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Recent Raises Make School Board Members Eligible for Pensions
With the recent bump in compensation for the City Council, Mayor and School Committee, school board members will now be paid enough to be eligible for public pensions.
As we reported earlier this month, the Peabody City Council voted to give Mayor Ted Bettencourt a raise, along with itself and the School Committee. The response we heard from readers was mixed, but largely negative. It was the first raise for councilors since 2001 and the first for school board members since 1998. The raises for the mayor and School Committee take effect in March, while city councilors won't see theirs until 2014. A seemingly unanticipated benefit of the $1,100 raise for school board members was that they are now eligible to receive public pensions for their service, reports the Salem News. That issue didn't come up at the City Council meeting on Feb. 14 when a majority of councilors agreed to dole out the raises -- Ward …
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Saber Walsh
3:30 pm on Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Politicians really don't make a lot of money (directly) by showing up for work, especially when you factor in the after-hours meetings, etc. Because this is truly a part-time job, there should NOT be health insurance, and NOT be a pension. PERIOD. End of story. The day that politicians started voting retirement benefits for themselves is the day we should have all awakened from our voter slumber… more ›