2005-10-20-AC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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October 20, 2005 Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee October 20, 2005 Members Present: A. Levine (Chair), D. Brown (Vice Chair), R. Cole, J. Bartenstein, E. Michelson Additional Attendees: M. Young, T. Griffiths (School Committee), G. Burnell (CEC), D. McKenna The meeting was called to order at 7:40 PM by Al Levine in the Legion Room, Cary Hall. 1. Rod C. agreed to take minutes. 2. The minutes of July 21 were discussed and accepted by a vote of 5-0. 3. Notes on Meetings: a) Selectmen’s Ad Hoc Financial Policy Committee (FPC) discussion led by Deborah B. The primary topic at the last FPC meeting was capital. First came a discussion of what the term “capital” means. The working definition we have is ok, but leaves questions about things like aggregate purchases, for example large groups of computers which if annualized have a value greater than $25K and thus are capital, but does not include things like groups of snow blowers. It might be useful to include “can borrow for” in the definition. The FPC discussed how to set the target value for yearly capital expenditures. One option is to take a set percentage of the total value of the town’s capital assets, rather than the current method of taking a set percentage of the general fund. It would be good to take into account required maintenance that is not in itself capital. The FPC discussed whether borrowing should be allowed for “cash capital”. The AC discussed the shortcomings of the set percentage of general fund vs looking at historic levels of expenses and rate of asset condition (if past expenditures have not been sufficient to maintain the assets, we know future expenditures should be greater than past expenditures). The AC also discussed concerns about the FPC fully finishing in the allotted time, and that perhaps the work should continue. b) Gang of 8. Michael Y. passed out the budget summary handout from the most recent “Gang of 8” meeting. c) Deborah B. handed out a school budget memo from Ann Giombetti from October 14, 2005. The question was asked if the additional $100K included other costs