Big noise over quiet perk

DRACUT, Nov 14, 2008 (The Sun - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- BKC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Known for its fiscal conservatism and frugal ways, the town has been quietly offering health-insurance perks to a former longtime selectman and the widow of a selectman who died while in office.

While legal, the benefits extension has rankled a local budget watchdog and raised the ire of several nonpartisan tax groups, who decry the state law that allows the practice.

Warren Shaw, who served on the Board of Selectmen for 24 years and stepped down in 2001, and Kathleen DiTillio, the wife of former Selectman Jack DiTillio, are both receiving town-paid health insurance, according to Town Manager Dennis Piendak.

Shaw has been on the town's insurance rolls since 2002. Kathleen DiTillio went on in 2004, the year before her husband Jack died after serving as a selectman for 11 years.

Shaw owns and operates his family dairy business on New Boston Road.

Last year Kathleen DiTillio sold her Dracut home and the family's two Burger King franchises and moved to Florida.

Under Chapter 32B of the Massachusetts General Laws, paid elected officials are entitled to receive health benefits if they have served 10 years or more.

Shaw said he decided to take the benefit after he left office in 2001.

"I was eligible for 23 of those 24 years and I opted not to take that benefit," said Shaw, 58. "I never wanted anyone to think that was the reason I was on the board."

Shaw said then-town Treasurer James Doukszewicz told him that

he could take advantage of the provision at any time, as long as he had paid into the Middlesex Retirement Board for those 24 years.

"I sent them a check for the amount I should have been paying in and I was eligible," Shaw said.

"I thought it over a lot and at the end of the day, I held the belief that the town benefited from my service for 24 years. I don't see it as a situation where I'm getting something I shouldn't be getting. It's something I certainly feel that I've earned," he said.

Kathleen DiTillio, who has a part-time job at a Catholic school in Florida, said she pays $3,800 a year toward her insurance.

"I don't know what I would do if I didn't have it," said DiTillio, 56. "It's the only insurance I have. Jack made sure that everything was legal and above-board before we signed on. It's just me and Julia (her 16-year-old daughter) and I do what I have to do for her."

Harold Avenue resident Roger Daigle said the statute that provides the perk is being misinterpreted.

"They're all bloodsuckers in my book," Daigle said. "It galls me how these people make up their own rules. The law says they may be eligible, not that they are eligible. They're supposed to work 20 hours a week and the benefits are supposed to end when their term of office expires. No elected official works 20 hours a week. They pick and choose what part of the law suits them."

Daigle maintains that nobody took advantage of the provision until Shaw in 2002.

"You want to tell me that these people can't afford their own health insurance?" Daigle asked.

Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said that while it is appropriate to give stipends to elected board members while they are in office, benefits should end when they leave.

Widmer said, "It's the kind of excess that so infuriates the public and undermines the work that elected officials do, especially when we see medical benefits being curtailed sharply in the private sector."

Barbara Anderson, executive director of Citizens for Limited Taxation, said, "The fault lies with the state Legislature who enact these laws. None of it makes any sense because nothing the Legislature does makes any sense. Nobody ever minded giving the local boards a stipend, but then you add this provision and it's for life. It's outrageous."

Currently, all active selectmen and School Committee members are eligible to receive paid health insurance, which costs the town $14,100 annually for a family plan and $5,532 annually for an individual plan. Taxpayers pick up 80 percent of the bill, while the recipients pay 20 percent.

Four of the five selectmen accept health insurance: Joe DiRocco, a retired Dracut fire chief; John Zimini, who is enrolled through his wife, Kristen, a paraprofessional with the School Department; board Chairman Robert Cox, a Dracut businessman; and attorney George Malliaros.

James O'Loughlin, a state Lottery Commission employee, does not accept town health insurance.

"State law provides that paid elected officials are eligible for health benefits," said Piendak, adding that it is not his place to judge whether the law is fair.

"They're considered compensated employees, analogous to a part-time employee who works 20 hours a week," he said. "They pay their proportionate share just like anyone else, whether that person is currently working for the town or retired."

Cox said he would consider an alternative if the town was in dire financial straits.

"If it came down to it, if it meant someone losing their job, I would be the first one to say we should cut those benefits," Cox said. "But it's available and I made the decision to take advantage of it. If it wasn't available, would I still be a selectman? Absolutely yes."

In 2005, Tyngsboro eliminated stipends for all elected and appointed officials not working full time, essentially removing them from the health-insurance rolls. Chelmsford halted health-insurance benefits for elected officials in April by eliminating their stipends.

Shaw admits that if he was a legislator when the statute was passed, he probably would have voted against it.

"But it's there and it's legal and I know many people in my position who are taking advantage of it. Why should I be the only one who doesn't?" he asked. "The good part is that I'm as healthy as a horse and I haven't had to use it."

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