By David Cuetos

(Editor’s note: A slightly different version of this piece was posted last week in LincolnTalk by Cuetos, who asked that this revised version be published in the Lincoln Squirrel. The Squirrel has contacted members of the Finance Committee and School Committee, and at least one response will be forthcoming.

Cuetos will host a Zoom meeting on this issue on Sunday, March 8 at 7:00pm “to review the facts, explain how the issue developed, and answer questions from residents.”)

The Hanscom School operates under a contract that the town, as the operator, enters into with the Department of Defense. Lincoln taxpayer funds were systematically used to cover Hanscom school benefits and administrative costs that should have been paid with Department of Defense funds. By the later years of the FY21 to FY25 contract cycle, the annual impact of these misallocated charges had reached roughly $500,000.

I first raised the issue with town administration, the finance director, and the Finance Committee in 2022. Despite repeated follow up requests, no investigation began for nearly two years, even though those offices had direct access to the financial data and accounting systems needed to resolve the matter. The issue remained unexamined until 2024, when an audit initiated by the former School Committee chair was concluded and a working group was tasked to investigate the misallocated amounts. A sum of $2,045,000 in misallocated Hanscom expenses was confirmed for FY21 to FY25. The working group was not permitted to review earlier years, even though prior contracts operated under the same full cost reimbursement structure and used the same accounting methodology, which strongly suggests that similar misallocations likely occurred before FY21.

The confirmed expenses had been charged to Lincoln’s general fund instead of the Hanscom reserve, the dedicated account intended to cover Hanscom related costs. Correcting this is procedurally simple. These costs are legitimate Hanscom expenses that can be reimbursed to the general fund through a School Committee vote authorizing a transfer from the Hanscom reserve.

This process has been used twice already. An initial action reimbursed approximately $65,000 for split healthcare benefits. In June 2025, following executive session deliberations, the School Committee approved an additional reimbursement of about $495,000. In total, roughly $560,000 has been returned to taxpayers. This represents 27% of the confirmed FY21 to FY25 misallocated amount, leaving approximately $1,485,000 unreimbursed and any pre-FY21 amounts entirely unexamined.

The availability of funds is not in question. Under the contract structure, the federal government advances the full annual amount rather than reimbursing individual invoices, and the Hanscom reserve is fully under the town’s control. The most recent audited financials posted on the town website show a Hanscom Reserve balance of $9.7 million at the end of FY24, which is more than sufficient to correct the remaining shortfall for FY21 to FY25 and likely adequate to address earlier years if they were ever reviewed.

What has never been explained to residents is why the misallocation occurred, why it took nearly two years for an investigation to begin, why the School Committee limited the review period despite evidence that earlier years followed the same reimbursement rules, and why only a fraction of the confirmed misallocation has been corrected when the remedy is straightforward, locally controlled, and fully supported by available funds. Given the scale of the dollars involved and the fiduciary obligations owed to Lincoln taxpayers, a clear and comprehensive explanation remains necessary.

Chronology of Events (2022–2025)

1. Benchmarking Analysis and Initial Evidence

Shortly after moving into town, I began studying our municipal finances. I wanted to understand how a town with the lowest proportion of students relative to population could still have such high taxes. My benchmarking against peer towns showed disproportionately higher taxes per capita across many departments, higher spending per pupil, and notably higher retirement benefits per dollar of payroll. A Massachusetts DESE report provided clear evidence that Lincoln was paying the lion’s share of Hanscom staff benefits.

2. Sharing Findings with FinCom Leadership

I shared my benchmarking analysis with Finance Committee Chair Andy Payne in fall 2022 and invited him to my home. Unfortunately, we could not get past a disagreement about population numbers, and he showed no interest in the spending-per-pupil and retirement-benefits evidence. I also sent my findings to the full Finance Committee; only Fuat Koro expressed interest, though without leadership support he could not pursue it.

3. Directed to the finance director

After continued requests, Mr. Payne directed me to Finance Director Colleen Wilkins. Following a few emails, she told me by phone that she was too busy preparing for budget season to engage in a “fishing expedition,” as she believed there was nothing to uncover. Communication ended.

4. Submitting findings to school leadership

I also brought the matter to the School Committee and then-Superintendent Becky McFall, alerting them to the likely taxpayer subsidy. She quickly denied the subsidy’s existence and gave me access to then-Administrator for Business and Finance Mary Ellen Normen, who explained that she could neither confirm nor refute my findings because the underlying benefits accounting and payroll systems are controlled by the Town Finance Director.

