2008-02-21-AC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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February 21, 2008 Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee February 21 2008 Place and time: Town Office Building, Room G-15, 7:30 PM Members present: Alan Levine (Chair), John Bartenstein (Secretary), Richard Eurich, Susan McLeish, Eric Michelson. Also present: Michael Young, Budget Officer. The meeting was called to order at 7:35 PM. Minutes. 1. Minutes of meetings held on December 5, 2007 (discussion of the Burlington Plan), January 28, 2008 (Budget Summit 4), January 31, 2008, February 6, 2008 and February 13, 2008 (Budget Summit 5 and meeting before and after) were approved. Meetings. 2. Alan advised that the Committee will definitely meet on February 28 (initially scheduled as tentative) to discuss the full-day kindergarten proposal and that Tom Diaz and Tom Griffiths will be present for that meeting. Alan will assess the need for the meeting scheduled for Tuesday, February 26 and will communicate if it is to be cancelled. Discussion of Warrant, Budget and Report. 3. The Committee discussed at some length key points to be covered in write-ups of warrant articles for its report to the 2008 Annual Town Meeting and available sources of information. Michael Young advised that, weather permitting, the “Brown Book” containing the final version of the proposed FY2009 budget should be delivered to the printer by the end of the day on Friday, February 22, and that he expects it to be available on-line by that evening. Printed copies of the report should be ready by Friday, February 29 and will be distributed at the first TMMA Information Meeting. Michael indicated that the Brown Book will include more in terms of historical information this year to facilitate its use as a reference in the future. He does not expect that there will be a Liberty Ride report this year in view of the stabilization of that operation’s finances. Michael advised that the MWRA has now promulgated its preliminary water and sewer assessments for FY2009, and those assessments will be included in the Brown Book. He indicated in response to questioning that the water and sewer billing system now seems to be working well and that the water usage estimates have gotten much better in the past couple of years. Michael offered a number of observations, in anticipation of his imminent departure, on the generally strong financial position of the Town of Lexington and commended the Committee for its support of measures to strengthen reserves, which should significantly help the Town to weather a possible financial downturn in the future. Committee - 1 -