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APPROPRIATION COMMITTEE -2016 ATM & STM 2016 -3 Preface This Preface describes the structure and stylistic conventions used in this report. It is followed by an In- troduction discussing changes in the Town's financial status since the previous Annual Town Meeting, along with issues pertinent to the Town's general financial situation. The main body of this report con- tains article -by- article discussions and recommendations on those articles that, in our opinion, have sub- stantial financial relevance. The report references several appendices at the end of this document that pro- vide a deeper explanation of particular financial issues. The discussion for each article presents the prevailing view of the Committee, as well as any other con- siderations or cautions that we feel Town Meeting should be informed of. If one or more Committee members are strongly opposed to the majority position, we summarize the opposing perspective. Each article discussion concludes with the most recent vote of the Committee prior to publication. The vote is summarized by the number of members in favor, followed by the number of members opposed, and lastly (when applicable) the number of members abstaining, e.g. "(6 -2 -1)" indicates six members in favor, two opposed, and one abstaining. It is not always possible to collect a complete vote for every article from nine voting members. In such instances, the total number of votes and abstentions published will be less than nine. For convenience, Committee votes are also summarized on the preceding pages. This report does not replicate information readily available to Town Meeting members elsewhere. Key documents that inform our analysis and provide a more thorough picture of the Town finances are: • The Town Manager's Fiscal Year 2017 Recommended Budget & Financing Plan, dated February 29, 2016, commonly known as the "Brown Book ", fully describes the annual budget of the Town. The Brown Book also summarizes budget laws and bylaws (Appendix B) and includes a glossary of financial terms (Appendix D). http : / /www. l exi ngtonma. gov /budget • The School Committee's Fiscal Year 2017 School Committee Recommended Budget (the "Gray Book ") dated February 2, 2016, which details the budget plans for the Lexington Public School System .http: / /1ps.1exingtonma.org /Page /7718 • Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Report to the 2016 Annual Town Meeting, which pro- vides a detailed report on appropriation requests for capital projects. • Community Preservation Committee (CPC) Report to the 2016 Annual Town Meeting. Special Town Meetings (STM) are now identified by the calendar year in which they are called, plus a sequence number in the calendar year. Thus, the two meetings addressed in this report are "2016 -2" and "2016 -3 ". An STM article is identified by appending the article number to the STM identifier, for exam- ple "2016 -2.2" refers to Article 2 of the second STM in 2016. While this is sufficient to uniquely identify any article, we will typically mention the article title for ease of recall. Acknowledgem ents The content of this report, except where otherwise noted, was researched, written and edited by Commit- tee members who volunteer their time and expertise, and with the support of Town staff. We have the pleasure and the privilege of working with Town Manager, Carl Valente; Assistant Town Manager for Finance, Rob Addelson; our Budget Officer, Patricia Moore; the Capital Expenditures Committee; the Community Preservation Committee; the School Committee; the Permanent Building Committee; the Planning Board; Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Mary Czajkowski; Interim Director of Finance and Oper- ations, Ian Dailey; and the Board of Selectmen. We thank the municipal and school staff, Town officials, boards and volunteers who have contributed time and expertise to help us prepare this report. Last but not least, we thank Sara Arnold, who records and prepares the minutes for our meetings. 1