2026-09-15 - Municipal and Legislative Operations Committee
Summary
The committee (Satya B. Mitra, Gary Rosen, Morris A. Bergman) met from 5:09 to 6:11 PM with Chief Financial Officer Tim McGourthy. All votes were 3-0. After approving its August 17 minutes, it questioned the CFO on the City Auditor's annual report on the OPEB (retiree health) trust fund (bond ratings, eligibility, trustees, comparison with other municipalities, the state PRIT fund) and recommended filing it. The City's Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for the year ended June 30, 2025, audited by ClifftonLarsonAllen, was held. The committee then took the City Manager's monthly financial updates (December 2025 through June 30, 2026) together and recommended filing all of them; the discussion covered free cash, red flags in revenue and expenses, Rosen's concern about declining sewer reserves against the reserve policy, dual versus single tax rate, Department of Revenue income and property data, the snow operations budget deficit, and paying the Community Preservation Act surcharge online.
Summary written from the official minutes; no transcript yet.
Official Minutes
Committee minutes posted on PrimeGov (summary of actions, not verbatim). Page footers removed.
CITY OF WORCESTER
MUNICIPAL AND LEGISLATIVE OPERATIONS COMMITTEE
Tuesday, September 15, 2026
Esther Howland (South) Chamber
Convened: 5:09 P.M.
Adjourned: 6:11 P.M.
MAYOR
Joseph M. Petty
COMMITTEE MEMBERS CLERK OF THE CITY COUNCIL
Chairperson Satya B Mitra Nikolin Vangjeli
Vice Chairperson Gary Rosen
Councilor Morris A Bergman
www.worcesterma.gov
City Hall - 455 Main Street Worcester, Massachusetts
Present Were: Chairperson Councilor Satya B. Mitra
Councilor Gary Rosen
Councilor Morris A. Bergman
Also: Chief Financial Officer Tim McGourthy
Deputy City Clerk Clare Robbins, clerk
1. Virtual Attendee Call-In Information/Important Notice to Residents
a. Pursuant to Chapter 20 of the Acts of 2021 and in order to ensure active, public
engagement, the City of Worcester currently allows for both in-person and remote
participation at all City Council and Standing Committee meetings. To partake in the
meeting, you may attend the meeting in-person within the meeting location, follow the
below link to join via Zoom or dial the direct line as indicated. If you join a Zoom
meeting by dialing in with a phone number, you can raise your hand by dialing *9.
Municipal and Legislative Operations Committee Zoom Link :
https://worcesterma.zoomgov.com/j/1614999501
Municipal and Legislative Operations Committee Zoom Phone Number: +1 646 828
7666
Municipal and Legislative Operations Committee Zoom Access Code: 161 499 9501
b. Important Notice: Please be aware our office has been notified of an ongoing scam
involving the impersonation of city officials and departments. Scammers are fraudulently
requesting payments be made for planning and zoning permits, as well as City Council
petitions. All official emails regarding your petition will come exclusively from an
@worcesterma.gov email address (such as clerk@worcesterma.gov), or via physical mail
on the City of Worcester’s official letterhead. Any legitimate hearing letter will always
include your specific application details, along with the scheduled hearing date, time,
and location. The City of Worcester will never request payments via wire transfer.
2. Approval of the Minutes
a. Order - That the City Council Standing Committee on Municipal and Legislative
Operations hereby approves the minutes of the Municipal and Legislative Operations
Committee meeting of August 17, 2026.
Chairperson Councilor Mitra read the item and moved for a roll call vote to adopt the item. Order
adopted on a roll call vote of 3 Yeas and 0 Nays
3. Communications of the City Auditor
a. Transmitting an annual report concerning the Other Post Employment (OPEB) Trust
Fund.
# 14a CC March 10, 2026
In Committee April 14, 2026 - Held
Chairperson Councilor Mitra read the item and recognized the Chief Financial Officer, who
provided an overview of the item.
Chairperson Councilor Mitra recognized Councilor Bergman, who discussed how OPEB funding
affects the city’s bond ratings with the Chief Financial Officer.
