2007-Annual Report - Laserfiche WebLink

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TOWN GOVERNMENT Board of Selectmen ELECTED by the voters at large to 3 -year terms: Chair Jeanne Expenditures Payroll Expenses FY07 FY06 $651952 $531176 $671435 $601871 Krieger, Peter Kelley, Norman Cohen, Hank Manz and George Burnell. Fiscal Lexington, like many communities across the Commonwealth, struggled in 2007 to maintain services and quality education within the confines of proposition 2%. Constrained revenue and increasing health care costs chal- lenged the will of the Board to adhere to fundamental fiscal policies: to keep our financial position strong by increasing reserves and contributing to the Stabilization Fund, to decrease Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) and indirect payments to the Water and Sewer Enterprise Funds and to maintain our infrastructure through continued investment in capital programs. By approving few new programs and cut- ting back in critical areas such as library expenses, fire sup- pression overtime and significant reduction of the police cadet program, the general government FY08 budget was balanced and the Board's commitment to investment in the future of Lexington sustained. The Schools did advance a contingent budget to the Annual Town Meeting and gained approval of a $3.9 million override question. Recognizing the tax burden continues to fall too much upon residential property owners, the Board sought new local rev- enue sources. We endorsed, to no avail, passage of the Municipal Partnership Act, a legislative initiative that would have increased local revenue through taxation of telecom- munication property and increased local meals and hotel taxes. The Board sought to create a stable, reliable, com- mercial tax base to reduce our dependence on the residential property base. The position of Economic Development Officer was restored and the 2020 Vision Economic Development Task Force (EDTF) was encour- aged to examine tradeoffs associated with vari- ous commercial development choices. Entering into a tax incentive financing agree- ment (TIF) with Shire Pharmaceuticals at Lexington Technology Park was a first step toward initiating added commercial investment. At an October 10 Special Town Meeting, approval was received to offer Shire a $5 million incentive for which the Town could receive an estimated $68 million of revenue over the next 20 years, $20 million more than would have been received if the Park were built out as office space as approved in the 2004 rezoning of the property. Shire's acceptance of this program is dependent upon the availability of additional incentives from pending legislation to encourage Life Sciences investment in the Commonwealth. An increase in commercial assessments allowed the Board to set a tax rate in December with a decreasing share of the tax burden shouldered by the residential property owner. As we close out the year, working on the FY09 budget proves no less a challenge than in previous years. In recog- nition of the hardship placed upon the staff by budget deci- sions late in the fiscal year, the Board has accepted a recom- mendation to begin the Annual Town Meeting in the third week of March and advance the debate on the budget to the beginning of the meeting. The budget drivers and investment policies are the same, but now we have added a commitment to begin funding of Other Post Employment Benefits (OPEB). Under new recommendations from The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB -45 ), the Town will be required to calculate and report this liability on its annual financial statements. The Town, through special legislation, has the ability to reserve and invest funds to begin to finance this liability and plans to appropriate $400,000 in Medicare D refunds for this purpose. Planning With an eye toward the future the Board adopted the rec- ommendations of the 2020 Sustainability Task Force and proposed Lexington develop and execute a Climate Action Plan; that Lexington join the "Cities for Climate Protection" program; that Lexington establish a "Sustainable Lexington" Committee to oversee the development and implementation of the Climate Action Plan (CAP), including education in the community. Work is proceeding on the ini- tial step of developing a carbon emissions inventory. The voters approved a $27.5 million debt exclusion for con- struction of a new DPW facility at 201 Bedford Street. This project may be the most studied and talked about building in Lexington history. Design work for a new facility started in 1990. The chosen design represents a lengthy process, continued on next page Erom left to right: Hank Manz, Peter Kelley, Jeanne Krieger, Carl Valente, Lynne Pease, Norman Cohen, George Burnell. Page 4 2007 Annual Report, Town of Lexington 0 0 0 Qa