The town of Greece is canceling the taxpayer-subsidized health insurance policy for former Deputy Town Supervisor Michelle Marini.
Marini pleaded guilty last year to felony charges of grand larceny and offering a false instrument for filing. The grand larceny charge was related to an incident in 2022, in which Marini used contractors for a town community center project to replace a hot water tank at her house, while the second charge related to her writing herself a check for $654.76 while serving as treasurer for the Friends of the Greece Republican Committee and failing to report it to the Board of Elections.
She received no jail time but was ordered to perform 40 hours of community service, pay nearly $5,000 in restitution and a fine of $2,500.
Town Supervisor Jeff McCann said the town used the faithless service doctrine to rescind Marini's health coverage. That law allows employers to claw back expenditures made to employees who acted in a disloyal or unfaithful manner. The Greece Town Board unanimously approved canceling Marini's insurance at a meeting on Thursday.
"We sat down with our lawyers relatively early on in terms of what we could do to help bring accountability for the actions that she took, and this is something that they found," McCann said.
McCann is the first Democratic town supervisor to hold office in Greece. He said the move to pull Marini's health insurance will save taxpayers an estimated $200,000 over the course of her life. More importantly, he said, it helps bring some level of integrity back to the office.
Marini served as deputy supervisor under Town Supervisor Bill Reilich beginning in 2014. She resigned from the position the day before she was indicted.
McCann noted that while Marini will no longer have health coverage through the town, she will continue receiving her state pension payments. The New York State Comptroller's Office confirmed Marini receives $5,069.91 per month in pension payments following her resignation.
Attempts to reach Marini were not successful.
