Finance
Athol Finance Committee recommends passing 30 of 34 Town Meeting articles – Athol Daily News
Overview:
The Athol Finance and Warrant Advisory Committee recommended passing 30 of the 34 Town Meeting articles, with two recommended against and two held until the next meeting. The two articles that were not recommended for passage dealt with the town’s responsibility for maintenance of private roadways. Article 29 would amend the town’s bylaws to allow temporary repairs to be made to private ways, while Article 34 would require the town to minimally maintain all asphalt private roads. The committee decided to delay action on Articles 7 and 21 until the Selectboard addresses the issue at its meeting on Tuesday.
ATHOL – A recent meeting of the Finance and Warrant Advisory Committee saw a recommendation to pass 30 of the 34 Town Meeting articles, with two recommended against and the two more held until the next meeting.
In light of the uncertainty over the details of Article 29 and concerns regarding Article 34, a citizen’s petition, the committee voted unanimously not to recommend passage. The two articles each have to do with the town’s responsibility relative to maintenance of private roadways, including temporary repairs and plowing.
Article 29 would amend Chapter V, Section 33 of the town’s bylaws by removing the wording of Section 33 in its entirety and replacing it with new language. This section of the bylaw deals with the maintenance of private ways.
The new wording describes temporary repairs as including “grading and/or the filling of holes or depressions, as the superintendent of public works may deem suitable…[I]n no event shall such temporary repairs include extensive construction, reconstruction or installation of drainage.” The work would be done at the discretion of the highway superintendent.
The article also states that a petition from three-fourths of the abutters on a private way asking for temporary repairs can be presented to the Selectboard and forwarded to the Department of Public Works director. It will be up to the director to determine whether the requested repairs constitute a “public necessity.” The Selectboard will then vote to either approve or deny the petition following a public hearing.
Committee Chair Ken Duffy pointed out the existing bylaw requires petitions to be signed by all of the abutters. DPW Director Paul Raskevitz. added that, while the property of abutters on most private ways extends to the middle of the road, King Road is different.
“That one whole road is owned by one person on the end,” Raskevitz said at the committee’s meeting on May 12.
Article 29 also states that, if a petition is approved, the town manager must then determine if funds are available to do the work, “whether the financing…requires an appropriation, or borrowing.” If approved, the Selectboard must also determine if abutters will be assessed betterment charges and whether they will be required to put down a cash deposit for the work.
Article 34, submitted as a citizen’s petition from residents of King Road and other private ways, would maintain the wording of Chapter V, Section 33, relative to private roads. It also calls for the town to “minimally maintain all asphalt private roads” in the town. Such maintenance would include annual filling of potholes “with use of only asphalt or asphalt-based materials” and “minimal repairs of road drainage issues,” such as repairs to culverts.
“I was out on King Road Sunday,” said committee Chair Ken Duffy. “That first quarter mile is a bomb field. I know nothing about roads, but to me, we don’t have enough patch in this town for that section. That first two-tenths of a mile has got to be right down to the ground, to the dirt.”
“The problem is the lowest part,” said DPW Director Paul Raskevitz. “After it rains, it’s covered in standing water everywhere.”
Regarding the articles, said Duffy, “I think we have to think long and hard about what we’re getting into. After Article 29, the petition article says all the town roads are to be maintained, including that potholes be filled.”
Raskevitz said there are currently 33 private roads in Athol totaling about three miles in length. Of that number, only seven are plowed by the town in winter, through a memorandum of understanding approved by the Selectboard.
“Plowing it is one thing,” said Duffy. “Maintaining is a whole different ballgame.”
Town Manager Shaun Suhoski said the current wording for Article 29 is “just a placeholder,” adding that the Selectboard will look at a shorter version at its meeting on Tuesday, May 19.
“It’s a little too close to Town Meeting to change it,” Suhoski said. “I think we’re going to need a fall meeting this year.”
The articles on which the committee decided to delay action were Articles 7 and 21, both of which will be taken up by the Selectboard at its meeting on Tuesday. Article 7 deals with the proposed town budget for FY 27, while Article 21 asks for a transfer of $100,000 from free cash to the account set aside for “demolishing or securing unsafe structures.”
Several committee members, including Mike Butler and Vice Chair Ben Feldman said that, at this juncture, they opposed such a transfer. Both decided to wait until the committee’s meeting next Wednesday to see how the Selectboard addresses the issue at its Tuesday meeting before entertaining a motion to not recommend Article 21.
The Selectboard meeting on Tuesday, May 19, begins at 7 p.m. in Room 21 at Town Hall. The May 20 meeting of the Finance and Warrant Advisory Committee starts at 5:30 p.m., also in Room 21. Town Meeting takes place on June 8.
Digital payments are becoming an increasingly common part of everyday life in Uzbekistan, helping bring more consumers into the formal financial system and increasing demand for services beyond basic transactions.
