Plymouth County: In Search of Purpose

The “Bang for Your Buck”

Spring 2025 found towns across the South Shore wrestling with numbers they didn’t want to see.

Rising costs were tightening budgets from Hanover to Hingham, but one line item in particular, employee health insurance, was taking center stage. Double-digit premium hikes were the norm for many municipalities in the Massachusetts Interlocal Insurance Association (MIIA) network, a non-profit incorporated by the Massachusetts Municipal Association (MMA), adding millions to payroll-related expenses and forcing tough choices on everything from staffing to infrastructure.

In Cohasset, which is part of Norfolk County, the reality hit hard. At the February 4 Select Board meeting, Town Manager Christopher Senior announced a 15% base increase in the town’s health insurance costs, widening an already difficult $1.2 million budget gap as officials prepared their budget plan.

“We had years of zero, we had a negative number at one point,” Senior told the board. “This is very much not common. That said, it’s a brutal increase.”

The jump, tied to overall medical inflation and rising prescription drug costs, left town officials weighing potential adjustments, restructuring health plans, altering employee contributions, or tapping reserves to keep core services intact.

As Cohasset Select Board member Paul Grady put it, “That’s a teacher. It’s a couple of teachers.”

While most MIIA-member towns were facing increases in the low-to-mid teens, Plymouth County’s own employee health insurance plan – Mayflower Municipal Health Group – was seeing a much smaller, single-digit bump, raising questions about whether its model could offer relief to communities now feeling the strain.

While towns like Cohasset braced for steep hikes, Plymouth County Treasurer Thomas O’Brien was fielding a different kind of call. At a 2025 commissioners’ meeting, he described how news from the Massachusetts Municipal Association announced rate hikes had set his phone buzzing, not with complaints but with curiosity.While towns like Cohasset braced for steep hikes, Plymouth County Treasurer Thomas O’Brien was fielding a different kind of call. At a 2025 commissioners’ meeting, he described how news from the Massachusetts Municipal Association announced rate hikes had set his phone buzzing, not with complaints but with curiosity.

The reaction was immediate.

“My phone rang twofold,” O’Brien said. “One, members of Mayflower that were very grateful that they were members of Mayflower, and two, members that weren’t in Mayflower asking how they could get into Mayflower.”

For towns struggling to cover the latest round of health insurance bills, those numbers were more than a budget relief; they were an invitation to look at Plymouth County in a new way.

“We’ve received initial notice from one community that’s interested in joining,” O’Brien told commissioners. “Another entity down on the Cape is interested as well. I just expect exponential growth for the Mayflower Health Group… we’re in pretty good shape for the foreseeable future.”

It’s a County Thing… Well, Sort Of…

“We are the best bang for your buck in terms of the services that we have been providing,” County Commission Chair Jared Valanzola said during a conversation on public access television. “We offer the Mayflower Municipal Health Group, which has provided great services and rates to the member communities.”

It’s a sentiment that Valanzola, his fellow commissioners, and other county officials express frequently. The caveat? Mayflower Municipal Health Group technically isn’t a Plymouth County program; it’s one driven at the town level.

The Mayflower Municipal Health Group is a joint purchasing group for municipal employee benefits, formed under Chapter 32B of the Massachusetts General Laws. The law allows cities, towns, and certain public entities to band together to negotiate and purchase health, dental, and life insurance as a collective.

Each participating governmental unit, ranging from towns and school districts to regional authorities, appoints one representative to serve on Mayflower’s governing board. Each board member gets one vote. Decisions about rates, surplus distributions, or any policy changes are made collectively by that board.

Mayflower contracts with Plymouth County to provide administrative and financial management services. Those services include collecting payments from member units, paying claims and vendors, overseeing investments, and maintaining the group’s financial records. The contract is supposed to be revenue-neutral for the county: Mayflower pays Plymouth County for the work, and the money is not drawn from county funds.

During the current fiscal year, the county will spend $585K to provide administrative services and will receive an equal reimbursement from Mayflower. The county also receives an additional $72K “administrative fee” from the health group.

In other words, while Plymouth County handles the day-to-day administration, the health group itself is not a county function. It is an independent municipal insurance collaborative, and the county’s role is essentially that of a vendor. In other parts of the state where county government has been abolished, such groups still exist. The Hampshire County Group Insurance Trust, for example, operates as a standalone entity.

