2023-03-27-CEC-ATM-rpt (corrected)

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CORRECTED CAPITAL EXPENDITURES COMMITTEE REPORT TO 2023 ATM Five -Year Capital Plan The table and its footnotes on the next three pages summarize this Committee's Five -Year Capital Plan. This plan reflects the expected FY2024 appropriations at the 2022 ATM, and the FY2024–FY2028 requests that this Committee recommends. We started with the amounts and timing shown in the Brown Book, Page XI -5 for FY2024, and XI -26 for FY2025–FY2028 Those requests have also been updated based on any information we received after it was published (including for FY2024). Additionally, if we feel that the project is multi -phase and either Design & Engineering or construction monies are anticipated, we have made additional entries or changes, even though no formal position has been taken by the Town. In that vein, there are important caveats to our table: • Footnotes explain when this Committee's position differs from the Town's position • Excluding the many hundreds of millions of dollars of to -be -determined (TBD) entries—including the new or renovated Lexington High School which will be hundreds of millions, the total in this Committee's Plan for FY2025–FY2028 is over $500 million. The TBD entries include future construction phases, undetermined project elements, or entire major facility projects. If any project includes any TBD in any year, whether standalone or augmenting a dollar amount, none of the project's funding is included in our total estimated amounts. • For several years the Town has been building the Capital Stabilization Fund (CSF) so that it can be used to mitigate the debt service tax impact of Capital projects. While the CSF can, and will, have a significant positive impact on taxpayer burden, given the current proposed and possible out -year projects in our Capital Plan, mitigating our debt service with the CSF will fully deplete that reserve (by design) before the debt service for the future projects are completed. • Because of the ongoing challenge the Town faces regarding the planning and financing for the renovation/replacement/renewal of its Capital Assets, this Committee looks forward to the SB refining a formal, Townwide, Facilities Master Plan, including a financing plan that also identifies the likely debt -exclusion referendums. Any such plan will necessarily continue to consider the results of the DPF-sanctioned 20 -year Capital maintenance plan. This Committee stands ready to assist in any way it can. • This Committee appreciates the Town's reluctance to cite a preliminary estimate for projects that are not yet well-defined and hence, the Town's out -year amounts generally do not reflect the costs in then -year dollars. As this Committee does not have the means to reasonably adjust those current - year values to then -year values, we are using the Town's dollar values unless we have made a change for another reason—in which case there will be an explaining footnote. This uncertainty is further exasperated by the current inflationary construction bidding environment. 10