Chairperson Councilor Mitra recognized Councilor Rosen, who discussed how health insurance
costs are split between the city and people who are part of the city’s pension retiree program, the
service requirement to be eligible for the city’s OPEB, how the city accounts for increasing health
insurance costs and paycheck deduction for new employees with the Chief Financial Officer.
Chairperson Councilor Mitra then discussed the retirement benefit coverage, whether the benefits
would cover surviving spouses, the trustees of the OPEB Liability Trust Fund, the election process
and the length of term for the trustees, the Pension Reserve Investment Trust (PRIT) and how the
city’s OPEB trust fund compares to other municipalities with the Chief Financial Officer.
Chairperson Councilor Mitra moved for a roll call vote to recommend the item be filed.
Recommend File on a roll call vote of 3 Yeas and 0 Nays
b. Transmitting the City’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) for the year
ended June 30, 2025, as prepared by the Auditing Department and audited by the
Certified Public Accountant firm of ClifftonLarsonAllen, LLP.
# 12b CC February 3, 2026
In Committee April 14, 2026 - Held
Chairperson Councilor Mitra read the item and moved for a roll call vote to recommend the item
be held.
Recommend Hold on a roll call vote of 3 Yeas and 0 Nays
4. Communications of the City Manager
a. Transmitting informational communication relative to a financial update for the period
ending June 30, 2026.
# 11.26A CM August 18, 2026
Chairperson Councilor Mitra read the item and moved to take up the item collectively with items
#4b through #4g.
Chairperson Councilor Mitra recognized the Chief Financial Officer, who provided an overview
of the items.
Chairperson Councilor Mitra recognized Councilor Bergman, who discussed how higher revenues
and lower expenses affect free cash calculations in November and how red flags related to
revenues and expenses are monitored, addressed and reported to City Council with the Chief
Financial Officer.
Chairperson Councilor Mitra recognized Councilor Rosen, who discussed concerns related to
decreased sewer reserves, the needs to increase the sewer reserves to match the city’s reserve
policy, usage of general funds in case of emergency, why the city does not provide
recommendation for dual tax rates, the considerations related to making the dual tax rates into
single tax rate and the impact of the Community Preservation Act (CPA) on the city’s budget with
the Chief Financial Officer.
Chairperson Councilor Mitra recognized Councilor Bergman, who discussed the MA Department
of Revenue (DOR)’s data on property values and incomes and the median income of property
owners compared to the median income of the city with the Chief Financial Officer.
Chairperson Councilor Mitra then discussed challenges related to how snow operations budget is
determined, the city’s ability to carry deficit for snow operations budget into the next fiscal year,
whether the CPA can be paid online and plans to include CPA in the tax bill with the Chief
Financial Officer.
Chairperson Councilor Mitra moved for a roll call vote to recommend the item be filed.
Recommend File on a roll call vote of 3 Yeas and 0 Nays
b. Transmitting informational communication relative to a financial update for the period
ending on May 31, 2026.
# 10.26D CM July 21, 2026
Recommend File on a roll call vote of 3 Yeas and 0 Nays (See Item #4a)
c. Transmitting informational communication relative to the financial update for the period
ending April 30, 2026.
# 22.26B CM June 2, 2026
Recommend File on a roll call vote of 3 Yeas and 0 Nays (See Item #4a)
d. Transmitting informational communication relative to the financial update for the period
ending March 31, 2026.
# 22.26A CM June 2, 2026
Recommend File on a roll call vote of 3 Yeas and 0 Nays (See Item #4a)
e. Transmitting informational communication relative to a financial update for the period
ending Feb. 28, 2026.
# 15.26A CM April 28, 2026
Recommend File on a roll call vote of 3 Yeas and 0 Nays (See Item #4a)
f. Transmitting informational communication to the financial update for the period ending
Jan. 31, 2026.
# 8.26A CM March 24, 2026
Recommend File on a roll call vote of 3 Yeas and 0 Nays (See Item #4a)
g. Transmitting informational communication relative to to the financial update for the
period ending Dec. 31, 2025.
# 11.28A CM February 24, 2026
Recommend File on a roll call vote of 3 Yeas and 0 Nays (See Item #4a)
Transcript
Transcript pending: YouTube captions can't be retrieved yet (see the Worcester playbook).