North Adams Council Passes Veterans' Benefit
NORTH ADAMS — The City Council authorized the mayor to move forward with a solution to a controversial veterans' disability benefit.Voting 8-1 on Tuesday night, councilors approved a home-rule petition developed by Councilor Gailanne Cariddi and vetted by the council's Finance Committee that would give military veterans disabled while working for the city half the retroactive benefits provided for in a state law.
Councilor Clark Billings was the lone no vote.
The vote marks last chapter a three-month struggle over whether or how much to give the dozen or so veterans who qualify for the benefit.
"As everybody knows, the mayor is not comfortable with the fact we presented it," said Councilor Michael Bloom, chairman of the Finance Committee. "We've sought out trying to find a compromise. We've had to weigh different options, and the one [Cariddi's] come up with today is probably the one that makes the most sense."
The petition would still have to pass Mayor John Barrett III's "litmus test" before going to the Legislature, he said.
The petition's odyssey actually began two years ago, when the city adopted a section of a 2005 state law that allowed municipalities to provide veterans injured in their employ with the same yearly benefit (not to exceed $300) that retired veterans receive in their pensions; it also had a section for retroactive relief to the time they were disabled.
The council rejected the retroactive portion based on cost. Christopher Tremblay, in one of his last acts as a city councilor, submitted a request in December for the city to take up the issue again.
But when an order was introduced by the council in February, Mayor John Barrett III threatened to veto it. With a pricetag of more than $57,000, the mayor said the city simply couldn't afford it.
The original order has been regularly postponed as councilors tried to come up with solution that's fair to the veterans and would pass muster with the mayor.
In this latest version, the qualifying veterans would get 50 percent of the benefit allowance that would have been payable on June 1, 2006 — when the other part of the measure was adopted. The order was also rewritten as a home-rule petition on the advice of the city solicitor; it will also have to pass the Legislature before it can be enacted.
The pension board would pay out the lump sum to veterans or their beneficiaries. The cost is to the city is expected to be $2,887 paid out over 20 years to the pension board. It was a compromise the mayor indicated he might support.
However, several councilors were concerned over the final cost because it was not spelled out in the home-rule petition. Councilor Marie Harpin questioned whether the pension board definitely had signed on, noting that the conversations with board members had taken place months ago.
"I've seen nothing in writing," said Councilor Clark Billings.
Cariddi pointed out that the petition stated that it must be approved by both city and the pension board, meaning an agreement would have to be worked out. However, she, too, said there was concern over how much it would cost the city total.
But an addendum specifying "payment as agreed upon" between the two entities was easily voted down for complicating the issue.
Councilor Richard Alcombright moved to amend the petition to allow for the veterans' beneficiaries to also receive the payment. The issue had been stewing for two years and it could be another year before the Legislature took action on it. Then the pension board had up to a year before it had to pay the lump sum.
Most of the veterans qualifying for the retroactive benefits are elderly; at least one has died in the last two years.
The council allowed for the addition of beneficiaries; the veteran, however, would have to have applied for the benefit within 120 days of its enactment.
Billings voted for most of the amendments to "move it along" but voted against the petition in the end.
"If the veterans from the city deserve this than they deserve the whole damn thing. ... Why should they get half a loaf?" he said, adding "my feeling is they don't deserve it, so I'm voting no.
"They served our country well. Thank you. Memorial Day weekend. However, their disability comes from their service for the city."
Billings continued that veterans get a host of benefits that they deserve but on principle he couldn't support the city giving them more for a disability unrelated to their military service. "I don't make the connection."
The act now passes to the mayor's office.
The council also:
- Reappointed Michael Leary to the Planning Board for a five-year term
- Approved parking restrictions on Windom Terrace. Parking will be banned on Windom Terrace starting a point 170 feet from the intersection of Church Street and east 145 feet.
- Praised the work of the city's police and other emergency responders and the employees of Hoosac Bank during Friday's bank robbery attempt. "I just want to thank them personally," said Alcombright, a vice president at the bank. He said he could not speak to particulars because of the ongoing investigation.
