2011-10-27-AC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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October 27, 2011 Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee Meeting October 27, 2011 Time and Location: Ellen Stone Room, Cary Hall, 7:30 p.m. Members Present: Glenn Parker, Chair; John Bartenstein, Vice Chair and Secretary; Joe Pato, Vice Chair; Robert Cohen; Mollie Garberg; Alan Levine; Eric Michelson; Richard Neumeier; Jonina Schonfeld; Rob Addelson (non- voting, ex officio) Others in Attendance: Theo Kalivas, Budget Officer; Andrew Friedlich; Patrick Mehr The meeting was called to order at 7:38 p.m. Alan Levine agreed to take minutes. 1. Minutes The minutes of the April 20, 2011, and September 7, 2011, meetings were approved by votes of 7 -0 -1. Ms. Schonfeld abstained as she was not a member at the time of these meetings. The minutes of the October 6, 2011 meeting were approved by a vote of 8 -0 -0. There was discussion of protocol regarding members not present. The majority expressed a preference that they should be listed in a consistent format. 2. Report to the Special Town Meeting (STM) Members reported that drafts of article reports are in progress. One of these, i.e., a draft for Article 7, was circulated by Eric Michelson prior to the meeting. Rob Addelson reported on the status of preparation for the STM being done by staff. He distributed sets of material containing information about Articles 2, 4, and 5. He first reviewed the actions to be proposed under Article 4 and went over the table "FY2012 Operating and Capital Budget Adjustments" that he had distributed. He called out changes to this plan made since it was last presented to this Committee: 1) The Reserve Fund is to be increased by $350,000. 2) $10,000 was added to item 8, Fire Dept. communication system work, for contingency of the total cost. 3) $7,800 now appears as the number for item 13 "Community Development — Salaries" 4) $50,000 now appears as the amount for item 17 "Finance- Expenses ". These funds would supplement the legal budget for the Assessing Dept. to allow the Town to be represented at Appellate Tax Board hearings of abatement cases that were filed over recent years going back to 2004. Many of these cases involve large commercial properties and correspondingly large tax payments.