North Reading Select Board Votes to Cut Retiree Health Benefits, Creates Budget Planning Panel

NORTH READING — June 15, 2026 — North Reading Select Board restructures retiree health benefits and creates a long-range financial planning committee. The board voted unanimously Monday to move all existing and future retirees to a 50 percent premium-sharing level — the statutory minimum under state law — while increasing Medicare Part B support for current retirees from roughly $109 to $200 per month to hold them "economically flat," and eliminating Part B coverage for any employee retiring after August 1, 2026, with all changes taking effect January 1, 2027. Board member Paris Bianni, who presented the package, noted the town's annual retiree health spending has grown 66 percent over six years at an 8.8 percent annual rate — nearly triple the revenue growth available under Proposition 2 1/2. A separately proposed five-tier prescription drug benefit redesign was voted "under review pending more analysis" after board member Michelle Pryor said her investigation found the model had extremely limited adoption and its retiree impact may have been understated. The board also voted to establish a new long-range financial planning committee modeled on Arlington's body, to include representatives from the Select Board, Finance Committee, and School Committee alongside municipal finance experts; separately, it approved a $1 million interfund advance from free cash for the town's $7.9 million solar panel project and accepted in concept a $200,000 Rotary Club amphitheater donation for the grounds behind the public library.