HANOVER — Oct. 5, 2026 — Hanover Select Board members made the case Monday for prepaying up to $2 million of the town’s Plymouth County pension assessment from the stabilization fund, citing actuarial estimates that a $2 million payment would save $2,597,000 in fiscal 2030 through 2032, the stretch in which a board member said the annual bill will peak at $10.7 million.
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The prepayment is Article 7 on the Special Town Meeting warrant, which asks voters to appropriate up to $2 million. A motion to approve the board’s commentary on the warrant, with specific dollar figures and percentages to be added to Article 7, drew ayes in a voice vote.
Member James Hoyes presenting the numbers said the town paid about $6.5 million on July 1 for its fiscal 2027 assessment, paying early to capture a 1.8% discount. The bill is projected to peak at $10.7 million in fiscal 2032, just under $8.2 million more for that year than the town’s prior five-year plan assumed, he said. A prepayment would not change the fiscal 2028 or 2029 assessments but would lower payments in fiscal 2030 through 2032, when the old plan already showed the largest deficits. Without action, Hoyes said, the fiscal 2032 bill points toward either a very large override or deep service cuts.
Scenarios run by the retirement system’s actuary and presented to the board estimated savings at four prepayment levels: $500,000, $1.25 million, $1.75 million and $2 million. A $500,000 prepayment would save $649,300 over the three years. A $2 million prepayment would save $2,597,000, with the largest share, $975,300, in fiscal 2032.
I look at it as $2.6 million we’ll never have to ask people to pay for.
— Greg Satterwhite, Select Board Chair (1:23:24)
The money would come from the general stabilization fund, which Hoyes put at about $2.8 million, adding that the payment must be made by the end of the calendar year to see maximum benefits. Under the town’s financial policies, about $200,000 a year in meals tax revenue already goes into the stabilization fund. The draft commentary, as read aloud at the meeting, says the town must keep making that transfer through fiscal 2032 and then replenish the $2 million plus lost investment earnings in fiscal 2033. Town Manager Joe Colangelo, doubting that a Town Meeting vote can obligate a future board, urged codifying that repayment in Select Board policy. Member Vanessa O’Connor noted that the regular $200,000 transfers would not shrink the $2 million gap; replenishment would take more.
Steve Louko asked whether other communities had prepaid and documented savings; a town official said the article as written caps the appropriation there. Karen Preval, Finance Director, cited Brockton, which prepaid through a pension obligation bond about three years ago. Hoyes said Plymouth County’s own prepayment is cutting its fiscal 2028 assessment by 70%, while acknowledging that actuarial projections carry no guarantee. Preval said the town is weighing the effect on its bond rating and seeking a meeting with Moody’s.
