Just in time for Town Meeting, Harvard’s OPEB working group, headed by Town Administrator Tim Bragan, presented its first report to the Finance Committee in a meeting that included all five Selectmen, members of the School Committee, and Finance Director Lorraine Leonard. OPEB is an acronym for Other Post-Employment Benefits, the benefits other than pensions—mainly health insurance—that a town owes its present and future retired employees. Currently, Harvard pays these costs out of its annual budget to the tune of roughly $520,000 per year. But this amount is expected to double in the next seven years to between $1 million and $1.2 million per year. The latest actuarial study, according to the group’s report, estimates the town’s long-term liability is roughly $23 million. Two articles on the Town Meeting Warrant (Articles 36 and 37) propose to begin saving for these expenses by establishing an irrevocable trust fund, investing $250,000 from town funds this year, and joining the state’s Health Care Security Trust.
Finance Commitee, 3/20/13
