1993-11-BOS-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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Minutes for the Meeting of November S, 1993 OPM At 7:37 p.m., Chairman Dailey adjourned the meeting to Esta- brook Hall, Cary Memorial Hall for the next two items on the agenda. Mr. Busa rejoined the meeting. pop BUDGET DISCUSSION Mr. Dailey welcomed members of the Capital Expenditures, Appropriation and School Committees, School Superintendent Jeff Young and interested citizens. He noted that this is the second of several meetings for the Board and the Committees to discuss budget and other FY95 issues. He added that it appeared that the FY95 budget could be five million dollars higher than last year's budget, and listed the proposed reopening of Hastings School, rising health insurance costs, and rising school enrollments as major factors causing this increase. He said that School Committee Chairman John Gberteuffer and Dr. Young would talk about reopening Hastings School and rising enrollments, and Town Manager white would talk about rising health insurance costs, Mr. Gberteuffer reported that the School Committee has voted that in order to provide the best educational opportunities for the children of Lexington, Hastings School must reopen. Mr. Gberteuffer discussed cost saving programs supported or initiated by the School Committee with the municipal branch of Town Government, such as seeking Town -wide alternative health insurance options; joint purchasing of supplies; joint municipal /school use of maintenance personnel; and joint accounting systems. He added that the School Committee hoped that consensus could come from these discussions and a unified budget recommendation would be brought to the Town for the 1994 Annual Town Meeting, Mr. Gberteuffer asked the Selectmen to consider additional sources of revenue such as an override as the School Committee considers grants, fees, and other possible sources of revenue which might be generated by the schools, and added that the School Department needs to move ahead with its decision to re -open because school administrators face important deadlines both in regard to the opening of Hastings or the consideration of other alternatives. Dr. Young spoke of the necessity and desirability of re- opening Hastings as the important first step in maintaining the high educational level of Lexington schools; he discussed the impact of rising enrollment figures and class room sizes projected for the next five years, based, on whether Hastings School does or does not open next year; and what the Committee agrees is needed to maintain the high educational level of the Lexington Schools. He noted that as of today, there are 114 open spaces for children in the five elementary schools, and added that the use of modular classrooms and going to half day kindergarten sessions have been studied and rejected both on educational and financial grounds. Mr. Dailey asked Town Manager white to update the meeting on health insurance concerns. Before discussing health insurance, Mr. White announced that the State Department of Revenue was about to certify the Town's free cash at around 1.4 million, which was good news in terms of receiving a good bonding rate from Moodys on bor- rowing done by the Town, and added that the spending freeze insti- tuted last December helped the Town maintain its AAA bond rating.