2005-11-01-AC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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November 1, 2005 Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee November 1, 2005 Members Present: A. Levine (Chair), D. Brown (Vice Chair), R. Cole, J. Bartenstein, E. Michelson, D. Kanter, R. Eurich Additional attendees: M. Young (Town Budget Officer) The meeting was called to order at 7:30 PM by Al Levine in Room 111, Town Office Building. 1. Rod C. agreed to take minutes. 2. Discussion of when we knew that the $1.8M from interest on the school construction bonds would appear in free cash. The existence of the money was known to some from back around the time of the spring Town Meeting, however there was an expectation that the money would stay in school capital, or perhaps be used to pay down the bond interest payments. Michael Y. was surprised, but DOR insisted it be closed out to free cash. It was noted that as things sit, putting this money in free cash amounted to moving capital money into the operating budget. The idea that perhaps town meeting should vote to place some or all the $1.8M in the stabilization fund was raised, and generally supported. 3. Discussion of draft AC report to the special town meeting. It was noted that we needed to do a better job of spelling out the plusses and minuses in the budget situation that have taken place since the spring town meeting. 4. Budget projection discussions. It was noted that about $400K of the increase in local receipts was due to late billings and should really be considered part of the FY2004 local receipts. This needs to be accounted for in the out-year projections. The question whether or not State aid is recurring revenue was raised. It was decided that State aid was recurring, as are local receipts, although both are somewhat variable. There was a discussion of the definition of “outstanding liabilities”. This is the sum of special revenue deficits and accounts receivable. 5. Discussion of what Paul Ash has said regarding how he would spend or not spend the $847K proposed for Article 5. It was not clear if his position was that he would not use any of these funds to fund any program that ran into difficulties if it was not on the list of programs projecting a deficit going into the special town meeting, or if he was taking a less restrictive position that he would not use the money to fund programs not in the reduced budget. Clarification would be sought.