Canton, Massachusetts · Saved source text

November 21, 2022, Sub-Committee Meeting - Virtual Meeting. Minutes

Finance Committee · Record date 2022-11-21 · Record a10a556ae4609030b6

Saved text from 4 source pages. Transcription and OCR may contain errors; verify figures and wording against the original. Retrieved 2026-10-15.

Canton Finance Committee                   Minutes Voted on: 1/9/23
                                              801 Washington Street                    Vote: 2-0-0
                                                Canton, MA 02021




                          Sub-Committee to Review Compensation of Elected Officials
                                              Meeting Minutes
                                            November 21, 2022



Finance Committee Members Present: Dave Clough, Emilio Mauro and Cindy Thomas.

Finance Committee Members Absent: NA.

Guests Present:
Ellen Jones, Finance Committee/Sub-Committee Recording Secretary

Call Meeting to Order: Chair Thomas called the virtual Sub-Committee meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.

Ms. Thomas stated the purpose of the Sub-Committee Meeting was to convene as a Sub-Committee to review the
issue of elected officials compensation for the Town of Canton.

The Sub-Committee first reviewed all of the information they had received to date and how they could proceed from
that point on with their recommendations.

Ms. Thomas shared on the screen a Summary of Background Information and Issues for Consideration (see meeting
documents) with regard to elected official’s compensation. The Sub-Committee’s review would not include the Town
Clerk because this is a full-time elected position whose salary is established by a vote under a separate Town
Meeting warrant article. This position is elected and has a personal contract.

The purpose of the Sub-Committee will be to:
    1) gather historical/background information on how elected official’s compensation got to where it is today,
    2) gather comparison information from other surrounding towns regarding the amount of stipend/salary, how it
        is structured and paid along with policies and procedures including eligibility for health insurance and
    3) provide an opportunity to hear from elected officials through hearings or listening sessions.

The current compensation for elected officials is as follows:
       Select Board – 5 members - $1,400 each with an additional $200 to the Chair.
       Board of Assessors – 3 members - $2,400 each.
       Board of Health – 3 members - $600 each.
       School Committee – 5 members - $0 compensation.
       Library Board of Trustees – 9 members - $0 compensation.
       Planning Board – 5 members - $0 compensation.

In past Town Meeting Warrants it has sometimes been suggested to bring the salaries to zero for all elected officials.
The Sub-Committee did not want it assumed that the Committee was considering zero compensation but that a focus
was on the discrepancy across the various elected bodies and whether changes were needed to address these
inequities. The focus for the Sub-Committee would be to collect the data and recommend an approach going forward
to the Town.

Ms. Thomas has already reached out to Town Administrator, Charlie Doody, to request consultant with town counsel
to determine if there are any legal or regulatory issues to be considered.

The Sub-Committee will need to see what the criteria should be to determine whether an elected body receives
compensation and if they do how the level is determined. A key factor will be the consideration of the implication for
health benefits. Ms. Thomas was surprised to learn that elected officials who serve for 10 years or more are vested
and eligible for benefits (medical, dental and life) upon retirement, which could be a substantial long-term financial
obligation for the Town.




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The Sub-Committee will need to contact Town Counsel to sort out the legal considerations that determine if and how
elected officials are compensated (both pay and benefits). Ms. Thomas referred to a 2015 Part-Time Elected
Officials Compensation Survey including Canton, Dedham, Foxboro, Milton, Needham, Norwood, Randolph, Sharon,
Stoughton, Walpole, Wellesley and Westwood (see meeting documents).

The Sub-Committee has several questions that need to be addressed, key among them being clarification on the
state law governing provision of health insurance to certain individuals serving municipalities. Currently, there are no
elected officials receiving health insurances as their status as an elected official, however, they could be receiving
health insurance as the spouse of a retiree or spouse of a current employee of the Town.

Mr. Mauro inquired if the annual health insurance budget included an amount for the annual cost of health insurance
for elected officials. Ms. Thomas did not think that the health insurance was budgeted to that level of detail because
in any given year in which employees could be on a family member’s health insurance with a different employer.
Insurance enrollments are fluid and fluctuate depending upon enrollments or cancellations throughout the year. The
Town is self-insured for its health insurances.

The Sub-Committee is interested if the policy from 2003 is related to retired elected officials and/or surviving spouses
or if the policy does not really apply to those vested after 10 years.

Mr. Clough inquired about the comparative list of 11 other towns being used for the compensation survey. Canton is
the only town compensating the Board of Health. He suggested to either compensate all of the elected boards or
none of them. Ms. Thomas spoke from experience having been a School Committee member for many years. She
stated that you do not form a policy on a member saying they do not want to be compensated. Instead you form a
policy that is based on good practice for the Town. If an individual wanted to decline their stipend then there could be
a mechanism in place to do so. Listening sessions may result in some board members wanting to decline a stipend
but again policies should be based on good practices for the Town.

Ms. Thomas stated that the Sub-Committee needs to find out if the health insurance portion can be “untangled” from
the stipend portion. The Town’s biggest liability is the insurance portion especially when it is over a number of years
after retirement. Also in consideration is the cumulative liability due to new rounds of elections.

