One employee placed on non-disciplinary administrative leave

By Theresa Knapp 

The Hopedale Select Board conducted an emergency meeting on Feb. 11 to provide an “emergency update on the financial discrepancies related to fiscal year 2019 through 2025 and our next steps.” 

The discrepancy is a $300,000 deficit in the town’s police private detail revolving account that dates back to 2019. 

More than 60 residents attended the virtual meeting, where Town Administrator Mitch Ruscitti delivered a seven-minute prepared statement outlining the findings of an ongoing financial review.

“This matter began following Fall Town Meeting 2025, just a few short months ago, when the town voted to appropriate $300,000 of excess levy capacity into the Stabilization Fund. During reconciliation of that transfer with the Department of Revenue, a discrepancy was identified indicating that reported available revenue did not align with the amount necessary to support that deposit. I immediately reran the calculations from this office, and within this office, and confirmed that the appropriation map itself was, in fact, accurate. That indicated that the issue was not with the vote itself but potentially within revenue tracking or account reconciliation. 

“At that point, I initiated a structured internal review of revenue collections and account balances while simultaneously continuing year-end closeout and tax-rate setting in coordination with the Department of Revenue. During that process, additional discrepancies were identified that required deeper review beyond routine reporting and beyond the routine close-out process.” 

Ruscitti continued, “As the review expanded, and in conjunction with Marcum (the third party accounting firm assisting with closeout), we identified a material deficit within the police private detail revolving account. Although officers were compensated through regular payroll, and services continued uninterrupted, the revolving account had accumulated a significant negative balance over multiple fiscal years. This year alone, that negative balance exceeded $300,000, meaning that private detail payments were made without corresponding full cost recovery reflected in that account. 

“At this point, I want to be crystal clear that this issue does not reflect on the Hopedale Police Department or individual officers as invoicing and payment processing for private details are administrative functions and do not live with the Hopedale Police Department.” 

During public comment, a resident asked if $300,000 was a firm number.  

Ruscitti said, “At this time, I’m comfortable sharing a $300,000 discrepancy. I will say that the discrepancy in uncollected real estate taxes in FY25 appears to be substantial. Just as a side note, there is a number of uncollected real estate taxes that often falls into a usual margin. Folks that are struggling economically, or that maybe were foreclosed on, or other issues or hardships – there is a small number each year of uncollected real estate taxes for those reasons. This year is about ‘6x’ [six times] of what is usually uncollected, which raised flags upon learning of that. So, that is where we are, I don’t feel comfortable sharing the other numbers yet until we have a conclusive.” 

Another resident asked if a situation raised to town officials in November regarding uncashed personal checks was related to this deficit, Ruscitti said it was not. “This is not related to that issue in any way, shape, or form. And town staff did not handle the checks that we’re talking about at Thanksgiving, that was a third-party vendor.” 

Ruscitti said that Marcum is conducting a comprehensive forensic review, and he has brought in Milford Chief Financial Officer Zach Taylor to provide independent oversight. Town officials continue to work closely with the Department of Revenue.

Ruscitti said the discrepancies were not identified through prior audits or standard financial reporting procedures and were only discovered through enhanced reconciliation efforts conducted during the tax rate certification process. He expects many of the funds are recoverable through reconciliation and procedural corrections.

In addition, one person has been placed on leave. 

“In consultation with counsel, and to protect the town’s fiduciary interest, I placed an involved employee on non-disciplinary administrative leave pending an ongoing investigation,” Ruscitti said.

“While there is no evidence at this time of fraud or theft, if the investigation warrants referral to outside authorities, appropriate action will be taken in accordance with law,” he said.

Town officials stressed that municipal operations remain stable. Tax bills have been issued on schedule, payroll obligations are being met, and no cuts to town services are planned at this time.

Select Board Chair Scott Savage said the board will continue providing updates as more information becomes available, adding “This process is about identifying root causes and coming up with resolutions to fix it.”  

Select Board member Glenda Hazard would like a written report from Marcum regarding their findings. 

Ruscitti concluded by saying, “My responsibility as Town Administrator is to identify risk, confront it directly, and implement structural corrections. That responsibility is not taken lightly, it is being exercised fully. The meeting tonight was held to be fully transparent to the board because eventually this will come in front of Town Meeting. I will continue to provide updates as the review progresses, both to the public and to the Select Board.”

To watch the meeting, visit https://townhallstreams.com/stream.php?location_id=56&id=72791