The Nantucket Finance Committee voted unanimously to recommend adoption of citizen warrant Article E, which would accept Massachusetts General Law Chapter 33, Section 59 and allow the town to pay the difference between a municipal employee’s regular pay and any military pay received while the employee is on active duty or training.

Supporters told the committee the measure is a straightforward way to ensure town employees who serve in the reserves do not lose income while deployed. “To me, it’s just the right thing to do. Anyone that has volunteered to serve this country and defend us should be paid,” said Bobby, who identified himself as representing the article’s sponsor, Ryan.

Town counsel noted the adoption vote at town meeting would be an up‑or‑down acceptance of the state statute and cannot be altered by local vote. “This is a local acceptance statute ... there’s not an ability by town meeting to modify any provisions in the state law through the acceptance vote. It’s an up or down vote,” John Georgiou said.

Committee members pressed briefly on fiscal impact. Finance Committee members and town staff said the expense varies by incident: some deployments do not require overtime if staffing levels absorb the absence; others require overtime shift coverage. The fire chief summarized last year’s experience for the single firefighter currently in the program, saying that firefighter logged about 648 hours away from work and about 396 hours were covered with overtime. “Is it substantial? I think ... it’s something that we can cover within our operating budget,” the chief said.

After discussion, Peter moved to recommend acceptance of Article E; Jeremy seconded. The committee voted by roll call: Joanna, Peter, Steven, Rob, Jill, Jeremy and Denise all voted yes. The committee chair announced the motion passed unanimously.

The recommendation sends the warrant article forward for consideration at town meeting; the committee did not change the language of the state statute and noted any change would require special legislation.