DRACUT — Andrew Graham, who was the supervisor of buildings and grounds for the School Department, until August, is appealing the Middlesex County Retirement Board’s decision that he owes $91,000 in excess pension payments.
That number is down from the $116,000 initially sought. MCRB chair Thomas Gibson attributed the difference to a two-year grace period during COVID when county departments and agencies were running short of staff.
The Middlesex County Retirement Board opened a hearing on Graham’s case at its offices in Billerica on Sept. 18 and took the matter under advisement. They notified Graham of their decision in a letter dated Sept. 26.
Graham has been a “post-retirement employee” of the school district. He worked for the schools for 53 years, the last 10 years as a part-timer receiving a pension. After his first year receiving a pension, the amount was upped by $15,000 under state guidelines.
Under state law, a retiree must stop working when they have either worked 1,200 hours in a calendar year, or they have earned the difference between the current salary of the position they retired from and their pension.
The current salary for the position is $145,000, Graham told the board in September.
Graham had reached the 1,200-hour limit by early August when he received word from the MCRB telling him to stop working. Whether Graham had already exceeded the dollar limit was not stated.
The letter from the MCRB that Graham received gave two methods of repayment — payment in full or through an approved payment plan.
While $91,000 is a substantial amount of money, it is possible he might raise that amount using his home to do so. The home and land in an upscale development in East Dracut, which he and his wife bought in 2004 for $229,900, is now assessed at $1.146 million, according to Dracut assessor records.
At the time MCRB heard the case, Gibson advised Graham, “We have very little discretion here. We have to do what the statute requires.” The board cannot waive excess earnings or excess hours, according to Gibson.
No date has been set for Graham’s appeal by the Division of Administrative Law Appeals. However, only its October schedule is available online and the spokesperson for the Executive Office of Administration and Finance, to whom The Sun was referred, did not return phone calls.