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03/22/2017 AC Minutes Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee (AC) March 22, 2017 Place and Time: Ellen Stone Room, Cary Memorial Building, 6:30 p.m. Members Present: John Bartenstein, Chair; Alan Levine, Vice -Chair & Secretary; Ellen Basch; Eric Michelson; Andrei Radulescu-Banu; Sanjay Padaki; Lily Manhua Yan; Carolyn Kosnoff, Assistant Town Manager, Finance (non-voting, ex officio) Member(s) Absent: Richard Neumeier; Jian Helen Yang Other Attendees: None The meeting was called to order at 6:40 pm. 1. Announcements Mr. Bartenstein reported the following: • He had delivered a brief report to the Board of Selectmen (BoS) earlier that evening regarding this Committee's position on Article 30: Adjust Retirement Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) Base for Retirees. The BoS plans to take a position on this Article on Monday evening, March 27. • It is anticipated that Article 10(k): Appropriate for the FY2018 Community Preservation Committee Operating Budget and CPA Project: Community Center Sidewalk will be indefinitely postponed because the planned location for that sidewalk has changed and further engineering work needs to be done. • Mr. Valente plans to provide some additional information regarding Article 10(h): Appropriate for the FY2018 Community Preservation Committee Operating Budget and CPA Project: Stone Building Feasibility Study. Mr. Valente wants to clarify that conceptual plans already exist and the requested funds would be used to support outreach and marketing to determine demand for use of the facility. • Two minor errors were found in this Committee's report to the 2017 Annual Town Meeting. It was determined that there was no need to file an erratum. 2. Financially Related Warrant Articles for 2017 Annual Town Meeting (ATM) It was noted that the Planning Board has five Articles which this Committee left as "pending" in its written report. Because some of them are expected to have financial implications, this Committee will be reviewing the Planning Board's report and discussing them in the near future. Ms. Kosnoff reported that the Department of Revenue had rejected a request by the Town of Lexington to use excluded debt for funding $477,000 of a previous supplemental appropriation for the elementary school modular buildings; the funds will now need to come from the tax levy. The Town's policy is to try to limit increases to within -levy debt service to no more than 5% per year. Ms. Kosnoff reported that the FY17 Recommended Budget and Financing Plan (aka: The Brown Book) is being updated with an erratum including a number of small changes, primarily related to funding sources. 1