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03/02/2023 AC Minutes 1 Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee (AC) March 2, 2023 Place and Time: Remote Participation: in accordance with An Act Relative to Extending Certain State of Emergency Accommodations, signed into law by Gov. Baker on July 16, 2022, communica- tion took place via a Zoom teleconferencing session that was open to the public; 7:30 p.m. Members Present: Glenn Parker, Chair; Anil Ahuja; John Bartenstein; Alan Levine, Secretary; Eric Michelson; Sean Osborne; Lily Manhua Yan; Carolyn Kosnoff, Assistant Town Manager, Fi- nance (non-voting, ex officio) Members Absent: Sanjay Padaki, Vice-Chair; Other Attendees: Nikki Andrade, Assistant Business Manager, Minuteman High School (MHS); Judy Crocker, Lexington representative to Minuteman School Committee; Dr. Kathleen A. Dawson, MHS Superintendent Director; David Coelho, Lexington Public Schools (LPS) Assistant Superin- tendent for Finance and Operations; Dr. Julie Hackett, LPS Superintendent; David Kanter, Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC); Deepika Sawhney, Lexington School Committee At 7:35 p.m. Mr. Parker called the meeting to order and confirmed attendance by roll call. Mr. Levine agreed to take minutes and recorded the meeting for the purpose of generating minutes. Mr. Parker also recorded the meeting for the purpose of editing the minutes. Announcements and Liaison Reports Mr. Michelson reported that a follow-up to his research on Article 10(p), which includes installing solar panels at two LexHAB properties, he had received information on who pays the electric bills and who is credited for the value of solar power in regard to LexHAB affordable housing. The resi- dents at LexHAB’s units at 34 Lowell St., which currently has solar panels, do not pay the electric bills. LexHAB has found that the solar panels on the two buildings do not generate sufficient power. A plan to add solar panels is part of their request. The tenants in the LexHAB single-family home at 454 Marrett Rd. pay the electric bill and their bill will be reduced by the value of the solar power generated by the panels which would be installed.. Minuteman High School Budget Dr. Dawson gave a slide presentation on the MHS budget. A similar presentation with the same set of slides may be found on the web pages for the 2023 Annual Town Meeting. She first reviewed MHS’s goals, and then delved into the budget. The overall budget for FY2024 is $30,316,325, which 4.5% higher than the FY2023 budget. Ms. Dawson outlined special objectives of the budget. Of particular note is the fact that the enrollment from the member towns is increasing to such an ex- tent that there are no new spaces for students from non-member towns so tuition and capital fee rev- enue from non-member towns is decreasing. Additionally, enrollment continues to exceed building capacity so MHS is looking for ways to expand the capacity of their facilities without issuing any new debt, especially by making use of a building on the east part of the campus that was formerly used for day care, and by working on a metal shop building. The school is proceeding with the de- velopment of its athletic facilities complex, and expects to receive rental revenue from both the ath- letic and its other building facilities within a few years. MHS expects to close out the MSBA- supported project by August, 2023.