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02/23/2017 AC Minutes Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee (AC) February 23, 2017 Place and time: Parker Room, Town Office Building, 7:30 p.m. Members present: John Bartenstein, Chair; Alan Levine, Vice -Chair & Secretary; Ellen Basch; Eric Michelson; Lily Manhua Yan; Members Absent: Richard Neumeier; Sanjay Padaki; Andrei Radulescu -Banu; Jian Helen Yang; Carolyn Kosnoff, Assistant Town Manager, Finance (non- voting, ex officio) Other Attendees: None The meeting was called to order at 7:35 pm. 1. Announcements and Liaison Reports Mr. Levine provided background information regarding two issues identified at this Committee's February 15 meeting: • The 15% increase in Chapter 70 State aid for education identified on the "cherry sheet ". Chapter 70 aid is based on a complex formula that, in a nutshell, first defines a foundation budget based on a detailed analysis of the student enrollment and then subtracts the municipality's required contribution which is determined from a combination of property value and income information. The Chapter 70 aid more or less follows the resulting difference. While growth in Lexington's student enrollment is undoubtedly a factor in this year's significant proposed increase in Chapter 70 aid, it would be difficult to predict whether future enrollment growth will result in similar increases. • Factors that influence the Massachusetts School Building Association's (MSBA) partial reimbursement for construction costs of approved projects. This is relevant because the Town's estimate of the effective reimbursement rate which can be expected for the Hastings project was recently reduced from 30% to 25 %. It appears that the reimbursement calculation for all recent MSBA projects starts at a base of 31% of reimbursable costs. Additional percentage points may be allocated based on both municipality and project characteristics. The 25% estimate of our effective reimbursement rate undoubtedly factors in an estimate of our likely actual costs versus reimbursable costs and the likelihood of earning additional percentage points. Mr. Bartenstein reported that the Town Manager is recommending a reduction in the 2017 Special Town Meeting (STM) request for Article 4: Appropriate Design Funds for Lexington Children's Place (LCP) /20 Pelham Road, from $771,250 to approximately $581,000. The $581,000 is needed for the LCP design, as described in the warrant article. The $190,250 difference is needed for design of the renovation work to be performed on the parts of the building to be used by the Lexington Community Center. It is anticipated that those funds would come from past and future articles that fund Public Facilities Bid Documents (Article 16(e) in the 2017 ATM Warrant). 2. Minutes Approval of the February 15 Minutes was deferred.