2023-05-17-CEC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

Minutes of the Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting May 17, 2023 Page 3 of 4 measurement and that there would be two customer types (Single Family Residential [SFR] and a Non-Single family residential (NSFR; all commercial, industrial, institutional, and multi−family) and a single-family equivalent residential unit (ERU) of 3,290 sq ft. They then applied a 3-Tier, with Cap funding form. That resulted “Total SFR ERUs in the rate based under this scenario = 10,495” and “All SFR and Non-SFR ERUs = 19,656”. After applying factors for SFRs, the proposed FY2025 rates would range from $93 to $248 per SFR property and $155 per ERU for SFR CAP and NSFR. Ms. Conchilla next addressed the Municipally- Owned Properties in Lexington. The Town owns about 1,000 properties; 170 of those are developed with 4.3 million sq. ft.; 1,579 ERUs; which would equate to $244,745 in fees using FY2025 rates. The Select Board, in this previous January meeting, expressed preference for billing the Town the stormwater fee for municipal and school owned properties. This fee would be paid via the General Fund. She next reported that public outreach had begun— working with the Director of Communications and launched new Web page. Ms. Kosnoff said, as noted, they expect to go to the Select Board within a couple of weeks to recommend this program be deferred until later, but wanted first to present this to both Finance Committees for their feedback. In any case, it will require Town Meeting to support the new fund and also change the Stormwater By-Law. As noted, the Select Board had voted that the Town owned properties would be charged—not her personal recommendation— along with all the tax-exempt facilities. The latter will call for extended socialization before Town Meeting as some of these tax-exempt properties will incur a significant fee for Stormwater. Ms. Kosnoff also noted that billing municipal properties will result in additional staff burden. She was asked that if the program were to go into effect now as designed, what would be the annual budget total and it would be about the $2.76 million that would be raised for the current charges which do not include what the out-year mandates would then require. If the Enterprise Fund is approved, in the future we can raise fees to meet each annual need. As the presentation was at its ending Q&A slide, Mr. Livsey handled the remaining questions. As for what other towns have done, he reported on his attendance at a conference the last week that was also attended by just representatives of just about all the States towns, academia, consultants, guest speakers from municipalities that have dealt with the Phosphorus issue—and even including the Permit writer from the EPA—with all interested in solving that issue. While some municipalities have already started with actions considering the future, Mr. Livsey believes Lexington should hold off such fees until we have a better understanding of those future demands. He said the second biggest expense under the MS4 is the Illicit Discharge Detection & Elimination Program for which we have over 2,000 samples and mentioned earlier about our connection with UMass Lowell, its students work on that sampling at a maximum cost of $18/hour rather than contracts at $150/hour. He asked Ms. Scerbo for her experience with municipalities implementing Stormwater Fees. She said that none of the few who have implemented those fees addressed the likely later demands under Phosphorus Control Plan. Mr. Livsey added the actions being taken within Lexington to reduce Phosphorus release—including working with developers asking for new developments also for such reduced release. In response to a question about adequate staffing to execute the Stormwater Enterprise Fund, Mr. Livsey said that while he expects to continue some contracted support, he has