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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-01-18-AC-min-summit 4 January 18, 2012 Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee January 18, 2012 Place and time Public Services Building Cafeteria, 7 00 PM Members present Glenn Parker(Chair), John Bartenstein (Vice Chair and Secretary), Robert Cohen, Mollie Garberg, Alan Levine, Eric Michelson, Dick Neumeier, Joe Pato, Jomna Schonfeld, Rob Addelson (ex officio, non-voting) Budget Summit 4 The Committee joined the Board of Selectmen, the School Committee, and the Capital Expenditures Committee for the fourth Budget Collaboration-Financial Summit for FY 2013 (Summit 4) The agenda items were 1 Review FY2013 Proposed Budget(The White Book) • Open Capital Issues • Open Budget Issues 2 Hear Comments from Capital Expenditures Committee Regarding Proposed Capital Budget 3 Review Draft List of Annual Town Meeting Warrant Articles 4 Schedule Summit 5 (if necessary) 5 Executive Session—Exemption 3 (Selectmen, School Committee, Appropriation Committee) Coalition Bargaining Update Please see the attached minutes of the Board of Selectmen, which are published on the Town web site at httn //lexintonma Dov/selectmen cfm and which are also available in the Town Clerk's office, for details A list of documents and other exhibits used at the portions of the meeting held in open session is attached Executive Session—Coalition Bargaining Following the summit meeting, the boards remained for an executive session to discuss strategy with respect to coalition bargaining related to employee and retiree health insurance A roll call vote of the Committee was taken on the following motion Move to go into Executive Session to discuss strategy with respect to coalition bargaining related to employee and retiree health insurance and to reconvene in Open Session only to - 1 - January 18, 2012 adjourn Further, the Chairman declares that an open meeting discussion may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining of the Town This motion was unanimously adopted, each member having voted in the affirmative The Board of Selectmen assumed responsibility for recording and maintaining the minutes of the executive session as well as any documents or exhibits used at the executive session The meeting returned to open session and was adjourned at approximately 9 15 p m Respectfully submitted, John Bartenstein Approved August 2, 2012 - 2 - January 18, 2012 Exhibits Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee Meeting Budget Collaboration—Financial Summit 4 January 18, 2012 1 Agenda posted by Board of Selectmen of Budget Collaboration-Summit Meeting 4 2 FY 2013 Preliminary Budget and Financing Plan, Summit 4, January 18, 2012 3 Draft of 2012 Annual Town Warrant Table of Contents - 3 - Summit Meeting 4 Board of Selectmen, School Committee, Appropriation Committee and Capital Expenditures Committee January 18, 2012 A Summit was held on Wednesday, January 18, 2012, at 7 00 p m in the Public Services Building Cafeteria, 201 Bedford Street Mr Cohen (acting chair), Mr Kelley, Mr Burnell and Ms Mauger, Mr Valente, Town Manager, Mr Addelson, Finance Director, Mr Kalivas, Budget Officer and Ms Chabot, Assistant to the Executive Clerk, were present Also Present All School Committee (SC) members, Dr Ash, Superintendent of Schools, Ms Dunn, Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Business, all members of the Appropriation Committee (AC), all members of the Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC)with the exception of Mr Hurley Review FY2013 Proposed Budget (The White Book) Mr Valente presented the FY2013 Preliminary Budget and Financing Plan The proposed budget recommended by the Town Manager and Superintendent of Schools is a balanced budget For FY13 the Town is projecting a $7 2 million increase in General Fund revenues or a 4 7% change, compared to FY12 when the Town was looking at a $5 5 million increase in revenues or a 3 8% change Mr Valente then presented a summary of overall budget categories and reported that the Town is looking at a 6% increase in the entire budget (both the Operating Budget and the Capital Budget) for FY13 Mr Valente talked about significant changes in the Operating Budget Under shared expenses, both in the capital category, the Town is looking to increase debt service by 7 3% and cash capital by 9 2% Both of these are consistent with efforts to fund more of the Town's deferred capital projects with cash On the operating side of the budget, two items stand out One is due to the management of Lexpress being moved out of Public Works and into Human Services The other item which stands out is the 47 5% increase under Management Information Services This is due to software licensing fees going up substantially and the recommendation for two new positions in IT as requested by all the Town departments Mr Valente talked briefly about Reserve Recommendations and explained that in FY13 modest changes in building the Town's reserves are recommended These recommendations include a $500,000 increase in the Post-Employment Benefits Fund, and no further increase in the Stabilization Fund Balance (currently at $8,453,000) The budget continues to include about $1 6 million in revenues which are unallocated and still available for appropriation for capital or operating items Moving from the Operating side to the Capital side of the Budget Mr Valente gave a summary of all of our recommended capital spending including three years of prior data The recommended capital plan continues our efforts for an aggressive capital program taking Summit Meeting—January 18, 2012 advantage of very low interest rates and a favorable bidding