2013-10-BOS-min - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

Summit Meeting 1 Board of Selectmen, School Committee, Appropriation Committee and Capital Expenditures Committee October 3, 2013 A Summit was held on Thursday, October 3, 2013, at 7:00 p.m. in the Public Services Building Cafeteria, 201 Bedford Street. Ms. Mauger, chair, Mr. Kelley, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Pato; Mr. Valente, Town Manager; Mr. Addelson, Assistant Town Manager for Finance, Mr. Kalivas, Budget Officer and Ms. Chabot, Assistant to the Executive Clerk, were present. Also Present: All School Committee (SC) members with the exception of Ms. Brodner; Dr. Ash, Superintendent of Schools; Ms. Dunn, Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Business; all members of the Appropriation Committee (AC) with the exception of Mr. Bartenstein and Mr. Neumeier; all members of the Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC). FY2015 Budget/Financial Discussion Overview – Lexington’s Financial Condition Summit participants were provided with an evaluation of the fiscal health of the Town of Lexington for FY 2000 - 2013, presented through a series of financial indicators and, where appropriate, comparative benchmarks. Overall, Mr. Valente reported that Lexington’s financial condition is generally sound. In particular, Lexington has positive revenue growth, stable labor costs as a percentage of total operating costs, adequate pension funding, low debt service, and adequate reserves. Lexington’s financial condition is satisfactory in the areas of expenditure growth and revenues related to economic growth. Lexington’s financial condition is unsatisfactory in the areas of state aid and employee liabilities (with the exception of pension funding). While data on federal grants was not provided, there is still ongoing uncertainty regarding unresolved federal budget issues. Nevertheless, the data in the report suggests that the Town’s financial condition is strong and the Town is expected to maintain its Aaa credit rating. Mr. Valente noted that the indicator analysis could be most useful when multiple indicators were considered together. He discussed a group of favorable financial indicators and made the point that revenues are growing faster than expenditures. The additional revenue has mainly gone to Lexington’s capital programs and in the Town’s reserves. Mr. Valente next looked at indicators related to employee benefits and pension liability and noted that Lexington’s Health Insurance spending as a percentage of employee wages has dropped almost three percent (from 26.9% in FY2012 to 24.4% in FY2013) since last year, largely as a result of savings that the Town was able to realize due to its joining the Commonwealth’s Group Insurance Commission (GIC). Finally, Mr. Valente looked at indicators related to debt and debt service. Since FY2004 the amount of debt per capita and per household has remained relatively steady per household. Debt levels were set to spike slightly with the approval of Debt Exclusion for the Bridge/Bowman and Estabrook school projects, but the effect has been reduced with the $400,000 of debt service