Newton Finance Committee refers workers' comp dispute to incoming council

NEWTON -- November 24, 2025, Newton Finance Committee refers contested workers' comp items to next council, approves $622,400 in infrastructure spending. The committee voted 8-0 Monday to refer two docket items, a 41-year worker's individual claim and a broader review of the city's 1984 workers' compensation ordinance, to the incoming 2026-2027 council, after City Solicitor Ally Giuliani revealed that the Board of Aldermen had deliberately excluded part-time employees from coverage that year, "thereby creating no wiggle room for that category of employee." Chief Financial Officer Moren Lemieux warned that expanding coverage would cost "many, many millions of dollars" and require a full actuarial study. The committee also unanimously approved $297,400 from sewer fund surplus for pump station design work at three sites and $325,000 from stormwater reserves for a flood modeling study of the Cheesecake Brook subbasin, with construction-phase sewer funding expected to return December 8.