According to a financial inclusion survey conducted by the Central Bank of Uzbekistan with support from the Asian Development Bank, 71.17% of respondents reported making or receiving at least one digital payment in 2025, compared with 39% in 2021.
The increase follows several years of policies aimed at expanding financial inclusion, encouraging electronic payments and introducing digital tools such as remote identification systems for banking customers.
Interviews conducted by Euronews on the sidelines of the Tashkent International Investment Forum (TIIF) suggest that the rapid adoption of digital payments is now beginning to influence wider parts of the financial sector, from lending and insurance to investment products and banking services for businesses.
Digital payments enter the mainstream
Industry executives point to a combination of demographic, technological and regulatory factors behind the growth of digital financial services.
Nikolay Seleznyov, co-founder of Uzum, a company active in e-commerce, digital payments and financial services, said the expansion is bringing more people into the banking system.
“More and more people are becoming bank customers. And this trend is irreversible.”
Oliver Hughes, chairman of TBC Uzbekistan, a digital bank operating through the TBC UZ and Payme applications, pointed to the country’s young population and widespread use of mobile technology as factors supporting the shift towards digital services.
The trend is also affecting established lenders. Dmitry Sapronov, deputy chairman of Ipoteka Bank, which became part of Hungary’s OTP Group in 2023, said customer demand for digital services has increased significantly in recent years, requiring banks to rethink how they deliver products and interact with clients.
Regulation and infrastructure
Executives said the growth of digital finance has been supported by both regulatory changes and investment in digital infrastructure.
The Central Bank and other institutions have introduced measures aimed at expanding financial inclusion and encouraging electronic payments, while digital identification systems have made it easier for consumers to access banking products remotely.
“The digital ID product was one of the biggest enablers here for all the players in the financial services industry,” Seleznyov said.
Anne Arundel County is preparing to launch a new finance and e-procurement system to modernize county operations and improve how businesses interact with local government.
The new platform, called Harbor, is scheduled to go live in July and will replace the County’s legacy procurement system with a centralized cloud-based platform built on Oracle Fusion Cloud.
County officials say the new system is designed to streamline procurement and financial processes while making it easier for both existing and prospective vendors to do business with the County.
From the press release:
“Harbor is a much-needed upgrade that will streamline services for our county agencies and those who do business with the county,” said Anne Arundel County Chief Administrative Officer Christine Anderson.
The platform will serve as a single portal for supplier registration, bid opportunities, invoicing, payment tracking, and contract management, consolidating what had previously been spread across multiple systems. County leaders say the transition is part of a broader effort to modernize operations, improve efficiency, and lower barriers for businesses seeking to compete for county contracts.
For counties, procurement modernization remains an important operational priority as local governments look to improve transparency, strengthen vendor engagement, and simplify access for businesses of all sizes. Anne Arundel County has encouraged interested suppliers to review training materials and registration information ahead of the July launch.
Finance
Quadient Recognized as a Leader in the 2026 SPARK Matrix for Accounts Receivable Applications
Quadient demonstrates continued innovation in AI-driven invoice-to-cash automation and unified finance operations
Paris
Quadient (Euronext Paris: QDT), a global automation platform powering secure and sustainable business connections, announced today it has been recognized for the fifth consecutive year as a Leader in the 2026 SPARK Matrix™ for Accounts Receivable Applications by technology analyst and advisory firm QKS Group. Quadient strengthened its position in the report year-over-year, with a notable improvement in Technology Excellence, reflecting continued innovation in its AI-driven invoice-to-cash solution.
According to QKS Group, Quadient’s leadership position highlights its evolution into a comprehensive, AI-powered platform that delivers strong predictive accuracy and straight-through processing. The analyst firm also emphasized the capability of Quadient’s solutions to unify accounts receivable (AR) and accounts payable (AP), offering finance leaders greater visibility and insights into their business finances to make faster, better decisions on working capital management.
Earlier this month, Quadient announced the release of its new cash dashboard capability for AR and AP that allows finance teams to bring together traditionally siloed data in a single view. An AI assistant summarizes key metrics and provides analysis that helps finance leaders accelerate cash on hand, improve forecasting, reduce risk and uncover opportunities to optimize working capital.
“Quadient has established a strong position in the 2026 Accounts Receivable Automation market through its focus on intelligent automation, cash flow optimization and integrated financial operations,” said Sanjeevi C R, associate vice president, Enterprise Research at QKS Group. “The platform’s evolution from predictive analytics to AI-driven autonomous collections execution represents a meaningful step forward in reducing manual effort across the invoice-to-cash cycle. What differentiates Quadient is its ability to combine collections management, cash application, and payment processing with a unified accounts receivable and accounts payable ecosystem, providing finance leaders with a more holistic view of working capital performance. By enabling greater automation, enhanced cash flow visibility, and more efficient receivables operations, Quadient continues to deliver measurable value for organizations seeking to modernize their financial processes and improve liquidity management.”
QKS Group highlighted the following key strengths for Quadient AR:
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