2017-09-14-AC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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09/14/2017 AC Minutes will not go forward as initially presented and must be abandoned, deferred or restructured and re-presented to the voters in a different form. In the case of the Hastings project, concern has been expressed that the prompt completion of this project is too important to be placed at risk in this fashion because the space needs of the schools are urgent and a vote by taxpayers not to support the project could result in the loss of the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) commitment to contribute $17 million towards the project. A second option, also theoretically possible operating budget at practical risk instead of the project itself. If a Town Meeting appropriation for a capital project is not made contingent on the successful passage of a debt exclusion referendum vote, then even if the referendum is unsuccessful the Town could still proceed to incur the bond indebtedness necessary to proceed with the project but would have to finance the resulting debt service within the levy. In the case of the Ha million after an MSBA contribution of approximately $17 million, this would mean that the Town would have to absorb annual principal and interest payments of approximately $3.5-4.0 million within the levy, placing at risk other items in the operating budget of an equivalent amount. To date, there has been no explicit planning as to what specific items in the annual operating budget might be placed at risk if the Hastings appropriation is made non-contingent and a referendum vote fails. Mr. Padaki noted that a third option which is theoretically possible would be not to include the Hastings project on a debt exclusion referendum ballot at all, but simply to plan to absorb the necessary debt service within the levy even if that might trigger the need, sooner or later, for an operating override. After , including which would allow transmission of the clearest message to voters of the stakes at issue in a debt exclusion referendum, the Committee was not prepared to vote a final position. However, on a straw poll vote, the Committee authorized the Chair to convey to the Board of Selectmen its current inclination to support the first option making the Special Town Meeting vote appropriation for the Hastings project contingent on taxpayer approval of a debt exclusion referendum by a vote of 6-2. One dissenting member preferred to make the STM vote on Hastings non-contingent, and the other preferred to remove the Hastings project from the debt exclusion referendum altogether and absorb the necessary debt service costs within the operating budget. With respect to the fire station project discussion at the Capital Summit, Mr. Padaki raised a concern about the life cycle cost projections that were presented to determine projected savings for some of the proposed add-ons. It was agreed that Jon Himmel, Chair, Permanent Building Committee, should be contacted for additional information. 4. Planning for Report to Fall 2017 STM-2 and STM-3 Assignments for writing the sections of the reports were reviewed. It is expected that STM-3 Article 13: Authorize for Authorized Capital Improvements (Center Streetscape) will be indefinitely postponed. Ms. Kosnoff reported that she is preparing taxpayer impact information for the debt exclusion projects. 3