Council approves $65,000 transfer to implement school custodians agreement

The Town of Braintree Town Council unanimously approved a transfer of up to $65,000 on June 16 to implement a recently negotiated contract for the school custodians, the council said.

Director Mike Esmond of the municipal finance office summarized the agreement for the council and said the unit represents “roughly a few dozen, roughly about 40 employees” assigned across the schools. Esmond said the contract adopts a cost‑of‑living adjustment of 2.75% over the three fiscal years and includes modest changes to pay for building checks, adjustments to longevity, and some non‑financial concessions on clothing and uniform timing. "The total cost in the first year that we're asking for town council to approve in the motion today is 65,000," Esmond said.

The Ways and Means Committee reviewed the matter at a June 9 meeting and sent the item to the full council with a favorable recommendation, Councilor Bara said. There were no public comments at the hearing. After the hearing closed, the council voted to transfer the funds from the FY2026 collective bargaining reserve to the DPW school custodians payroll accounts and authorized the director of municipal finance to allocate the sum among affected accounts. The vote was unanimous.

The council and administration said the first‑year cost will be covered from the reserve, and fiscal 2027 costs were budgeted in the FY2027 appropriation. The director offered to answer councilors’ questions during the presentation; none were raised before the vote.

The council’s action implements the contract terms described by the administration; the administration said it had met with the custodial unit several times to negotiate the terms.

The council will record the transfer in its forthcoming financial reports and the director of municipal finance will execute the allocations as authorized.