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NOVEMBER 2000 -
The adage "better late than never" is certainly apropos when it comes
to the town of Hingham and Chapter 17, the COLA law sponsored by our
Association and enacted back in '97. Over the past two years or so, the
Voice has chronicled the ongoing controversy, in which we
objected to efforts by Hingham officials to establish their own COLA
plan, which was significantly different from Chapter 17. One major
issue, on which we criticized the Hingham plan, was that it failed to
make COLA increases a permanent part of a retiree's pension as is the
case under Chapter 17.
On
September 28, a Hingham home-rule petition became state law (Chapter
286) and brought an end to the controversy. This new law allows the
Hingham Retirement Board to grant a COLA, in accordance with Chapter 17
and the amendments to that law.
This
means that eligible Hingham retirees, including non-contributory
retirees, can receive retroactive 3% COLAs, which will become a
permanent part of their pensions, if the retirement board votes these
increases. With this new law, Hingham becomes the last of the 106
retirement systems to grant annual COLAs under Chapter 17. Welcome
aboard Hingham!
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