“It’s run by the county, but it’s not a county service,” said Scituate Town Manager Jim Boudreau. “It was actually set up by one of the selectboard members in Abington who was the town administrator way back when. It’s got its own steering committee, outside vendors, so it’s really not a county thing.”

The County Retirement System

Just as with the Mayflower Municipal Health Group, there’s another program Plymouth County points to as a success story, one it helps administer but doesn’t officially run. The Plymouth County Contributory Retirement System is an independent public pension fund created under Chapter 32, Section 20 of the Massachusetts General Laws.

Fifty-six municipal and regional units belong to the system, from towns and housing authorities to school districts, fire districts, and even Plymouth County government itself. In all, the plan covers more than 11,000 active and retired public employees. Oversight comes from the state’s Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission (PERAC), which supervises more than a hundred such systems statewide.

The five-member retirement board governs the system. The county treasurer serves as its non-voting chair. The County Commissioners appoint one board member, the membership elects two, and one is chosen from the Plymouth County Advisory Council—a group made up of treasurers from each member unit.

While county officials hold seats at the table, the retirement system’s finances, obligations, and decision-making authority are entirely separate from county government. As with Mayflower, Plymouth County’s role is that of a participant and service provider, not the owner of the program.

It should be noted that a number of those contacted by the South Shore Times about the retirement board referred us back to O’Brien. And while the Mayflower Group was held up as a heroic cost-saver in last season’s budget debates, the retirement board played the role of villain in some communities.

“It’s a killer,” said Hanover Budget Director Jim Hoyes of the county’s retirement assessment during a March 2025 Select Board meeting. “The Plymouth County retirement [assessment] is growing at 10 percent. This expense area alone erodes a lot, almost all, in some years, of our Proposition Two-and-a-Half revenue increase.”

In Massachusetts, local government entities must fully fund their pension obligations by 2040. This includes both the "normal cost" (ongoing cost of current employees' benefits) and the unfunded accrued liability (legacy pension obligations). According to data reviewed by the South Shore Times by the Massachusetts Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission, Plymouth County’s target of fully funding its pension obligations by 2031 is a middle-of-the-road target.

“Over half of our towns are happy with the funding schedule,” said County Commission Chair Jared Valanzola, who also serves as a voting member of the retirement board. “If we were to extend the funding schedule, you may get some upfront monthly savings, but the monthly savings in no way equate to solving a lot of the budgetary issues these communities have.”

But numerous local officials noted that the county retirement board, and specifically O’Brien and Valanzola, were unwilling to work with them to address cash flow issues caused, in part, by the rising pension obligation payments.

“Plymouth County seems so focused on fully funding the pension obligation on their extremely aggressive schedule that they’ve become insensitive to the negative impact it’s having on municipal budgets — and on our ability to provide services within the constraints of Proposition 2½ and limited New Growth,” said Joe Colangelo, Hanover Town Manager.

“Government should be run like a household,” said Valanzola. “If we were to extend the funding schedule, you may get some upfront savings, but it doesn’t solve the town’s budget issues, and you end up paying more in the end.”

Hanover officials contend that the “household” mindset doesn’t take into account cash flow constraints of multi-million dollar operations that are constrained by state law. They contend that reduced year-over-year increases insulate residents from stark tax increases and reduce the need for cuts to town services, even if it means paying more in the long term.

So, What’s Their Charge? 

According to the county’s website, “Plymouth County has no charter and as such operates under a combination of the Massachusetts General Laws, special acts of the Legislature, by custom, and by directives from various state executive offices.”

Under those laws, building maintenance is one of the primary programs that the county is officially charged with conducting. In fact, it’s the biggest program in Plymouth County’s budget - coming in at $2.3 million this year. The county owns courthouses in Brockton, Hingham, and Wareham, which it subsequently rents to the state. It owns an administrative building in Plymouth and Registry of Deeds buildings in Plymouth and Brockton.

Plymouth County also operates its own Registry of Deeds, costing $2.2 million per year. That office is administered by an elected official, John Buckley. However, the registry’s budget is approved by the County Commission.

“Outside of the southeastern portion of the state, the county acts more as a district boundary,” said Debra O’Malley from the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth. “The Registries of Deeds in those counties operate under our office, instead of under county commissioners.”

The county spends an additional $7.8 million on administrative costs and other programs. 

Among those programs is the Plymouth County 4H, which “offers services and programs for schools, libraries, and community groups in a wide variety of topics,” according to its website.

