2018-06-27-CEC-ATM-rpt (Combined Report with Updates & Errata)

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CAPITAL EXPENDITURES COMMITTEE REPORT TO 2018 ATM (incorporating Updates&Errata) Town Clerk's Office This Office is the primary repository of official documents for the Town, and the custodian of, and recording office for, official Town and vital records. Responsibilities include: issuing marriage licenses, recording vital statistics, issuing dog licenses, registering businesses, conducting the annual Town Census and publishing the results, maintaining the Town Archives, managing the Public Meeting Calendar in accordance with the Open Meeting Law, overseeing ethics training, and creating and recording permanent Town Meetings records. This Office conducts elections in conformance with State and local laws and, with the Board of Registrars,processes voter registrations and certifications. For FY 2019 request see Article 10(c). Town Clerk's Office 5-Year Capital Appropriation History(All Sources) Program FY2014 FY2015 FY2016 FY2017 FY2018 Archives& Records $20,000 Management/Conservation Election System $81,000 Totals $20,000 $0 $0 $81,000 $0 Affordable Housing To provide for the needs of its residents and to meet State law, the Town must plan and budget to create units of affordable housing. Massachusetts General Law Chapter 40B, passed in 1969, is the State statute that requires each municipality in the Commonwealth to have 10% of its housing "affordable" as defined by the statute and its regulations. An affordable unit is defined as one that could be purchased or rented by a household receiving income of up to 80% of the Area Median Income (AMI), assuming that the household spends no more than 30% of that income on housing. AMI for different regions of the country are adjusted annually by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and vary according to household size. The current AMI for Middlesex County for a family of four is $98,100. To be maintained as affordable, a unit must be subject to a long-term, preferably perpetual, deed restriction limiting its sale price to the affordable level as determined at the time of sale. To encourage more rental-unit creation,the statute also provides that if a rental-housing development deed-restricts 25% of its units, all of the rental units will count as part of the town's Subsidized Housing Inventory (SHI), even though 75% of them are actually priced at market rate. The Lexington Housing Partnership (LHP)is a nine-member board of Town residents appointed by the Board of Selectmen to 3-year teens. Its mission is to keep Lexington residents informed of the Town's housing needs and to plan and advocate for the preservation and creation of affordable housing units on an ongoing basis. The Lexington Housing Authority (LHA) was created in 1969 under Massachusetts General Law, Chapter 121B. Under the statute, municipal housing authorities manage State- and Federally-subsidized housing units and administer Federal housing vouchers to individuals and households who qualify. Four members of the LHA are elected, and a fifth is appointed by the Governor. As of May of this year, the LHA will own or manage 253 units, which include one-bedroom units for elderly or disabled residents at Countryside Village, Greeley Village, and Vynebrooke Village, as well as 18 two-to-four-bedroom units scattered throughout the Town. The LHA also administers 78 housing vouchers, which are used by households to pay private landlords. Depending on the size and type of housing unit, the LHA's wait time for eligible households varies from 1%2 to 8 years. LHA routinely applies for State and Federal contributions for maintenance and improvement of these housing units. However, State contributions are calculated according to a "facility condition index" (FCI) and distributed as a pro rata share of housing funds apportioned across the state, and these contributions are insufficient to meet annual needs. Use of Lexington's Community Preservation Act funds for those 34