Council votes down health insurance for officials

METHUEN — Part-time elected local leaders will likely continue to be ineligible for city health insurance.

On Monday, the City Council voted unanimously against a resolution proposed by Mayor D.J. Beauregard to allow elected officials to receive city health insurance through the state’s Group Insurance Commission(GIC). Last December, a previous council had voted in favor of a similar change to eligibility, however the measure was vetoed by Beauregard.

“This is a very different time from last year,” Beauregard said.

Historically, the city has run its own health insurance, meaning local taxpayers were on the hook for all claims and the city insurance fund could run into a deficit requiring additional appropriations.

The switch to the GIC, which goes into effect on Jan. 1, is estimated to save the city $11.2 million through fiscal 2030.

Still, allowing just three elected officials to join the GIC would bring an estimated annual cost of around $77,000, according to a report by Chief Administrative and Financial Officer Maggie Duprey.

As of the meeting, three elected officials had expressed interest in joining the GIC, Duprey said in the report.

Even if the measure passed, some elected officials would not have qualified for health insurance.

Members of the mosquito control project and local housing redevelopment authorities would be excluded from eligibility, according to the resolution.

Elected officials, whose municipalities are in the GIC, are eligible for health insurance, depending on the will of the municipality, according to Beauregard. Being a member of the GIC has also allowed the city to offer more certainty when predicting insurance costs.

During the meeting, Councilor Mike Simard said he was against allowing part-time elected officials to receive city health insurance. Simard had been a councilor-elect at the time of the prior vote on the matter, though he had voiced opposition as a member of the public.

A previous resolution to allow elected officials access to city health insurance was approved 5-2 in December 2025, with Councilor Ron Marsan and former Councilor Joyce Campagnone in opposition.

Councilors Jana Zanni Pesce, Patricia Valley and Neily Soto had voted in favor of expanding eligibility to elected officials that month, as did former councilors Nick DiZoglio and Francisco Surillo.

On Monday, however, eight of nine sitting city councilors voted against the similar proposal, including Valley and Soto.

Councilor Jana Zanni Pesce abstained from the vote. Pesce later said she had consulted the State Ethics Commission because she had previously expressed interest in joining city health insurance if offered. She was told to err on the side of caution.

Although councilors had at one point access to city health insurance, an earlier council — with Simard as a member — voted to eliminate the insurance option in favor of an increase in salary.

Councilors earn an annual salary of between $10,000 and $11,000 depending on each member’s role in the body. Members of the School Committee earn $6,000 a year, according to a payroll report for 2025.

The switch to the GIC was among a handful of changes made in recent months to save money and ease annual budget concerns each spring.

Beauregard is already eligible for city health insurance since he is a full-time employee, he confirmed Thursday.

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