Freetown Select Board unanimously backs forensic audit of regional school budget

FREETOWN — June 3, 2024 — Freetown Select Board recommends forensic audit of regional school district finances. Acting on a request from the regional Finance Committee, the two-member board — Chair Selectman Lopes and Selectman Zager, sitting without absent Selectman Matthews — voted unanimously Monday to recommend the audit, citing what Lopes called an unacceptable volume of budget errors that the committee could no longer attribute to clerical mistakes. The board also approved the town's fiscal year 2025 omnibus budget at $30,610,428.90, with the school assessment revised down to approximately $13,411,000 following updated state aid figures. Employment agreements for town employees Lola Fado and Patricia Rogers, each running through June 30, 2027, were approved alongside road contracts with All States Construction Inc. and K5 Corporation. Who will fund the forensic audit — the district, both member towns, or some combination — remains unresolved and is expected to return to the agenda.