Halifax COA Set to Recover $86,165 in Zeroed-Out Wages at July 29 Special Town Meeting

Council on Aging · Meeting of July 21, 2026

Halifax Council on Aging moves toward restoring $86,165 in zeroed-out wages at July 29 special town meeting. The COA board learned Tuesday that a citizen's petition filed by Gordon Andrews will ask the special town meeting, set for 6:30 p.m. at Halifax Elementary School, to restore COA Director Darlene's salary line by $36,165 — bringing it to $85,165 — and to add $50,000 to the clerical wage line covering a part-time administrative assistant and van drivers, funded not from free cash but from roughly $140,000 in accumulated GATRA transportation reimbursement funds sitting in a dedicated COA account. The interim town administrator, who appeared at the board's July 21 meeting, said the fund is legally restricted to COA use and cannot revert to the general fund, comparing it to a municipal enterprise account.

Both wage lines had been zeroed out during an April 28 budget meeting involving the Finance Committee, the Board of Selectmen, and the town administrator, leaving the COA without funds to pay a van driver on July 1 and forcing the director to temporarily draw on the farebox revolving account. If the special town meeting approves the articles, the administrator said the salary increase would be retroactive to July 1.

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Source: the Council on Aging meeting of July 21, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.