2007-07-26-AC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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July 26, 2007 Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee July 26, 2007 Place and time: Town Hall, Room G-15, 7:30 p.m. Members present: Alan Levine (Chair), John Bartenstein (Secretary), Deborah Brown, Richard Eurich, Pam Hoffman, Susan McLeish, Rob Addelson (ex officio, non-voting) Also present: Carl Valente (Town Manager); Jeanne Krieger (Board of Selectmen); and members of the Economic Development Task Force of the Lexington 2020 Vision Committee, including Molly Garberg and Greg Zurlo, co-chairs, Narain Bhatia, Richard Canale, Arthur Katz, Mary Ann McCall-Taylor, Adam Sacks and Susan Yanofsky (Economic Development Officer) Meeting with Economic Development Task Force 1. . Following some preliminary discussion, the Committee met at 8:00 p.m. with members of the Lexington 2020 Vision Committee’s Economic Development Task Force to hear the views of that group on the request by Shire Pharmaceuticals that the Town of Lexington enter into a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) agreement in connection with Shire’s potential construction of two new biotechnology laboratory and manufacturing facilities at the Patriot Partners property (former Raytheon site) and whether the Town should consider entering into negotiations for such a TIF. Members of the Task Force made a presentation on the history of the discussions and provided their assessment of the risks and potential benefits of the proposed TIF. The Task Force, Town Manager Carl Valente, and Assistant Town Manager for Finance Rob Addelson then fielded numerous questions from the Committee. Although some members of the Task Force indicated that they were not enthusiastic in general about the concept of offering tax concessions to induce economic development, and there was a consensus that it would be premature to attempt at this point to establish general guidelines, all agreed that the Shire proposal presented a unique opportunity that merited further exploration. At the conclusion of this presentation, and following further debate, the Committee voted, by a vote of 6-0, to inform the Board of Selectmen that: “the Committee recommends that the Town tell Shire that the Town is willing to enter into negotiations with Shire for a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) agreement.” 2. Miscellaneous. The Committee then discussed various housekeeping issues, including the schedule for meetings in the fall. Pam Hoffman volunteered to serve as the Committee’s liaison to a new committee that has been created by the Board of Selectmen to consider budget scheduling issues and the timing of future overrides, and Susan McLeish expressed an interest in attending these meetings as well. Deborah Brown expressed an interest in attending meetings of the Capital Expenditures Committee, to which David Kanter had previously served as liaison. Al Levine, John Bartenstein and Susan McLeish will try to cover meetings of the Board of Selectmen. - 1 -