2020-07-08-AC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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07/08/2020 AC Minutes for this Committee; he asked that suggestions be submitted to her, noting that members must be registered voters. Final Adjustments to the FY2020 Budget Ms. Kosnoff reported that she was presenting six FY2020 year-end budget adjustments for AC approval/support to avoid end-of-year deficits, as follows: • Transfers from Salary Transfer Account: This account is used for retroactive payments, updated rates for base salaries and other personal service expenses that result from finalized contract negotiations.: ➢ $254,759.00 for the Fire Department ➢ $195,000.00 for the Police Department ➢ $10,000.00 for the Town Clerk's office Ms. Kosnoff added that there was $1,203,956 in the account, and with the above withdrawals, plus the withdrawal of funds for the recently approved Department of Public Works contract, there will be $483,558 remaining, some of which may go to free cash. • Transfers from the Reserve Fund: This is a fund that requires AC approval to use and both requests are related to Covid-19 expenses: ➢ $100,000.00 for Fire Department Overtime. This will ultimately be reimbursed from FEMA or the CARES Act. ➢ $95,850 for Police details at the Aloft Hotel where homeless people with Covid-19 received care. MEMA/FEMA reimbursements are expected. • End-of-Year Transfer between Departmental Line Items ➢ $211.00 from the Contributory Retirement account to the Non-Contributory Retirement account, necessary because of a clerical error during FY2020 budget development. Ms. Kosnoff answered questions and clarified information related to the FY2020 and FY2021 budgets. Her comments included the following: • Reimbursements will likely be treated as miscellaneous non-recurring revenue for the fiscal year in which the funds are received by the Town. • Staff in the Town Clerk's office accrued considerable overtime associated with the virtual 2020 Annual Town Meeting, which prevented this department from absorbing the $10,000 that is being requested from the Salary Transfer Account. • All municipal union contracts are currently settled. • There is value in keeping a balance in the Salary Transfer Account. • Lexington expects to get $2.9 million from the CARES Act to help cover pandemic related expenses and this can be used for costs associated with mail-in ballots. Town meeting does not need to approve expending CARES Act revenue; these are reimbursements. • FY2020 ended with a surplus, with revenues above projections and expenses below projections, but significant revenue shortfalls are anticipated in FY2021. The Recreation Department has been particularly affected; only the golf course is generating revenue. Other programs with lost revenue include the Liberty Ride, Lexpress, the Visitors' Center, hotel/motel and meal taxes, and parking funds. • FY2020 State aid is scheduled to be at the targeted amount. It is not known what will happen with State aid for FY2021. • The large commercial companies in Lexington have not been severely impacted financially by the pandemic, with the exception of the Boston Sports Club. Revenue losses by 2