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August 12, 2009
MA: County Sheriffs Reform Law
From Senator Stan Rosenberg's email report: August 12, 2009
County Sheriffs Reform Law
On Aug. 6th, the governor signed a bill that completes a set of reforms that I initiated when I chaired the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
The new law, "An Act Transferring County Sheriffs to the Commonwealth," willgo into effect January 1, 2010, and could save taxpayers up to $8 million a year bytransferring 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.
The law 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.
The law 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 law 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 law 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 law 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.
Posted by lois at August 12, 2009 04:17 PM