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01/18/2018 AC Minutes Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee (AC) January 18, 2018 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-Bann; Lily Manhua Yan; Jian Helen Yang Members)Absent: None Other Attendees: David Kanter, Vice-Chair and Clerk, Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC); Bob Pressman, Community Preservation Committee (CPC) The meeting was called to order at 7:32 p.m. Mr. Levine offered the Committee's condolences to Mr. Bartenstein upon the recent loss of his father. 1. Announcements and Liaison Reports Mr. Bartenstein reported the following: • The next Budget Summit is on the evening of January 24, 2018. • Hard copies of the FY2017 Town Manager's Preliminary Budget&Financing Plan (White Book)will be available next week for those who requested them. It will also be available electronically. • A new town accountant has been hired for the Finance Department. • The Finance Department is preparing to issue bonds in February. Interest rates have increased from about 3.05% to 3.25% over the past year. Mr. Bartenstem noted that the following issues might be included on future meeting agendas: • Mark Andersen, Town Meeting member, has prepared a citizen's article for the 2018 Annual Town Meeting (ATM)requesting that warrant articles contain data describing the financial assumptions and impacts of projects. This article would be presented to Town Meeting as a resolution, although a motion has not yet been drafted. Mr. Andersen would like comments from the finance committees but was unavailable to make a presentation this evening. Mr. Kanter noted that, in preparation for writing its report to the ATM on capital articles, the CEC reviews the financial information that is included with the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) funding requests prepared by staff. • Patrick Mehr,resident and former Town Meeting member, has requested that this Committee address a proposal, described on his website, that allegedly could reduce the School Department budget by as much as $2.0 million by consolidating classrooms. It was agreed that members of this Committee would review the relevant material on Mr. Mehr's website, as well as from other sources including the School Committee, and decide at a future meeting whether and how to address the issue. Mr. Neumeier agreed to forward to Committee members an email that he had received from Mr. Mehr on this topic. I