Tisbury’s Preexisiting Condition

Selectmen in the Island’s only year-round port town are known for their crowded meeting agendas; it seems as if there is always a long list of brisk business to conduct in Tisbury, and that’s a good thing.

But the Tisbury selectmen would be wise to move to the top of their agenda the matter of so-called grandfathered health insurance and retirement benefits for a small handful of elected officials. Fourteen years ago the town ended the practice of allowing such benefits, but those who were already in office were protected from the ban and kept receiving the benefits.

Of course some kind of phasing out would have been a smart thing to do — say a year or two.

But fourteen years?

John Thayer, a longtime member of the Department of Public Works who was elected to his post thirteen years ago and does not receive the benefits, had the courage to stand up and raise the issue at a meeting of the selectmen last month.

At an approximate annual value of some twenty thousand dollars, these benefits are a huge perk, not to mention a cost to the town, and Tisbury selectmen — one of whom receives the benefits himself — should act swiftly to correct this problem. It’s glaringly unfair and has gone on for far too long — fourteen years too long.