RENSSELAERVILLE — The town of Rensselaerville may have inadvertently exceeded its authority by providing medical benefits for retirees over the last several decades. The town board is currently reviewing the situation and will discuss ways to move forward while preserving the benefits retirees have come to depend on. 

Supervisor John Dolce explained to the board at its Nov. 9 meeting, “We had talked about Medicare reimbursement of about $2,200 per person. But actually, the … medical benefits that the retirees are getting amounts to $7,900.”

The supervisor’s clerk, Carolyn Bauer, told The Enterprise that 20 retired employees and spouses receive health benefits through the town.

Dolce called former town clerk Kathy Hallenbeck, he said, “and asked her where this was written.” Hallenbeck — who had retired in 2013 after four decades as clerk — explained that the benefits were initiated in 1974, under Supervisor Robert Lansing, Dolce said. 

But with no known authorization, town attorney Andrew Clark said that the benefits equate to a gift from the town to private citizens, which is a violation of state law. 

“We need to find out how this practice started,” Clark told the board. “Was it a condition of employment or was it authorized in some way or another? And we need to be forward-thinking in what we’re going to do to correct it, what future actions we’re going to take, [and answer questions like] does the board want to continue it, modify it, or how do we want to proceed?”

As it stands, the town can’t disburse the money to retired workers without some connection “to their service to the town,” Clark said.

Dolce, who did not respond to Enterprise questions, told the board that he asked Hallenbeck, who could not be reached by The Enterprise, to contact town retirees and explain the situation to them. The Enterprise has submitted a Freedom of Information Law request for the number of retirees. 

“The reason why I’m bringing this up in a public meeting is because I’m hoping that these retirees are listening to this, and could come forward with documentation that says, ‘Hey, this is what we have,’” he said. 

When asked if he and the other attorney advising the town, William Ryan, could “give us some guidelines on how to move forward with this without pulling the rug out from under” the retirees, Clark said they would check the Department of State archives for any authorization that may have been filed. 

“If nothing’s there, then we will have to do something,” Clark said. “But we’ll have that prepared for you, ready to go at the next meeting. We’ll lay out, 1-2-3, what’s happening.”

“I just want to make sure we do it legally,” Dolce said at another point during the meeting. “Even though this goes back to 1974, we’re the ones responsible today.”