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<br /> February 9, 2005 <br />Minutes <br />Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee <br />February 9, 2005 <br /> <br /> <br />Location: Cary Hall <br /> <br />Members present: Alan Levine (Chair), John Bartenstein, Deborah Brown, Rod Cole, <br />Richard Eurich, Paul Hamburger, David Kanter, Ron Pawliczek <br /> <br />This meeting was held as part of a Budget Collaboration Group Meeting with the Board <br />of Selectmen (BoS), School Committee (SC), and Capital Expenditures Committee <br />(CEC). Town staff and citizens were also present. <br /> <br />Materials distributed (from the Town Manager and BoS): <br />?? <br />Meeting agenda <br />?? <br />List of options for closing the budget gap (dated Feb. 7, 2005) <br />?? <br />Preliminary budget projections (dated February 7, 2005) <br /> <br />Dawn McKenna (Chair, BoS) called the general meeting to order at 6:09 PM, and AL <br />followed by calling the meeting of the Appropriation Committee to order. <br /> <br />Tom Griffiths (Chair, SC) thanked Acting School Superintendent Bill Hurley, Acting <br />Town Manager Linda Vine, and staffs for their efforts and accomplishments in preparing <br />the budget and gap-closing list. He also praised the collaborative efforts between the <br />Town Manager and School Superintendent. Tom raised questions about the wisdom of <br />the Tier III reductions. <br /> <br />Linda Vine noted that Acting Finance Director John Ryan did not raise objections to the <br />Tier I revenue-estimate increases. Bill Hurley stated that not all the revenue <br />enhancements are guaranteed to happen. <br /> <br />DB asked about the Special Education (SPED) Circuit Breaker reimbursements and how <br />much of those amounts used in the gap closing will likely be recurring revenue. The <br />answer, from Susan Bottan mostly, was that the SPED reimbursement rate is increasing <br />and it is expected to permanently yield $320K more per year. <br /> <br />RP noted that the CEC has stated that only $50K of $404K of School maintenance items <br />should be categorized as capital expenditures, and asked whether this was factored into <br />the budget. He was answered that this was not yet fully resolved. Olga Guttag (SC) said <br />that a consulting firm has been hired to review the items in the $404K request. <br /> <br />Peter Kelley (BoS) asked why the FY06 SPED Circuit Breaker reduction wasn't $350K <br />instead of $250K. <br /> <br /> - 1 - <br /> <br />