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September 22, 2009 Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee September 22, 2009 Place and time: Town Hall, Room 111, 7:30 p.m. Members present: Alan Levine (Chair), John Bartenstein (Vice - Chair), Richard Eurich, Mollie Garberg, Pam Hoffman, Susan McLeish (Secretary), Eric Michelson, Glenn Parker, Rob Addelson (ex officio, non - voting) The meeting was called to order at 7:40 p.m. 1. Special Town Meeting. The Board of Selectmen has set a date for a fall special town meeting. It will begin Monday, 11/9/09 and carry over to Monday, 11/16/09 and Wednesday, 11/18/09 if necessary. The warrant for the special town meeting will close on Friday, 9/25/09 at 4:00 p.m. 2. Updated Free Cash Estimate. Rob Addelson reported to the Committee on the most recent estimate of free cash as of July 1, 2009 (the end of FY2009): just under $6.2 million. A final number will be certified by the Massachusetts Department of Revenue (DOR) sometime in October, in time for the upcoming special town meeting. However, the current estimate should be close to the final number. Rob reviewed with the Committee a handout analyzing the sources and amounts of the free cash estimate. Approximately $3.1 million is attributable to turn -backs (amounts appropriated for various line items in the general fund budget but not spent); $1.7 million to the closeout of prior years' purchase orders from FY2006, FY2007 and FY2008; and $1.7 million to additional revenue that was not originally included in the FY2009 budget. Set off against these items, which total approximately $6.5 million, is a $300,000 reserve required by the DOR for accounts outside of the general fund. In response to questions by the Committee, Rob provided further detail and emphasized that many components of this year's estimated free cash can fairly be characterized as non - recurring. In particular, in the turn -back category, $835,000 resulting from the overestimate of health benefit costs in the FY2009 budget, $585,000 turned back by the school department and a substantial portion of $731,000 turned back by the Facilities Department are not likely to be repeated in the current fiscal year. The closeout of prior years' purchase orders resulted from a particularly thorough "scrubbing" of the accounts in question and is also not likely to recur. Approximately $800,000 in federal stimulus funds were made available by the state in FY2009 to offset a reduction in special education circuit breaker reimbursements; there could be further cuts in state aid in FY2010 without a similar offset. In the category of "miscellaneous, non - recurring" revenue, totaling approximately $625,000, $479,000 is attributable to Medicare Part D reimbursements. Similar reimbursements have been received for the past several years on a regular basis, and are expected to continue. Recently they have not been included in the revenue estimated for -1-