Ms. Thomas suggested that Mr. John Connelly, Select Board Chair, may be a source of information as to the reason
why some elected officials are compensated, however, she stated that the Sub-Committee may not receive a
definitive answer to this question.

Mr. Mauro referenced the comparative salary survey chart. Just because some towns do not compensate some of
their elected officials does not mean that the Town of Canton cannot. Mr. Mauro also agrees that the insurance
liability is far greater than the stipend liability. He did state that many elected officials spend a considerable amount
of time serving as their perspective board’s representative on other committees or boards. Given the amount of time
and costs associated with running for election to a board, elected officials are, in principle, a higher tier of Town
official than appointed committee or board members. Providing a stipend is much harder to dispute for them, while
providing insurance could be questioned. He spoke in favor of making sure there are stipends but also making sure
there is a severability to the health insurance portion.

Mr. Mauro referenced Massachusetts General Laws Section Chapter 32B section 2 that seems to state

“however that the duties required not less than 20 hours in regular service of the government unit during the regular
work week or permanent or temporary employment provided that no seasonal employees or emergency employees
shall be included except the persons elected by popular vote may be considered eligible employees during their
entire term for which they are elected regardless of the number of hours devoted to the service of the government
unit.”

Mr. Mauro will leave it to Town Counsel to interpret the true meaning of this section of Chapter 32 B. With the
reference of the word “may”, it appears that this could mean there could be severability of insurances offered. He
also referenced the survey chart, in particular the Town of Sharon that compensates the Board of Selectmen and
Board of Assessors but does not offer insurances to these board members. Mr. Mauro was not speaking in support
or against severing the insurance portion but merely as a means of further discussion. In principle, Mr. Mauro
considers the stipend as more of a “thank you” or gratitude to committee members for their service, given that the
number of hours the committee members work is not really equal to the amount of compensation that they are
receiving. In Mr. Mauro’s personal opinion, the stipends are a way for the Town to acknowledge officials, however,
the stipends are not equitable as currently structured.

The critical question that may influence the Sub-Committee’s decision making recommendation is whether there can
be a stipend without access to benefits. If the Sub-Committee decided to phase out the insurance portion he
suggested that certain things such as insurance could be grandfathered in terms of insurance to someone currently


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serving. Mr. Clough referenced this as being similar to zoning changes, e.g. non-confirming issue that if a new
zoning by-law was adopted

Ms. Thomas clarified for Mr. Clough that it was not that she thought the elected officials should not be paid but that
policy should not be made based on the desire or current elected officials to be paid or not be paid. Policies should
be made based on what is in the best financial interest of the Town on a long-term basis. Mr. Mauro stated that it will
be key to determine the equitable amount to compensate any/all elected officials. He spoke in support of stipends for
all of the six Town boards with the question being what would be the right amount and could it be severed from health
insurance or should it be connected to health insurance.

Mr. Clough spoke in support of compensating the other elected boards. An option could be to lower the percentage
of the Town’s cost sharing liability for the insurance portion.

Ms. Thomas summarized that the Sub-Committee members are not in objection to the stipends but would need to
determine the amount of the stipends and how to determine them, given the different responsibilities and
accountability of the different boards.

Items for the Sub-Committee to follow up on:
    1) If the stipends can be provided without access to insurance benefits (can it be separated out from the
         stipend) and
    2) the appropriate methodology for determining the amount of the stipend (number of meetings, how many
         committee those board members serve on, size of budget they are responsible for, complexity of issues they
         deal with).

Ms. Thomas did not see the great importance of updating the 2015 survey but rather philosophically determine that it
is reasonable to compensate all of our elected officials, how much it would cost, the issue of insurance benefits, the
issue of other post-employment benefit costs (OPEB), longevity of service and a way of compensating individual
without creating a retirement eligibility.

The listening sessions with elected boards will help out the Sub-Committee to learn what the responsibilities and
complexities of the boards.

Ms. Thomas suggested that it may be helpful for the Sub-Committee to have something already prepared of what
they might propose prior to hearing from the boards during the listening sessions. To ask the HR department or other
Town departments to do a salary survey for the elected boards could be a conflict of interest given that most Town
department managers report to the Select Board.

The Sub-Committee does not have to make the formal recommendation. They can present to the Finance
Committee various recommendations.

Approval of Minutes – There were no Sub-Committee minutes presented at the meeting for approval.

Next Meeting Date: The next virtual Sub-Committee meeting will be on Monday, December 12, 2022 at 7:30 p.m.

The meeting adjourned at 8:38 p.m.

Minutes reviewed by: Cindy Thomas

Respectfully submitted,




Cindy Thomas
Chair, Canton Finance Committee
Sub-Committee to Review Compensation of Elected Officials




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Finance Committee
                         Sub-Committee to Review Compensation of Elected Officials
                                           Meeting Documents
                                           November 21, 2022


Please note: Some meeting documents may be found on the Town’s website under the Posted Minutes
section (Laser Fiche).

Agenda for November 21, 2022 (1 page).

Elected Officials Compensation Sub-Committee – Summary of Background Information and Issues for Consideration
dated 11/21/22 (2 pages).

Part Time Elected Officials Compensation Survey dated 3/26/15 (1 page).




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