2008-08-07-AC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee August 7, 2008 Place and time: Town Office Building, Room 111, 7:30 PM Members present: Alan Levine (Chair), John Bartenstein (Secretary), Richard Eurich, Pam Hoffman, Susan McLeish, Eric Michelson, Glenn Parker, Rob Addelson (non- voting, ex officio). The meeting was called to order at 7:40 PM. Reports from Committee Members. 1. Al Levine reported that there would be a ribbon-cutting for the Douglas House project, managed by Supportive Living, Inc. (SLI) on Thursday, August 14, at 2:00 p.m. if any Committee members wished to attend. John Bartenstein reported that the legislature had passed, and the Governor had signed, the Home Rule Petition approved by the 2007 Annual Town Meeting giving the Town flexibility to lower the age limits and increase the income limits for property tax deferrals. The Selectmen’s Tax Deferral and Exemption Study Committee will look into and make recommendations on a possible warrant article for the 2009 Annual Town Meeting that would expand eligibility for tax deferrals. Rob Addelson reported on the status of financial close-outs for FY 2008. There was a brief discussion of the Town’s use of police details, whether new guidelines recently adopted at the state level permitting the use of civilian flaggers might result in any financial savings for the Town, and whether the Town might wish to consider similar steps at the local level. Health Benefits. 2. The Committee continued its ongoing discussion of health benefit issues. Rob Addelson reviewed two spreadsheets that the Town staff had prepared detailing enrollment in and expenditures for various health-benefit plans available to Town and School Department employees. He also answered a number of questions about the way that health benefits are currently managed and funded. There was a discussion of the manner in which Town employee pension benefits are determined and the possible impact that trading off additional salary for lowered Town health-care contributions might have on future pension liabilities. Rob suggested consulting the website of the Massachusetts Public Employee Retirement Administration (PERAC), which regulates all local retirement systems, for details on the rules for administering and performing actuarial valuations of the Town’s pension trust fund. The Committee discussed the scheduling of upcoming collective bargaining negotiations and the relationship between collective bargaining for wages, which is conducted with individual unions, and coalition bargaining for health benefits, which is conducted with a coalition of all of the Town’s unions, as well as representatives of retired public employees. Rob explained that the Town has been working to synchronize the timing of collective bargaining agreements with both Town and School employee unions so that wage negotiations can be conducted in a more coordinated manner. He further explained that there is no pre-ordained schedule for conducting health benefit negotiations with the coalition. Such negotiations are essentially conducted on an ad hoc basis as deemed - 1 -