It is relevant that Buck Creel — the longtime administrator for business and finance whose responsibilities included interpreting the contract, overseeing Hanscom’s financial submissions, and ensuring that eligible expenses were properly prepared and submitted for reimbursement — served in that role during the period when these misallocations occurred and was appointed to FinCom last year.

5. Public records request and response

I filed a public records (FOIA-style) request to obtain the data. I received no response within the legal deadline, appealed to the state, and eventually received documents late from Town Administrator Tim Higgins. The response included irrelevant information that did not refute my claim. His email concluded with a statement that even if a mistake existed, it was not illegal.

6. Escalation and lack of response

I sent multiple emails to the town administrator, FinCom, Select Board, Finance Department, and school administration explaining why the response was inadequate. None replied. I also asked a friend to brief Select Board member Jim Hutchinson, who had chaired FinCom. He told my friend they were too busy and too frustrated with my inquiries to address anything before Town Meeting. Nothing happened afterward.

7. FinCom meeting and public comment suppression

Because no one was responding, I raised the issue during public comment at a FinCom meeting. Then-Vice Chair Paul Blanchfield cut me off, stating that he had reviewed the town’s FOIA response and that it disproved my claims. That was factually incorrect.

8. Reduction in transparency

Following that meeting, several changes at FinCom occurred:

• • Zoom meetings became rare.
  • Mr. Payne stopped posting meeting recordings, and his YouTube channel disappeared.
  • The meeting video was missing from town archives until I provided my personal copy.
  • FinCom began developing a more restrictive public comment policy.

9. Shift in FinCom position and additional barriers

After that meeting, I emailed Mr. Blanchfield again. His position shifted from “you are wrong” to “the town could recover funds except for certain accounting or statutory exceptions,” which was also incorrect. A new excuse emerged: that the contract was classified. I disproved this by obtaining unredacted copies of current and past contracts directly from the Department of Defense.

10. School Committee chair steps in and launches independent audit

Former School Committee Chair John McLachlan, after seeing an interview referencing the issue, realized he had been incorrectly told the matter was resolved. He pursued the issue personally despite resistance from Town Administration and FinCom leadership. Unsatisfied, Mr. McLachlan launched an audit, reportedly provoking strong objections. A professional auditor was hired, but the process moved slowly and concluded only in summer 2024.

11. Limitations of the audit and partial shifts in town accounting

I doubted the auditor could determine the benefit misallocation independently because benefits are managed by the Finance Department. In response to my inquiry on the status of the misallocation investigation at a fall 2023 FinCom meeting, Ms. Wilkins and Mr. Blanchfield redirected responsibility to the School Committee and the auditor. Ultimately, the benefit analysis was produced separately by Ms. Wilkins. Notably, during this same period, the Town transferred approximately $65,000 from the Hanscom reserve to the Town’s general reserve to correct split healthcare charges, an action that indicates the underlying issue had been recognized internally even before the formal findings were presented.

12. Audit completion and formation of a working group

The audit concluded in summer 2024, though it did not examine benefits, which as I said were prepared independently by Ms. Wilkins. The School Committee formed a five-member working group: two School Committee members (Matina Madrick and Kim Rajdev), one Select Board member (Mr. Hutchinson), one FinCom member (Mr. Blanchfield), and myself. I understand that one longstanding School Committee member opposed both the creation of this working group and my inclusion, leading to a very restrictive mandate: we could examine only the FY21-25 contract, even though earlier contracts were also full-cost reimbursement.

13. Working group findings and limitations

After discussions and adjustments to allocation methods, the committee unanimously agreed on a methodology confirming the misallocation at roughly 500,000 dollars per year. I objected to the refusal to examine earlier contracts. Before disbanding, I moved to recommend reimbursing the full FY21-25 misallocation. Mr. Hutchinson supported the motion; the other three members abstained.

14. School Committee decision

Throughout FY25, the School Committee delayed any decision. In their final meeting of the year, they entered executive session and decided to reimburse for approximately one fourth of the remaining verified amount. No rationale was provided publicly.

My hope is that by presenting a clear and complete factual record, residents will demand accountability and strengthen oversight going forward. I have kept detailed records of all communications and am willing to review them with anyone interested.

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