News, Blogs & Misc.
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The Senate and House Vote on County
Sheriffs Reform Bill to Create Financial Efficiency and Stability,
Saving Taxpayers Millions
BOSTON – The Senate and House on Wednesday passed final legislation
that could save taxpayers up to $8 million a year by transferring
the remaining seven county sheriffs’ offices to the state payroll
and state health insurance plan. The bill is designed to promote a
more efficient delivery of services between state and county
governments and is the latest in a string of reforms recently passed
by the Legislature.
“This measure provides stabilization to a system that has lumbered
along with an unreliable budget process,” said Senator Anthony Petruccelli (D-Boston). “Additionally, adding these offices to the
state’s health plan improves affordability and saves the state
millions.”
The bill, “An Act Transferring County Sheriffs to the Commonwealth,”
moves the Bristol, Norfolk, Suffolk,
Plymouth, Barnstable, Nantucket and Dukes county sheriffs’ offices
to the state payroll and the state Group Insurance Commission (GIC),
which will provide sheriffs’ employees with more affordable health
care.
“This legislation will convey great savings to the Commonwealth by
bringing these sheriffs’ offices into the state health insurance
program and onto the state payroll,” said Representative Carlo
Basile (D-East Boston). “This bill is another major reform
that has been passed during a productive legislative session, and is
another instance where the Legislature has been able to identify and
implement large cost savings for the State of Massachusetts.”
The consensus bill also addresses concerns about the original
proposal that left counties with a sizeable
unfunded liability by leaving retired sheriffs’ employees in the
county retirement systems. The new version
allows counties to apply their annual corrections Maintenance of
Effort (MOE) assessment to offset these unfunded liabilities.
Once these liabilities are paid off, the MOE assessment will be
abolished, saving the counties millions of dollars and ultimately
providing tax relief to local county taxpayers. Sheriffs’ office
retirees and current employees will be moved into the GIC to provide
savings on health insurance costs.
Furthermore, the consensus bill adopts language to protect member
communities from increased pension funding costs as a result of the
transfer. This would be accomplished by giving the county retirement
board the ability to address any shortfalls in available funding,
for example by extending its pension funding schedule and in certain
circumstances retaining a greater percentage of deeds excise revenue
to pay down liabilities.
The final legislation also removes the $30,000 in pay raises for the
Dukes and Nantucket sheriffs that were
included in the original proposal. Instead, the Dukes County
Sheriff’s annual salary remains $97,000 and the Nantucket County
Sheriff, who does not oversee a house of correction, will see his
pay reduced by approximately one third of his current salary.
The final bill also does the following:
• Sheriffs’ salaries will no longer be tied to that of an associate
superior court judge. In the future,
sheriffs will earn their pay raises based on merit;
• It eliminates the current practice of supplementing the Nantucket
County Sheriff’s salary by allowing
him to keep an estimated $15,000 to $20,000 per year in civil
process fees. Those fees will now go toward funding the operations
of the sheriff’s office, saving state taxpayers money;
• It also eliminates the existing County Finance Review Board.
Finally, the bill creates a commission to investigate the possible
consolidation, elimination or realignment of certain sheriffs’
offices and the potential cost savings. It will be organized with
the intention of taking a broader look at the operations within the
sheriffs’ offices and report on the efficiencies that can be gained.
The bill would go into effect January 1, 2010. It now goes to the
Governor for his signature.
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