Parking Program Raises Questions of Government’s Purpose

Another county-run program that commissioners and staff frequently mentioned the success of in their meetings and discussions is the Plymouth County Parking program. As of June, the program served 43 communities and other government entities. Only about half of those communities are in Plymouth County.

“We go all the way from one end of the state to the other, from West Stockton in the West to Provincetown in the East,” said Deputy Treasurer Jeffrey Welch at a June Plymouth County Commission meeting.

The news of continued growth outside of Plymouth County was praised by Commissioner Sandra Wright.

“I can't believe the parking department and how it's grown. It has excited me so much because going back to years [we were] thinking about maybe just getting rid of it,” she said.

Despite the enthusiasm, this county-created program has historically lost money for the county. Between employee and other administrative costs, the program costs nearly $90,000 more to run than it brings in through annual revenue. That’s a modest improvement from the more than $120,000 it was budgeted to lose just two years ago.

“Government isn't in the business of making money,” said County Treasurer Thomas O’Brien. “We’re in the business of providing service and saving communities money…this is a service to our towns.”

O’Brien noted that the program was never intended to break even. He called it a “loss leader” intended to take the burden of a state mandate off cities and towns. He noted that the program is expected to break even within the next two years.

“We need to look at things as a whole and recognize that government provides services,” added O’Brien. “If there's anything Plymouth County can do by regionalizing and saving our towns money, we should be doing it.”

Paying for It All

The money that keeps Plymouth County going isn’t from taxes. In fact, it has no ability to tax. That’s something that Commissioner Valanzola is quick to lament.

“It’s also interesting, I’ll just note this, as a governmental entity in Massachusetts, we’re the only ones that aren’t allowed to tax, which I find to be sort of ironic,” Valanzola said on a local cable access program.

That irony lies at the heart of the county’s story: a government that cannot tax but still spends, dependent on a handful of revenue streams and fees charged to other government entities for its survival.

The county’s largest and most reliable revenue stream comes from the Registry of Deeds. Fees from property transactions generated $4.8 million in the most recent fiscal year, covering nearly a third of the county’s operating budget. It only takes $2.2 million to run the registry.

The second largest source of money is something most residents never see: rent from courthouses. The state pays Plymouth County roughly $2.5 million each year to use buildings that the county still owns in Brockton, Hingham, and Wareham. The arrangement is a quirk of Massachusetts’ political history. When the state consolidated court administration decades ago, it left counties holding title to many courthouse properties. The judiciary manages its own operations, but it often does so in spaces the counties continue to own, forcing the state to cut rent checks to the very governments it once sought to abolish.

The other major revenue driver is a mandatory assessment that Plymouth County charges to all its member communities. In the current year, those assessments total more than $1.8 million.

For some communities, county assessments are well into six-figure sums. Scituate, Duxbury, and Marshfield all pay well over $100,000 per year to the county. Plymouth is assessed at about $250,000. And Hingham is assessed nearly $150,000.

In Hingham, that assessment prompted calls for potential secession for Plymouth County back in 2013. At the time, the frustration from local officials over the mandatory county assessment was compounded by the fact that residents are already paying state taxes that support many of the same services. By remaining part of an independent Plymouth County, opponents argued, the town was effectively being billed twice without receiving meaningful benefits in return.

“We’re paying their bills and our bills,” The Patriot Ledger quoted former Select Board member Laura Burns as saying at the time. “How much sense does that make?”

Balancing Act

Plymouth County’s budget story is not one of new taxes or broad-based revenues. It is a patchwork of fees, assessments, and inherited quirks of state law that keep the lights on while keeping tensions alive with the very communities it serves. The county highlights programs like Mayflower and the retirement system as proof of its value, yet both examples reveal the same paradox. The county may provide administration and leadership, but the real authority often lies elsewhere.

That paradox leaves residents and officials asking a central question: what, exactly, is county government? To some, it looks like a set of helpful regional services stitched together under a single banner. To others, it is a middleman: collecting money, running programs at a loss, and passing costs back down to the towns.

Either way, Plymouth County remains. Despite repeated calls for abolition, despite past secession threats, and despite the irony of being a government that cannot tax, the county continues to carve out its role in the budgets and politics of the South Shore.

 Sarah Farris contributed to this story. This reporting was supported by the Fund for Investigative Journalism.