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Nashoba regional health district seeks legislative relief for retirement contribution liabilities
Summary
Officials from the Nashoba Associated Boards of Health and their legislative sponsor asked the committee to approve H.2960, which would change employer-contribution mechanics and provide relief to address roughly $7 million in retirement-system liabilities for the regional health district.
Representative Tricia (testimony identified as Representative Scarsdale) introduced H.2960, an act relative to non-Commonwealth entities that would change how certain regional public-health entities — such as the Nashoba Associated Boards of Health — contribute to the Massachusetts State Employee Retirement System and provide relief and a process for addressing back payments.
James Kareffe (director of public health for Nashoba) and the district’s CFO described the board’s 94-year history and explained that the district was brought into the state retirement system in 1967; they said bookkeeping and financial staff were unaware of certain employer contribution requirements discovered during a 2014 audit and that back payments for the period 2013–2024 threaten the district’s financial viability. The CFO estimated a current liability of approximately $7,000,000 while the agency’s operating budget is about $1.8 million with assessment revenue around $600,000 annually.
The bill would (1) allow contribution calculations to be based on current staff salaries at a rate set by retirement-system actuarial staff to enable predictable budgeting for member towns, and (2) provide additional relief mechanics for past due payments and flexibility for the retirement board to work with affected entities on repayment plans. Witnesses said their 2025 audit was delayed in anticipation of legislative progress on the matter and asked for a favorable report.
Next steps: the committee received the testimony and may request fiscal or statutory drafting assistance to determine precise remedies and repayment mechanics; no formal committee vote was recorded in the transcript.
