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Danvers finance committee backs payment of last year’s unpaid bills and routine 3% COLA for retirees
Summary
At a Feb. 9 Finance Committee public hearing, officials recommended town meeting approve payment of prior-year unpaid bills and a routine cost-of-living adjustment for Danvers retirees; both articles were approved by the committee and will go to town meeting with the committee’s recommendation.
The Finance Committee on Feb. 9 recommended that town meeting approve a set of unpaid bills from the previous fiscal year and a routine cost-of-living adjustment for retirees.
Rodney Conley, Danvers’ finance director, described the unpaid-bills item as “a standard bill we see on our special town meetings,” explaining that Massachusetts law requires town-meeting approval to pay obligations incurred in a prior fiscal year. After brief committee discussion there was a motion and the article passed on a unanimous recommendation to town meeting.
Conley also presented an article to update the base amount used to calculate annual cost-of-living increases for members of the Danvers retirement system. “The maximum is 3%. Danvers, like most systems, routinely, awards that 3%,” he said, and recommended raising the COLA base to reflect recent practice; he told the committee the change would increase the town’s valuation by roughly $214,000 but would not affect the town’s ability to fully fund obligations by 2035. Committee members asked technical questions about how the base relates to a typical pension and then moved the article; the committee voted to recommend approval.
Both articles will be placed on the special town meeting warrant with the Finance Committee’s positive recommendation.
