Mayor Vetoes DeNapoli Benefit Package

Woburn Patch learned today that Mayor Scott Galvin has vetoed the benefit package for Officer Robert DeNapoli that was passed by the Woburn City Council two weeks ago. 

Ward 1 Alderman Rosa DiTucci told Woburn Patch on Friday that the city clerk's office had told her that Mayor Scott Galvin had vetoed the bill. 

DeNapoli was injured responding to a September 6, 2011 robbery of a jewelry store in Woburn's Four Corners. He was shot six times and as a result lost sight in one eye and doctor's needed to remove his trigger finger. He also still has shrapnel in his body. DeNapoli retired from the force in November of 2012 after over a year of physical therapy. 

The package passed on August 7 by a vote of 6-3 stated that DeNapoli would be able to retire on disability at his current age of 52 and receive 100 percent of the pay he would have received until age 65. After that, he would receive a disability pension equal to 100 percent of his pay for the rest of his life.

Mayor Galvin had put forward his own version of the bill that was similar but would have had DeNapoli's payments reduced to 80 percent pay after the age of 65. 

The council bill also re-instated a lump sum payout, also known as a "death benefit," an annuity fund DeNapoli payed into during his time on the force. The annuity payout was taken out of the first version of the bill by the mayor. 

“It’s disgusting to me," DiTucci said. "It means the DeNapoli family has to appeal to the community to do for them what we as a city should have done. What is being done to this family is deplorable.”

The news came out Friday afternoon after the mayor's office had closed. A call to his cell phone was not returned before publication. 

During the August 7 meeting Galvin did explain his reasoning for preferring the 80 percent payout after the age of 65. 

Galvin said that the benefit package he proposed was "one of most comprehensive and generous ever presented to a police officer injured in line of duty" and that having DeNapoli's pay cut to 80 percent after retirement was a balance between the city's obligation to the officer and to the city's finances and use of taxpayer money. He also said that this decision will set a precedent that could be costly in the long run if the city faces similar situations in the future. 

DiTucci said she does not agree with that assessment. 

“This is not an issue of fiscal responsibility," she said. "It adds pennies to the tax bill.”

She added she thought the decision to veto the bill did not show the right priority for the city. 

“If our policemen, the people who protect our citizens, are not a priority than something is drastically wrong,” she said. 

The City Council will take up the issue again during the Woburn City Council Sub Committees scheduled for 6 p.m. in Woburn City Hall, Council Chamber. One possibility is a ballot measure on the bill though DiTucci said it is unclear if that would be binding. The council will discuss its options during that meeting.