2023-11-30-AC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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11/30/2023 AC Minutes 3 SB has not implemented any of these fees. Keeping the current operating budget balanced has re- quired changes to compensate for this missing fee revenue from trash collection. The primary driver of increases in the FY 2025 budget is compensation, but other drivers include the cost of diesel fuel, the prices of contract services that involve vehicles, and overall inflation. Ms. Kosnoff offered to send a full summary of all PIRs to the Committee. Mr. Parker and Ms. Kosnoff described Select Board meeting discussion of a PIR to support enforce- ment of the Town’s leaf-blower restrictions and concerns about escalating interactions with the pub- lic and landscape workers. The Select Board would rather not have uniformed officers handling en- forcement, but rather someone like a health department inspector. At the moment, the police are handling most of the complaints, and there have been many such complaints. Mr. Padaki asked if any one-time revenue could be used to bridge the current gap in the FY2025 budget. Ms. Kosnoff responded that the Town budgets for $3 million in new growth, and there is currently a significant set-aside for the Capital Stabilization Fund (CSF), all of which is ongoing revenue. The Town is not ready to compromise its budget guidelines on the CSF set-aside, but that is an accessible source of additional revenue. There is also unused ARPA money remaining that could be used to partially fund the food waste collection program. Ms. Kosnoff repeated that she is still working with the Town Manager to work out a compromise position on the FY2025 budget, which will most certainly require some tradeoffs. Those tradeoffs will likely impact one or more areas, including PIRs, departmental budgets, and the budget guide- lines for the CSF set-asides. Ms. Kosnoff’s opinion is that the Town should be aiming to manage the operating budget based on an annual growth rate of roughly 3.5%, which allows for Proposition 2½ and some modest new growth. For now, the municipal and school departments are working to maintain that approach, and any change in direction would be the result of a serious problem, such as a threat to public health and safety. Mr. Padaki asked about expenses related to immigrants being housed in Lexington. Ms. Kosnoff stated that the Town is hosting about 30 immigrant families at the Aloft and Element hotels. There is no major impact on the Town budget because the state covers the costs of housing, education, and social services. The only impact is a certain amount of staff time to assist in monitoring the situa- tion. Ms. Kosnoff stated that the Town Manager is the main point of contact for services provided to these families, but the Public Health Director is deeply involved in meetings and helping to coordi- nate volunteer support. The National Guard has the primary responsibility for providing services, access to work information, school, transportation, and everything else. Mr. Parker mentioned that due to a lower state match (21.8%), annual CPA revenue had fallen by about $1 million, and asked if that will impact capital requests. Ms. Kosnoff stated that the original budget had assumed a 30% match, but that the shortfall would mostly be absorbed by higher than anticipated interest income. Nevertheless, the total of CPC requests was about $1.7 million more than the available funding. The project to renovate the lower floor of Cary Memorial Library will cost about $5.5 million, with about $1.5 million coming from the Cary Memorial Library Foundation. The CPC offered to fund another $2.3 million with the General Fund providing the remaining $1.7 million via within-levy debt. This would allow the CPC to fully fund its remaining requests, which include community and affordable housing.