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Sorgi began working for the town in 1972. At that time he worked as a police officer. He campaigned seriously back then, going door-to-door.
“My campaign manager, Rick Williams, was excellent,” Sorgi said. “I used my vacation time to campaign, I was on days so after work I’d go door-to-door, and on weekends. If I’d have lost I’d have just gone back to work” (at the police station).
Since that election, he has never faced an election contest. Often he is the high vote getter on the town ballot.
Sorgi, a graduate of Milton High, has worked in finance and security his whole life. Straight out of college in 1970, he went to work for Dun & Bradstreet. He worked gathering credit information on companies for the next two years, before he moved into municipal work.
The work as treasurer/collector has changed dramatically in the time he has held the office. When he started records were still kept in ledgers.
People would write checks to the town by hand. Workers in the treasurer/collector’s office would record the entries and make bank deposits.
These days people can go on line using the town website and pay their taxes. The money never stops at town hall, it moves electronically from the taxpayer’s bank to Unibank, a small bank in central Massachusetts that handles the town’s account.
Sorgi said he thinks the town’s finances need to go to a higher level.
“I’ve taken it as far as I can go with it,” he said. “It’s been a relief to have made this decision.”
He brought computerization to all the town’s financial transactions. The school department payroll was the last piece to become part of the system.
“Sometimes it’s been frustrating,” he said.
Now all the financial pieces are integrated in one package. He said his work took the town’s financial management system to a basic level of computerization. He expects there are more improvements ahead.
Only two town departments are headed by an elected official. These are the treasurer/collector and the town clerk.
Town Clerk James Mullen said Sorgi, his friend, is extremely dedicated to the town.
“I don’t know what time he gets here in the morning,” Mullen said. “I know the only time I beat him is on election days. I think he’s here at 7 a.m. He seldom takes a vacation.”
He said it will be hard for the community to replace Sorgi, a man he praised as having old-fashioned values such as loyalty, honesty and courage.
The other department heads are appointed and report to an elected board, whether the Selectmen, Park Commissioners or Cemetery Trustees. From time to time there has been talk about consolidating, creating fewer elected positions.
Sorgi said he believes it is important for the treasurer/collector to remain elected. He said the office needs to be independent so it will not be susceptible to being influenced by the more visible political boards in town.
He said his greatest challenge in the years he has worked for the town came with the school building project. The financial accountability required to qualify for the state reimbursement was stringent. Sorgi relied on Lisa Dickerson as his consultant to make sure all the i’s were dotted and the t’s crossed. At this point the town has been paid more than $100 million for the state’s share of the six school renovation and expansion project.
Sorgi thinks the town made a good decision to upgrade the schools when they did.
The state paid about 75% of the cost of the $162 million school building project. Sorgi was responsible for handling the bonding of the money. It will be another 20 years before the town finishes paying off the school debt but that figure is set in cement at this point. Some of the debt has already been retired.
Financing of the library expansion project was far more simple, according to the treasurer.
“I relied on Lisa Dickerson to get us through,” he said. Dickerson worked for Baybank when Sorgi began working with her. He moved the town’s account from Baybank when Dickerson moved her employment. She now works at Unibank.
One of the changes Sorgi said he sees as a giant improvement for the town was the establishment of quarterly billing. In 1981 tax bills were due twice a year. The quarterly schedule has eased the town’s cash flow issues.
One of the changes he thinks would improve
the town’s financial picture would be the creation
of an elected Audit Board. Currently the Selectmen hire the town’s auditor. Sorgi said he thinks it
might make the process work better if the
auditor wasn’t hired by the board that runs most of the town departments.
“It would be more independent,” he said.
Sorgi said he will be happy to stay on for a brief time to help the new treasurer/collector learn the ropes but he is leaving town employment to have the opportunity to earn more money.
He plans to work fulltime after he leaves his town position.
“I’ve thought about it and this is the only way I can see giving me the opportunity to earn more money.” He would be eligible for his town pension and is still able to work a 40-hour job. He expects that work will be different from what he has been doing for the town.
“I don’t need benefits, I’m honest, I’m willing to try something new,” he said.
He expects that work will either be in finance or in security but he said he is open to possibilities.
His wife, Eileen. works as a nurse in the emergency room at Milton Hospital. His son, Kevin, 32, is a graduate of Boston College. His daughter Mary is a UMASS graduate who works as a nurse. His youngest daughter, Elizabeth, is a senior at Milton High. Elizabeth will be attending Wheaton College in
the fall.