2008-01-31-AC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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January 31, 2008 Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee January 31, 2008 Place and time: Town Office Building, Room G-15, 7:30 PM Members present: Alan Levine (Chair), John Bartenstein (Secretary), Deborah Brown, Richard Eurich, Pam Hoffman, Michael Kennealy, Susan McLeish, Eric Michelson, Rob Addelson (ex officio, non-voting) The meeting was called to order at 7:40 PM. PEG Access Revolving Fund – Request for Increase in Authorized 1. Expenditure. Rob Addelson made a presentation to the Committee concerning a request to increase the spending authorization for the Public, Educational and Government (PEG) Access Revolving Fund by an additional $400,000 over the original $400,000 spending limit set at the 2007 Annual Town Meeting. The additional funds would be used to support a grant by the Town to LexMedia for the build-out of the space in Kline Hall that has been made available at Avalon at Lexington (the former Metropolitan State Hospital property) to be used for LexMedia’s PEG Access cable television operations. Under G.L. c. 44, § 53E1/2, interim increases in the spending limit for revolving funds may be authorized by joint action of the Board of Selectmen and the Town finance committee, subject to certain limits. The Board of Selectmen had previously approved the increase at their meeting earlier in the week. Rob reviewed with the Committee the Grant Agreement for the build-out and a statement of projected cash flows and answered questions. After discussion, the Committee voted unanimously to approve the requested increase in spending authorization. Report on Meeting with CPC. 2. Deborah Brown reported on a meeting that she and Al Levine had attended earlier in the day with the Community Preservation Committee (CPC) to discuss the issues raised in the Committee’s January 16, 2008 memo to the CPC concerning the use of CPC historical preservation funds to support capital projects for town-owned buildings. The meeting was productive, but it is clear that there are differences of opinion among the CPC members. The Committee will continue to monitor this issue. Minuteman Regional High School Budget Analysis. 3. Eric Michelson circulated and discussed with the Committee an analysis he had prepared of the reasons for recent increases in Lexington’s assessment for Minuteman Regional High School. Discussion of FY2009 Budget. 4. The Committee engaged in an extended discussion of measures that have been proposed by the School Department to close the FY2009 budget gap and, in particular, the pro’s and con’s of using various sources of arguably non-recurring revenues to help bridge that gap. Al Levine reviewed certain factual developments that had occurred since the Budget Summit the previous Monday evening, in particular a decision by the Board of Directors of the LABBB Collaborative - 1 -