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02/20/2020 AC Minutes Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee (AC) February 20, 2020 Place and Time: Cary Memorial Building, Hudson Room, 7:30 p.m. Members Present: Glenn Parker, Chair; Sanjay Padaki, Vice-Chair; Alan Levine, Secretary; John Bartenstein; Eric Michelson; Meg Muckenhoupt; Lily Manhua Yan; Carolyn Kosnoff, Assistant Town Manager, Finance (non-voting, ex officio) Member(s)Absent: Nick Nichols Other Attendees: Marilyn Fenollosa, Chair, Community Preservation Committee (CPC) The meeting was called to order at 7:35 p.m. Announcements and Liaison Reports Ms. Kosnoff reported the following: • The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) has issued its preliminary assessments for FY2021. Water assessments are projected to increase 8.3% and wastewater/sewer assessments are projected to increase 5.0%, for a combined increase of 6.6%. In response to questions, she said that the Town of Bedford pays the Town of Lexington for MWRA water supplied through Lexington in the year that it is used. However, the MWRA assessments are based from actual water usage for the prior calendar year, and will fluctuate from year to year depending the Town's overall usage and our share of the overall MWRA system. Therefore, increases or decreases in water usage for a particular calendar year will have a delayed effect on the next year's MWRA assessment. • The FY2021 Recommended Budget and Financing Plan (Brown Book)will be available on- line tomorrow; hard copies one week later. The Annual Town Meeting (ATM) could begin taking positions on financial articles as early as March 23, 2020. Mr. Michelson reported the following: • Student applications for Minuteman Technical Vocational High School (Minuteman Tech) indicate that the September 2020 freshman class will be filled by in-district students. Students currently attending from out-of-district communities will be allowed to continue at Minuteman Tech, but out-of-district towns, including Lincoln and Belmont, will need to find an alternative for their freshmen students wanting to attend a technical high school. In response to questions, he said that Minuteman Tech is not operated as an institution specifically for special education. Rather, it serves both general and special education students, and a high number of the students have Individualized Education Programs (ISPs). There are no vocational/technical classes offered at Lexington High School. • Minuteman National Historical Park is challenging Minuteman Tech's construction of athletic fields for its new facility because of potential noise impacts. 2020 ATM Financial Articles and Report Planning Ms. Fenollosa reviewed Article 10: Appropriate the FY2021 Community Preservation Committee Operating Budget and Community Preservation Act Projects, noting that the CPC report that she had shared with this Committee was a draft. She then provided a review of the funding requests, as follows: 1