reasonable assurances and proof that these problems have been corrected,” said Killion, who added that he and the committee clerk have considered reaching out to a state agency looking for advice on how to proceed.
County Administrator Elizabeth Albert said that there will be more oversight of the academy moving forward.
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