2007-11-14 Ad hoc Budget Schedule Report

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Lexington town elections, as per town bylaws, take place on the first Monday in Match except in presidential primary years (such as 2008), in which case town elections take place the same day as the primaries: the first Tuesday in March.5 There is no legally mandated lag between town elections and the convening of Town Meeting. In practice, the intervening time (typically about three weeks) is used by the Moderator and the Town Meeting Members d time Association t l the budget, and new members need` to be introduced d o the procedures members need time study of the representative Town Meeting. The first meeting of the annual Town Meeting is often taken up by committee reports, award presentations, and the like. The information tables at that first meeting, as with all meetings, are the place to provide handouts for articles to be taken up at the next meeting. OTHER DEPENDENCIES The budget schedule is constrained not only by law but by external events not completely in the control of local officials. State aid For example, state aid to municipalities is a significant contributor to Lexington's budget: $9 trillion in fiscal 2008. However, the exact amount of this aid is not known at a convenient presented tithe e for a town's budget; 2007 was the first time in many years that the governor's bill, p February, included a state aid figure that was a good approximation of the final number. The Town Manager will estimate state -aid conservatively. The sooner the budget process is concluded, the more uncertainty there will be in the estimated aid revenue. B.evenrre split Lexington's Town Manager prepares new revenue estimates for the coming fiscal year near the beginning of the budget process. By consensus among elected officials, revenues are first set aside to pay for "shared expenses." These are expenses shared across all town departments, such as health care benefits for employees and facilities expenses. (New revenue is mainly the sum of new growth, 2.5% of the past year's tax levy, and any increases in local receipts.) From the Town Manager:6 Them is a two- step process for developing the avenue split.• 5 At the time of writing, the legislature is considering moving the primary date to February. The 2008 election will be March 3 if the primary is moved and March 4 if March 4 remains the primary date. 6 Email from Town Manager Carl Valente to Selectman Jeanne Krieger, October 23, 2007.