2021-01-28-AC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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01/28/2021 AC Minutes the Pension Fund is fully funded, it will be easier to address the funding of future OPEB liabilities, but it is not clear when the Pension Fund will be fully funded. Ms. Kosnoff reported that Mr. Sherman's contract to serve as actuary for the Town's Pension Fund had expired on December 31, 2020. The Town has interviewed two firms to assume those responsibilities. Mr. Sherman's contract to handle the OPEB recommendations expires at the end of calendar year 2021. Mr. Sherman may be interested in extending his OPEB role. Ms. Kosnoff reported that Governor Charlie Baker has released a draft budget, which includes more State aid (including Chapter 70 and General Aid and Veterans allocations) for Lexington than anticipated. Using a comparison of potential changes between the FY2022 Town Manager's Preliminary Budget& Financing Plan (White Book) and the FY2022 Recommended Budget and Financing Plan (Brown Book), she demonstrated how the budget would be adjusted to reflect this change. She noted that, at present, staff will recommend that the additional aid be used to reduce the use of the Stabilization Fund rather than the Special Education Stabilization Fund. This triggered discussion about the revenue allocation between the municipal and school budgets and the contingency options that are available should there be shortfalls in the budget during FY2022 because of"unknowns". Ms. Kosnoff also reported on some minor adjustments to the budget, plus she noted that in the last fiscal year the revenue in the Water and Wastewater Enterprise Funds was higher than projected. Thus, cash capital may be used for the water tank design capital project rather than debt financing. Planning for Committee Report to Annual Town Meeting 2021 Mr. Parker agreed to contact each member to discuss preferred assignments for this Committee's report. Using the Report Planner, Mr. Parker led a discussion to determine this Committee's support for a Consent Agenda that included those articles previously identified by the Select Board for inclusion. The Report Planner was updated during the meeting with a"Y" (or"Y if indefinitely postponed (IP'd)")if there was no objection to the article being included on the Consent Agenda by a member of this Committee. For information purposes, a"CEC" was added for those supported by the CEC but not by the Select Board (SB). Discussion included the following: • Article 6: Appropriate for Senior Services Program: There is an effort to get additional participation in this program. • Article 13: Water System Improvements: (b)Water tank replacement: This article covers design work only. The construction phase of the project is expected to cost roughly $6 million. • Article 24: Appropriate for High School Feasibility Study: It was noted that if the Massachusetts School Building Authority determines that Lexington's high school will not be included in its accepted list of projects this year, this article will be IP'd. Ms. Jay reported that she does not expect the Town will be informed by the MSBA before the ATM. • Article 25: Amend Borrowing Authorization Conservation Land Acquisition: Mr. Kanter explained that although the SB supported including this on the Consent Agenda, the CEC did not do so because of comments by Ms. Kosnoff, who had indicated that there would be value in letting Town Meeting members know about the proposed change in the way the purchase of the land behind 39 Highland Avenue will be funded. Ms. Kosnoff reported that 2