GREENFIELD — Although questions of oversight at the state level remain for Greenfield Community Energy and Technology, its local financial reporting system has become clearer.
The Greenfield City Council Wednesday voted unanimously to approve GCET’s bookkeeping setup as an enterprise fund, providing the quasi-municipal agency with a way of accounting recommended by the state’s Department of Revenue.
According to GCET General Manager John Lunt, the enterprise fund will provide GCET with the ability to keep various aspects of its finances separate from one another, including revenue and expenses. Enterprise funds allow revenue and spending by GCET to be kept separate from the city’s general fund.
This separation can lead to transparency, he said, and was determined legal and recommended by the Department of Revenue, who is the authority that GCET reports to for accounting and financing.
The process though, has been complicated, as there is still uncertainty about how so-called broadband municipal light plants, like GCET, are regulated and which state agency GCET should report to, the Department of Utilities or the Department of Telecommunications.
“Right now there is no clear regulatory framework from the state for broadband-only MLPs,” Lunt said, particularly internet service providers like GCET.
In addition, Lunt said that Greenfield is just the second broadband MLP in the state, with the first occurring in Leverett. A third is in the process of being created, in Alford, a town near Great Barrington, Lunt said.
“It’s a slightly complicated subject and when you’re first to do things you have to work through it methodically,” Lunt said.
According to Lunt, the city has also looked to work with state legislators to clarify the regulatory framework and who will be the eventual reporting authority for GCET and other future and current broadband MLPs.
During the City Council meeting Wednesday, it was also reported that three legal opinions were received on the matter, with the third being received by the council on the day of the meeting. According to Precinct 5 City Councilor Timothy Dolan, the second opinion seemed to contradict the first.
However, At-Large City Councilor Isaac Mass noted he was satisfied that the city could create the enterprise fund and that it is lawful and approved by the Department of Revenue.
Lunt said that the new enterprise fund will begin at the start of the new fiscal year July 1.