David Toth: No expense to Ashland taxpayers for approving Article 19

To The Daily Sun,

Ashland voters next week will be asked to approve Article 19, which establishes a trust fund for the repair and maintenance of the grounds and the Scribner Building, which houses the library. There will be no expense to taxpayers. Money for the trust will come from the Emma H. Scribner Trust, which was terminated by a Nonjudicial Settlement Agreement with the New Hampshire Division of Charitable Trusts. The fund will be managed by the Trustees of the Trust Funds and the Library Trustees will be the beneficiaries.

If the article passes, the town will be able to use the funds, approximately $100,000, to repair and maintain the building and grounds. If the article fails, taxpayers will be responsible for the entire cost of maintenance and repair.

There is some misunderstanding about the Scribner Trust and the Nonjudicial Settlement Agreement. The Scribner Trustees have discussed the status of the trust at Select Board meetings and have provided a report to the Board of Selectmen detailing how the trust funds were depleted. The Nonjudicial Settlement Agreement was reached with the aid of the town’s attorney and the Attorney General’s Office, saving the town costly legal fees. Voters can view the town meetings during which the Scribner Trust was discussed online and they can get copies of the Scribner Trustees’ report and the Nonjudical Settlement Agreement from Town Hall. The following paragraphs provide a brief summary of the discussions and reports.

Article 19 is necessary because the Attorney General’s Office Division of Charitable Trusts dissolved the Emma H. Scribner Trust because the trust was overspent and, therefore, no longer solvent. According to the will, the income from the trust, the interest and dividends, was to be used to maintain the building and the grounds. Conventional wisdom seems to have been that the original principal of $40,475 was to be maintained, and that all income and dividends could be spent on the building. Between 2005 and 2020, while the original principal was maintained, the fund generated $75,000 in income, but $151,000 was spent on repairs, maintenance, and other expenses.

The Attorney General’s Office informed the Scribner Trustees that the original principal should have been maintained to account for inflation. That means that the original principal of $40,475 in 1937 should now be approximately $740,000. In 2020, however, the principal balance was $97,176, generating $2,900 a year in income. This is not enough to maintain the building and the grounds. The Attorney General’s Office determined that the trust was, therefore, insolvent. The Nonjudicial Settlement Agreement allows the town to place the remaining funds in a trust fund and spend that money to repair and maintain the Scribner building and grounds. We believe the agreement preserves the spirit of Emma Scribner’s will, the intent of which was to provide a community center for the townspeople. We encourage voters to approve Article 19 so that the remainder of her trust can be used for the repair and maintenance of the building and grounds.

David Toth

Ashland