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09/30/2020 AC Minutes Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee (AC) September 30, 2020 Place and Time: Remote Participation: in accordance with the Governor's March 12, 2020 Order Suspending Certain Provisions of the Open Meeting Law; communication took place via a Zoom teleconferencing session that was open to the public; 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: None Other Attendees: David Kanter, Vice-Chair and Clerk, Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC); Eileen Jay, School Committee; Ryan, LexMedia representative Mr. Parker confirmed attendance by roll call, reviewed the authorization for meeting remotely, noted that the meeting was being called to order at 7:33 p.m. on September 30, 2020, and stated that the meeting was being recorded for access on LexMedia. He also noted that materials for the meeting were available on-line. Announcements and Liaison Reports Mr. Parker reported that he would be attending CEC meetings as the AC liaison. Recommended Adjustments to the FY2021 Budget Ms. Kosnoff reported that the State Department of Revenue had unofficially indicated that their recommended base percentage to be used in calculating the State's distribution under the Community Preservation Act(CPA) is likely to be increased from 17.7%to 22-25%. Thus, she plans to recommend to the Community Preservation Committee at their meeting tomorrow that no amendment to the Town's 2021 CPA Budget, which assumed 27% and was approved at the 2020 Annual Town Meeting, is currently needed. If necessary, the CPA budget could be adjusted at the 2021 Annual Town Meeting, although that is not expected because there is a cushion included in the approved budget, since the projection for the local 3% CPA surcharge used a conservative figure for new growth of the tax base. Articles and Report Planning for the STMs 2020-2 and -3 After identifying the articles for which votes had already been taken, Mr. Parker led a discussion on those for which votes were still needed, as follows: • Special Town Meeting (STM) 2020-2: Article 6: Authorize Special Legislation- Development Surcharge for Community Housing: Ms. Yan reported having discussed this article with Matt Daggett, the primary proponent for the article. According to Mr. Daggett: ➢ This article is directing the Select Board(SB)to submit a Home Rule Petition to the Massachusetts General Court that would allow Lexington to develop a surcharge to be paid if a new owner of a house tears it down and then resells it. ➢ The surcharge is abated at 20%per year as long as the house is not sold, so that after five years the owner is not responsible for paying the surcharge. ➢ Boston has such a surcharge, and much of the language in the proposal for Lexington comes from Boston's regulation. 1