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4/1/13 Minutes Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee April 1, 2013 Place and time: Reed Room, Town Office Building, 6:30 p.m. Members present. Glenn Parker, Chair; John Bartenstein, Vice Chair and Secretary; Robert Cohen; Mollie Garberg; Alan Levine; Susan McLeish; Eric Michelson; Richard Neumeier; Jonina Schonfeld; Rob Addelson (non- voting, ex officio) Members Absent. none Others present: Kevin Batt, Town Counsel; Paul Miniutti, Town Meeting member; Dawn McKenna, Town Meeting member The meeting was called to order at 6:37 p.m. 1. Announcements and Liaison Reports. None. 2. Articles for the March 2013 Annual Town Meeting — Proposed Amendments: Article 4, Line Item 8500 (Town Clerk Expenses): Mr. Miniutti made a presentation on his proposed amendment to reduce this line item by $40,000 to eliminate funding for electronic voting equipment at Town Meeting. He doesn't believe the program will improve transparency, and he believes that few people are interested in the data. He suggested that the value of this new program doesn't justify the cost. He commented that new technology should be available soon to allow electronic voting using Town Meeting members' smart phones or tablets, which would be more cost effective. Committee members agreed that it was appropriate for Town Meeting to have a healthy debate about this subject, although they do not expect Town Meeting to support the amendment. They noted that other Towns are using electronic voting successfully. Ms. Garberg reported that when she moved to Lexington she wanted to know how her Town Meeting members had voted, and there was no available information. It was also suggested that using personal equipment could create reliability problems. A motion to recommend approval of the amendment failed. VOTE: 0 -9 Article 20 (Establish and Appropriate To and From Specified Stabilization Funds): Mr. Bartenstein read an email from Patrick Mehr, who could not be present, describing his proposal to "amend the main motion under article 20 to increase the amount going into the [Capital Projects/Debt Service Relief/ Building Renewal Fund] by $750,000..." Mr. Mehr believes the FY14 budget should include an additional $750,000 in anticipated new growth revenue, and he believes that putting an equivalent amount of as -yet unallocated revenue into the specified stabilization fund would encourage use of a budget surplus, should it materialize, to reduce taxes in a future year.