Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Audit And Records topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Needham retirement office to expand staff time to finish PERAC audit file cleanup
Summary
The board agreed that retirement-office staff will increase hours briefly to upload missing PERAC approval letters and complete retirees’ packets ahead of the audit; staff will pace work to avoid triggering benefit eligibility changes.
The Town of Needham Retirement Board on Feb. 18 directed staff to accelerate a cleanup of retirees’ files flagged during the PERAC review and to upload missing approval letters into the state platform.
Chair reported the board has “less than 500 retirees,” and staff outlined a plan to use the state’s online system (referred to in the meeting as Prosper/PRAC workflow) to submit missing materials. Staff said they will target 10–15 uploads per week and save PERAC responses into each retiree’s record as they are received.
To complete the backlog, Marty (the retirement office staff member who prepares reconciliations and reports) has offered to work additional hours. Marty currently works 18 hours per week; board members examined benefit-eligibility rules and discussed timing to keep Marty’s yearly average under the benefit-eligibility threshold (about 19.5 hours). One board member noted that if Marty were scheduled to work every Friday the added hours could average about 22.5 for some weeks, so staff agreed to structure the work so the annual average stays below the threshold and avoid unintended benefit changes.
Board members treated the staffing change as an administrative action (the chair indicated such adjustments fall within administrative authority) rather than a formal board vote; they requested a project scope and schedule at the next meeting showing how many files will be processed and how many retirees are included in the cleanup. Staff estimated the backlog covers roughly 500 retired-member packets dating back several years and said Liz will review retirees who left the system before the current staff took over.
Board members also pressed auditors on timing: staff said CBIZ has begun the retirement audit, will complete an exit interview with office staff and a board member in the coming weeks, and plans to deliver a final management letter and report to the board afterward.
