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2/15/2024 AC Minutes 2 Regarding Article 23 Appropriate Opioid Settlement, Ms. Kosnoff stated that this was not included on the Consent Agenda because this was the last time town meeting would see it, after granting per- mission to deposit opioid settlement funds without appropriation. The Committee voted 7-0 to recommend approval of all articles on the proposed consent agenda, and to submit those articles as the Consent Agenda for the 2024 Annual Town Meeting. Review and Vote on Warrant Articles for 2024 Annual Town Meeting Mr. Parker asked the Committee to follow a similar procedure for voting on the warrant articles, by holding a single roll-call vote after collecting tentative votes on a group of articles. Votes were tal- lied using an online spreadsheet that was displayed during the voting. A snapshot of the voting re- sults is included with these minutes. In summary, all articles voted on received unanimous support from members present, except for Article 12(i) Cemetery Columbarium – Design which had two ab- stentions. Highlights from the discussion of the articles follows. Mr. Levine asked if issues with the number of new employees hired by the School Department dur- ing the current year had been resolved. The Lexington Public Schools operating budget provides for a certain number of full-time equivalent staff members (FTEs) inclusive of new positions, but in the current and past two fiscal years the actual numbers of FTEs on staff have exceeded the numbers projected in the School budgets. While the increase in the total amount for employee benefits that comes with increased headcounts in the School budget is taken into account in the Revenue Alloca- tion model and managed, for appropriation and post-appropriation purposes, under Shared Ex- penses, it does not appear that any adjustments have been made, up or down, when the actual head- counts did not follow the budget projections. Ms. Kosnoff replied that she has not fully addressed this with Mr. Coelho, in particular for prior years, and she is concerned that the Town is not properly accounting for employee benefits when the number of School employees differs from the budgeted number. The situation is difficult to rec- oncile, because actual benefit expenses are not escalating in line with the growth of the headcount, and this may be related to the number of benefits-eligible employees versus the total FTEs in the system. Ms. Kosnoff invited Mr. Levine to join her when she reviews this issue with Mr. Coelho. She noted that the benefits budget uses very conservative estimates to allow for potential changes in the total number of employees receiving benefits, and this usually results in a fair amount of free cash at the end of the year, but without a proper accounting the budget could indeed fail to handle the actual demand for benefits. Mr. Michelson noted that the assessment for the Minuteman Regional High School declined by al- most $100,000 from the prior year. This is a one-time anomaly resulting from additional state aid and better budgeting for energy and certain other costs. The assessment is expected to grow at a rate more typical of past years in the future. Mr. Bartenstein asked about the amount requested for the Reserve Fund for FY2025. Ms. Kosnoff replied that the request would increase the amount to $850,000. She would rather set it even higher at $1 million, but the proposed amount is in line with the Town’s budget priorities this year. She continued that the Town should start adding funds to the general Stabilization Fund as well, which has begun to fall behind the target which is compared to the size of the operating budget, but this might have to wait until the high school project comes online. Mr. Bartenstein and Ms. Kosnoff discussed whether the appropriation requests for the Water and Wastewater Enterprise Funds under Article 5 at the upcoming town meeting should be adjusted to be in accord with MWRA assessment preliminary estimates. In any case, the budgets of these