2008-03-10-AC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

March 10, 2008 Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee March 10, 2008 Place and time: Town Office Building, Room 111, 7:30 PM Members present: Alan Levine (Chair), Deborah Brown (Vice Chair), John Bartenstein (Secretary), Richard Eurich, Susan McLeish, Eric Michelson, Mike Kennealy, Pam Hoffman, Rob Addelson (ex officio, non-voting). Also present: Patrick Mehr. The meeting was called to order at 7:42 PM. Liberty Ride Accounting. 1. Deborah Brown reported that she attended a . meeting with Rob Addelson and Dawn McKenna to discuss Liberty Ride Accounting The Liberty Ride is in great shape financially, the revenue covers the expenses of operation. There is an ongoing accounting issue in that it has been the understanding that any surpluses from operations would be allocated back to the program. Rob Addelson has proposed that a revolving fund be set up next year and the challenge is how to accomplish the initial funding. Currently, an appropriation is made annually so they have funds with which to operate before cash receipts come in. If it was set up as a revolving fund there would need to be an initial appropriation (to provide working capital) that would have to be paid back over time with any surplus generated (it is estimated that the initial funding requirement would be $20,000 - $30,000). In the short term, there is another issue, the fact that the Liberty Ride generated a surplus of $2,274 last year and that amount of free cash should have been allocated to the Liberty Ride but was overlooked. Several ways to address this were discussed including a mention of the amount in our report essentially acknowledging that the money is there and should be considered in the allocation of free cash next year as well as a resolution brought to Town Meeting so the funds are earmarked. Deborah, Rob and Dawn discussed appropriating the amount in the 2009 but there is a concern that this does not address the problem – the increase in the appropriation increases the Liberty Ride’s ability to spend and does not address the funding of a revolving fund. Another suggested way to address the situation is to appropriate $2,274 to the Liberty Ride budget at this year’s Annual Town Meeting, and to present the idea of a revolving fund at Town Meeting in 2009. If the $2,274 remains unspent at that time, it could be transferred into the revolving fund. It was agreed that Deborah would continue to have discussions with Rob and Dawn to determine the best solution. Vice-Chair Vacancy. 2. Alan mentioned that we continue to have a vacancy for the vice chair position and that we also need another member. Deborah Brown was nominated to serve as the vice chair until June 30. She accepted the nomination and the committee voted unanimously to accept the nomination. - 1 -