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12/14/2023 AC Minutes 1 Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee (AC) December 14, 2023 Place and Time: Remote participation via a Zoom teleconferencing session that was open to the public; 7:30 p.m.–9:30 p.m. Members Present: Glenn Parker, Chair; Sanjay Padaki, Vice-Chair; Alan Levine, Secretary; John Bartenstein; Eric Michelson; Sean Osborne; Carolyn Kosnoff, Assistant Town Manager, Fi- nance (non-voting, ex officio) Members Absent: Anil Ahuja; Lily Manhua Yan Other Attendees: David Kanter, Capital Expenditures Committee; Deepika Sawhney, School Com- mittee At 7:37 p.m. Mr. Parker called the meeting to order and took attendance by roll call. Ms. Kosnoff was not present at that time but joined later during the meeting. All votes recorded below were conducted by roll call. Announcements and Liaison Reports No one offered any announcements or liaison reports. Review of Draft Warrant Articles for 2024 Annual Town Meeting Mr. Parker walked through the draft list of articles for the 2024 ATM and asked for volunteers to work on portions of the Committee’s report. The resulting assignments were captured on a spread- sheet. There was discussion about whether proposed changes to the Town’s noise bylaw would require a recommendation from the Committee. The article is listed under “General Articles”, and apparently has no explicit funding request. Implementing the proposed changes, including stronger enforce- ment, might require additional staffing, which would ultimately be reflected in the operating budget. Mr. Parker stated that the Committee should limit its recommendations to financial impacts and avoid critiquing policy decisions. For example, a bylaw change that does not have additional fund- ing for enforcement may be perceived as a dubious policy, but its financial impact is limited. Mr. Michelson agreed to look into the article entitled “Authorization for Affordable Housing Trust to seek affordable housing development on a town-owned parcel”, and whether the Committee should report on it. Mr. Parker suggested that the Committee might want to comment on zoning changes related to short-term rentals. Approve Minutes of Prior Meetings Minutes from the Committee meeting on November 30 were approved by a vote of 6-0. Discussion of the FY2025 Budget Mr. Bartenstein stated his concern about the proposed appropriation of $3.2 million to the Afforda- ble Housing Trust (AHT), and whether this was creating an imbalance in the use of CPA funds in the Town. The AHT received $1.5 million in CPA funds at the spring 2023 ATM.