Plymouth pushes to reclassify harbormasters as public-safety retirees eligible for Group 4 benefits

Representative Kathleen LaNatra opened testimony in support of House Bill 2,749, a Plymouth home-rule petition that would reclassify the town’s harbormaster and harbormaster-division employees as Group 4 for retirement purposes, the classification used for many public-safety personnel.

Chad Hunter, Plymouth harbor master, said Plymouth’s Harbormaster Division is part of the Plymouth Police Department and that its harbormasters are POST-certified police officers who perform enforcement, emergency response and search-and-rescue work. "Please support Plymouth's home rule petition and provide retirement classification equity for Plymouth Harbormaster employees," Hunter told the committee. He said his survey of coastal communities found about 60 communities statewide with varying classifications and that Plymouth remains one of a small number classified in Group 1 despite having equivalent training and risks.

Tom Kelly, chair of the Plymouth Retirement Board and a retired police officer, testified that the reclassification would affect only four employees locally and would have no material actuarial impact on the retirement system, urging the committee to advance the petition on fairness grounds. Dale Webber, an elected member of the Plymouth contributory retirement system, traced a history of prior successful Plymouth home-rule petitions and asked the committee to carry forward the town’s locally approved recommendation under Article 89 of the Massachusetts Constitution.

No formal committee vote on H.2749 was recorded in the transcript during this hearing. Committee chairs thanked the panel for testimony and moved on to other docket items.

Next steps: the committee may schedule a formal recommendation or cost estimate before reporting the home-rule petition out of committee; the transcript records only testimony and local approvals, not a final committee action on the bill.