Town Accountant

The Town Accountant is the appointed officer who keeps the town's financial records and general ledger, draws the warrants on which the Town Treasurer pays the town's bills, and reports each year on the town's receipts, expenditures and balance sheet. After a town committee recommended the Town Accountant Act in 1916 as the best and most progressive method of handling the town's accounts, the March 1917 town meeting accepted Chapter 624 of the Acts of 1910, voted to employ a Town Accountant and to install the state system of accounting; the elected Town Auditors were abolished after the board chosen in 1918. The first accountant, Everett S. Bull, had long been Collector of Taxes and held the office until his death on December 1, 1929, with Hart E. Prior serving pro tem. Ralph L. Dodge served from 1930 until he retired in 1960, and Ralph J. McKenna, appointed May 31, 1960, held the office for 33 years until he retired in November 1993. Later accountants have been appointed by the Select Board under the town charter. The Town Accountant also sits ex officio on several town committees, among them the Financial and Compliance Audit Committee.

The title has remained Town Accountant throughout. The FY2025 budget proposed a reorganized Finance Department with a new, separate Director of Finance position while keeping the accountant; the school department's Director of Finance and Operations is a different office.