Newton Finance Committee Approves $94,000 in Workers' Compensation Settlements

NEWTON -- March 10, 2025, Newton Finance Committee unanimously approves $94,000 in workers' compensation settlements and orders first rebid of city retirement plan in over 30 years. The committee, led by Councilor Julia Malakie in the absence of Chair Councilor Gentile, voted 7-0 on all three substantive items at its March 10 meeting. Workers' Compensation Manager Kelly Brown presented two settlements from the DPW sewer division, $45,000 to resolve a disputed elbow and back claim with a potential five-year exposure of $183,000, and $49,000 for a back-injury case where a judge rejected the city's argument despite a DUI and suspicious camera footage, against a potential exposure of $149,000; Brown called both "business decisions" driven by an "employee-friendly" industrial accident board. City Treasurer Ron Mendes told the committee the city's Section 457(b) deferred compensation plan, holding more than $115 million in assets and covering nearly 500 active contributors, has not been competitively bid since it was created in the early 1990s, and that the city is now evaluating whether to retain its own administrator or merge into the Commonwealth's SMART Plan under a new 5-year contract targeted for July 1.