environment In keeping with these efforts, the cash capital recommendation for FY13 is around $2 9 million Possible Excluded Debt ($42,783,546) assumes that the Estabrook, Bridge and Bowman School projects will go forward Mr Valente presented Total Projected Levy Supported Debt Service for the general fund projects proposed In FY12 the amount of debt service is just over $5 million In FY13 the Town is projecting the debt will go up to $5 3 million, assuming the debt exclusion vote is approved And further, in FY14 the amount will grow to approximately $5 8 million Next, Mr Valente presented Total Cash Capital Funding (free cash and tax levy supported) and included the three prior year history About a $500,000 increase in cash capital financing is proposed in FY13 Since we are facing the debt exclusion vote next week, Mr Valente wanted to show the group the impact of the debt service for the Town's excluded debt In FY12 our total Proposition 2 '/2 excluded debt is about $5 7 million If all three projects are approved next week(Bridge, Bowman and Estabrook)the FY12 figure increases by about $900,000 in FY13 and by another $900,000 in FY14, and then starts to decrease in FY15 Capital Proiect Requests Requiring Further Deliberation Mr Valente reported that there are seven capital projects that appear in the capital plan but are still being deliberated by the Board of Selectmen Of the seven, five of the projects are funded in the White Book White House Stabilization, Cary Memorial Building Upgrades—Design, Visitor Center Renovations, Town Wide Facility Master Plan, and Battle Green Area Master Plan—Parking, Traffic Calming and Safe Pedestrian Access Study—Phase 1 Conceptual Plan The other two projects, CBD Streetscape—Engineering, and Estabrook Reconstruction— Off-site Street Improvements are described in the capital plan but not funded in FY13 Mr Lamb noted that the Community Preservation Committee (CPC)voted $0 for the White House project and the Visitor Center Renovations project Outstanding Budget Issues Mr Valente went over the following open issues on the budget 1 Health Insurance— The Town is in the process of negotiating a new plan design with our employee coalition for FY13 and is making good progress Hopefully by mid-February will have concluded that process 2 State Aid— The budget assumes level funding, but we have also set aside approximately $420,000 in case our state aid is cut The first indication we'll have is when the Governor releases his budget on January 25, 2012 3 Minuteman Voc-Tech Assessment—Minuteman School Committee had their budget hearing on January 17 and should have the preliminary assessment soon The number that currently appears in White Book is probably larger than what our final number will be because the number of students has dropped Summit Meeting—January 18, 2012 4 Potential Loss of$80,000 in MBTA Lexpress Grant—The FY13 budget assumes the continuation of an MBTA grant for Lexpress We won't know the final decision of the MBTA until we are in to Town Meeting The Town needs to make a decision about whether we should assume that we will lose that grant Budget Take Aways • Overall, Town/School Services are maintained with some modest enhancements • Health Insurance Budget will be Revised/Reduced over the next few weeks • Further discussion by Board of Selectmen necessary on seven capital projects • School Department considering some fee and service changes Next Steps • Respond to questions • Address outstanding budget issues • Board of Selectmen to vote recommended budget on February 27, 2012 • Release budget to financial committees, Town Meeting Members on March 2, 2012 Hear Comments from Capital Expenditures Committee Regarding Proposed Capital Budget The Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) is in general agreement with the items in the White Book, however, Mr Lamb noted a few outstanding items that the committee still has some issue with The CEC took a negative position on the Central Business District (CBD) Streetscape - Engineering project, the Visitor Center Renovations and Expansion project, and the LexHAB Set-Aside for Housing Acquisition this year The CEC is looking to the Board of Selectmen for leadership on a purpose for the White House building in order to support the stabilization project The CEC recommends deferral on the Cary Memorial Building upgrades to another fiscal year They took no position and will await further briefing on the Battle Green Area Master Plan and Offsite Street Improvements Related to Estabrook School The Committee would like to see the East Lexington Fire Station Physical fitness project accelerated to FY13 from FY16 The CEC also supports the Greeley Village Accessible Housing Project The Committee strongly supports the Town Wide Facilities Master Plan and urges the Selectmen to do the same Review Draft List of Annual Town Meeting Articles Mr Cohen presented a draft of the 2012 Annual Town Warrant Table of Contents and answered questions from the group Summit Meeting—January 18, 2012 Schedule Summit 5 The next Summit meeting was scheduled for Wednesday, February 15, 2012 Executive Session Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted 5-0 by roll call to go into Executive Session at 8 30 pm to discuss strategy with respect to coalition bargaining related to employee and retiree health insurance and to reconvene in open session only to adjourn The Chairman further declared that an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the Town Documents Presented 1 FY 2013 Preliminary Budget& Financing Plan Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted 5-0 to adjourn at 9 15 p m A true record, Attest Diana B Chabot Assistant to the Executive Clerk