An article we made earlier about a budget amendment received a few comments saying the lines were hard to read. The image below has been cut directly from the amended 2024–2025 budget.

What’s bringing this back up? That amendment was made retroactively, on one of the final days of the fiscal year, after the new budget had already been passed. Let that sink in.

There are 3 images attached, the first is the whole snippit, the second I blew up each part to make it easier to see. It shows how much more was actually spent than what was originally budgeted. In a Facebook post, Councilman Anthony Cox said the discrepancy will be addressed after an audit is completed.

Let’s be honest, this isn’t a “discrepancy.” This is a diversion: $480,000 pulled from the general fund and redistributed between the mayor’s office, the fire department, and the police. That’s nearly half a million dollars that was never formally allocated. Gone, just like that.

Which brings up a few questions:

Why is the mayor/council reporting they spent $140,000 more than budgeted? Are we going to see a line-item breakdown? The fire department only overspent by $10,000. That seems oddly proportional, considering the size of the total amendment. What’s your take? And as we’ve said before, whether it’s $770,000 or $821,000 or $850,000, it’s too much for a police department in a town the size of Falmouth that still doesn’t provide 24/7 coverage.
But here’s the kicker…

They didn’t spend $850,000. They spent $1,100,014. That’s a $330,000 jump from the originally budgeted $770,014. So let us ask you this: Is it standard practice to settle your books like this, at the end of the fiscal year? Because to us, it smells off. And with so many things in this town not getting done, not getting answered? It smells very off. Is this why Luke Price resigned? Because this would’ve been his budget year as mayor.

Falmouth, you ask for transparency, and you get smoke and mirrors. You ask for stability, and you’re met with a mountain of new questions. And sure, some folks will defend it. We can hear it already:

“You don’t get it… math is hard. Fiscal responsibility is sooo complicated. Communicating with the public is just too much.” Right. Let them eat cake. This is just one problem. It’s just the first one that raised our eyebrows.
Falmouth, what do you think?

As always, send us your whispers.

Whisper One Out.