LAKEVILLE — Lakeville officials approved transferring about $240,000 in budget surplus to fill gaps left at the end of the fiscal year.

At the July 14 Select Board meeting, officials approved budget transfers to cover salaries, legal expenses and transportation for Lakeville students attending school outside the district.

Of the transfers, the largest sum, $68,000, went to cover salaries for the newly appointed, full-time Town Accountant and Town Assessor roles. The funds were moved from the town’s expense account for third-party contractors to fund the positions.

Board members also approved transferring $61,000 intended for the Town Planner’s salary to cover excess legal expenses. Lakeville’s town planner position has been vacant for most of the year.

Town Administrator Andrew Sukeforth said for the past few years, Lakeville has budgeted about $75,000 for legal services. Last year, the town spent about $136,000 on legal services — roughly $61,000 more than was budgeted. Sukeforth and Select Board Chair Maureen Candito raised concerns about the overspending and both felt that even the original budgeted amount was too high.

“I think it's just a confluence of just using [legal counsel] way too much for small things, and that bill just rises up,” said Sukeforth. “I think what has happened also is that K.P. law raises their fees yearly, and our expense line has just not increased. We have $75,000 and it's not getting us as far as it used to.”

K.P. Law is a municipal law-firm that provides legal counsel to the town government.
Sukeforth said all town departments utilize the firm’s services, but did not provide a specific spending breakdown to the board on Monday night.

“It might not be something we can control, but it can be something we can measure and try to get better at and create some more controls around access to town counsel,” Candito said.

The board also discussed transferring $36,000 from unspent administrative salaries to make up the difference on a $122,000 student transportation bill. A large portion of the expense came from a single household in which an additional student recently began attending school outside the district.

Candito said “it's unacceptable” for the town to spend that amount on busing students from a single address.

“That number is unacceptable. I would actually say it is so unacceptable that I would be game for a friendly lawsuit,” Candito said, suggesting Lakeville dispute the cost of the transportation service.

“That’s more than two teachers’ salaries,” she said.

Candito recommended Ellis review how the town reduced the student transportation bill in the past. She said they have previously received an “acceptable amount” when the town extended bids to more transportation contractors.

“There's no way that it could increase like that. That's criminal,” Candito said.

Candito and the board approved allocating the funds, but requested Ellis and Sukeforth to find a way to reduce the expense similar to how they have in the past. She said she approved the funding, “knowing that we can fix it” and that it will then go into free cash.

In addition, funds totalling $37,000 were transferred to the snow and ice salaries and expenses to cover a $37,372 deficit. A portion of the funds, $10,000, came from a surplus in funding for the administrative salaries. Other unspent funds from the FY25 budget were used to cover the remaining $27,312.