Kennebunk Finance Director Joel Downs, in the upper left of this screenshot from a recent budget board and select board meeting, told members and others he would donate $1 for every typo or other error they found in budget documents to Community Outreach Services.  Courtesy image

KENNEBUNK – It is not often that typos, grammatical errors, and other faux pas are looked upon as a good thing, but during recent Kennebunk budget deliberations, Finance Director Joel Downs issued a challenge, with a good cause in mind.

Town Manager Mike Pardue said on the first night of deliberations on Jan. 27, Downs plunked down $3 and said there would be more if the select board members and budget board members found additional mistakes.

“I’m throwing out a challenge to everyone to check my work,” Downs said. “If you find a typo, if you find a word omission, or if you find when I’m speaking, I misuse the title for the board of selectmen when I should be using the term select board, I will donate $1 to Community Outreach Services.” Downs noted three errors had already been identified prior to the meeting’s start.

Downs has worked for the town of Kennebunk for 18 years and budget preparation and management is an area to which he devotes an extraordinary amount of time throughout the year, said Pardue.

“A self-proclaimed “bean counter,” Downs has a generous sense of humor and dry wit that is often on display providing moments of levity during what can be a tedious, and at times, intense process,” said Pardue in a news release. “This year, Downs decided to embrace the inevitable typos, grammatical errors and other mistakes that find their way into budget documents.”

Pardue said soon thereafter, budget board chair Deborah Beal agreed to match Downs’ donations and several others followed, including Police Chief Bob MacKenzie.

Others have committed to matching the final donation amount to local charities of their choosing, including Kennebunk Free Library Director Michelle Connors, who committed to matching donations for the library, and Parks and Recreation Director Tasha Pinkham, who will match donations to Special Olympics.

Pardue said he was so inspired by the positive ripple effect of Downs’ challenge he said he would triple the total dollar amount at the end of the budget meetings, which wound down Saturday, Feb. 5.

“We all had a few laughs during this very serious process,” said Pardue. “All those involved in the challenge look forward to donating as pledged.”

In the end, just 30 errors – consisting of calculations, wording, punctuation or using selectmen instead of select board, were discovered, said Pardue, which he said speaks to the work Downs and others put into the annual budget.

“The town of Kennebunk is full of generous individuals who support each other and our community in numerous ways,” said Pardue. “Our staff and volunteers are true public servants and exemplify this in their everyday work. This is just one more example of living and connecting our work to the community we serve.”