Veterans officer kept full-time via budget reshuffle

Select Board · Meeting of June 16, 2026

BEVERLY — The Beverly City Council's Finance and Property Committee heard FY27 budget presentations from Veterans Services, the Council on Aging and the Board of Health, with no votes taken. Veterans Services will keep its assistant officer full time through an internal transfer, after officials cited $55,316,988 in VA money brought to Beverly veterans over the past decade and "51 people" buried by the lead officer since starting the job. The Council on Aging absorbed a $90,000 cut and is taking over Cape Ann Transportation Authority service, running a new Mondays-and-Thursdays shuttle, with Christopher Gomez-Farwell reporting average daily attendance has grown from 99 to about 139 seniors over four years.

Board of Health Director Laura Rigi said the department's 108-year-old dental clinic, now down to two part-time staff, is surviving on alternative funding that will last "four to five years" before the clinic again faces potential closure.

In the full story:

• Veterans Services: Restoring a Full-Time Assistant Officer Without New Money
• Council on Aging: A $90,000 Cut Paired With a New In-House Transit Role
• Board of Health: A Century-Old Dental Clinic on a Temporary Funding Bridge
• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report: 2,354 words

Source: the Select Board meeting of June 16, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript.