To the editor:

The town’s future liability for OPEB (Other Post Employment Benefits) payments has been raised as a reason to vote against the School Building Committee proposal on February 27. I believe there is no one in town who has had greater concern about OPEB liability for a longer time than I have or done more about it to date. Yet, I plan to vote “yes” on February 27 and believe that our potential OPEB liability is one of the reasons that we all should do so.

In the spring of 2012, I was still a member of the town Finance Committee and attended a seminar sponsored by the Association of Town Finance Committees on OPEB – a subject that had recently come to the fore because of changes in municipal accounting procedures. The speaker, Dan Sherman, who is the state’s leading expert on the subject, raised concerns that I then brought back to our finance committee. With the finance committee’s approval and the support of George Foster, our then town treasurer, I arranged for articles to be placed on the warrant for the May 2013 Town Meeting that, when adopted by the town, established an OPEB trust fund of well over a million dollars.

OPEB liability faces every town in Massachusetts. Westport has been in the vanguard of those that have chosen to do something about it. In 2013, something over only about 50% of Massachusetts municipalities had taken any steps to establish an OPEB fund. At this date, the number has increased to only something over 70%. Since 2013, Westport has continued to add to its OPEB fund. According to Dan Sherman, Westport is “well ahead of the pack.”

If we do not approve the school building proposal, it will strike a severe blow to these efforts. As many others have pointed out, the proposal provides us with an opportunity to save many millions of dollars that the town would eventually have had to absorb on its own in future years. With OPEB and with the school building proposal, the town is presented with challenges to its ability to consider the financial future with clear eyed rationality rather than the fear and feelings of distrust that are whipped up by persons who find it much easier to sit back and criticize than to labor in the vineyards of public service.

John Miller

Westport