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02/15/2017 AC Minutes Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee (AC) February 15, 2017 Place and time: Hudson Room, Cary Memorial Building, 7:30 p.m. Members present: John Bartenstein, Chair; Alan Levine, Vice -Chair & Secretary; Ellen Basch; Eric Michelson; Richard Neumeier; Sanjay Padaki; Andrei Radulescu -Banu; Lily Manhua Yan; Jian Helen Yang; Carolyn Kosnoff, Assistant Town Manager, Finance (non- voting, ex officio) Members Absent: None Other Attendees: Elaine Ashton, Town Meeting Member The meeting was called to order at 7:36 pm. 1. Announcements and Liaison Reports Mr. Bartenstein reported the following, based on information provided at the Board of Selectmen's (BoS) meeting on February 13: • The Minuteman Technical High School assessment is increasing substantially, primarily because of the reduction last year in the number of participating communities. Mr. Michelson is working to get additional information. • Estimates for the Massachusetts School Building Association's (MSBA) partial reimbursement for the Hastings Elementary School construction costs have been decreased from 30% to 25 %. This is mainly to account for the fact that the projected "actual" cost of construction for this project ( —$500 /sq.ft.) is higher than the MSBA's ceiling on reimbursable per square foot cost ($330 /sq.ft.). Four contributing factors why our costs exceed the ceiling were given: ➢ The reimbursement rate ceiling is based on statewide averages that are lower than construction costs in the Boston metropolitan area. ➢ The reimbursement rate ceiling is based on data that is lagging by approximately three years. ➢ The site preparation costs at Hastings will be higher than normal due to difficult site conditions (conservation land, topography, etc.). ➢ Because the MSBA funding is limited to 1% of the MA sales tax, and the MSBA wants to finance as many projects throughout the state as possible, it has a disincentive to raise reimbursement rates to more realistic levels. • The recently released "cherry sheet" estimates, which identify the amount of State aid that communities can anticipate receiving, indicate that Lexington will likely receive about $2 million more in Chapter 70 aid than originally estimated due to increased school enrollment; this will be footnoted in the Brown Book. • Regarding Annual Town Meeting (ATM) Article 19, Appropriate for Advice and Analysis — Getting To Net Zero, it is hoped that this year's requested funding of $40,000 will be sufficient to complete a final plan; however a third and final appropriation of $40,000 may be sought next year. • The BoS is working with the Planning Board to negotiate with Brookhaven at Lexington mitigation payments for the financial impacts associated with Brookhaven's re- zoning 1