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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-02-15-AC-min-summit 5 February 15, 2012 Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee February 15, 2012 Place and time Public Services Building Cafeteria, 7 00 PM Members present Glenn Parker(Chair), John Bartenstem (Vice Chair and Secretary), Robert Cohen, Alan Levine, Enc Michelson, Dick Neumeier, Joe Pato, Jonina Schonfeld, Rob Addelson (ex officio, non-voting) Members absent Mollie Garberg The Committee joined the Board of Selectmen, the School Committee, and the Capital Expenditures Committee for the fifth Budget Collaboration-Financial Summit for FY 2013 (Summit 5) The agenda items were 1 Proposed Changes FY13 School Department Operating and Capital Budget 2 Proposed Changes FY13 Municipal/Shared Expenses Operating and Capital Budget 3 Schedule for FY13 Recommended Budget(Brown Book) Please see the attached minutes of the Board of Selectmen, which are published on the Town web site at httt //lexinmtonma 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 meeting is attached Respectfully submitted, John Bartenstem Approved August 2, 2012 - 1 - February 15, 2012 Exhibits Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee Meeting Budget Collaboration—Financial Summit 5 February 15, 2012 1 Agenda posted by Board of Selectmen of Budget Collaboration-Summit Meeting 5 2 Summit V, Proposed Changes to FY 2013 Operating and Capital Budgets - 2 - Summit Meeting 5 Board of Selectmen, School Committee, Appropriation Committee and Capital Expenditures Committee February 15, 2012 A Summit was held on Wednesday, February 15, 2012, at 7 00 p m in the Public Services Building Cafeteria, 201 Bedford Street Mr Cohen (acting chair), Mr Burnell and Ms Mauger, Mr Valente, Town Manager, 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), with the exception of Ms Garberg, all members of the Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Proposed Chanes to FY2013 Operatinm and Capital Budgets Mr Valente explained that the agenda for the meeting was to talk about the changes the Superintendent and he are proposing to the Operating Budget and the Capital Budget since the White Book came out on January 9 He reported that there were a modest number of changes Mr Valente explained that he broke up the presentation according to the three cost centers the School Department cost center, Shared Services, and Municipal Expenses Proposed Chanes FY13 School Department Operatinm and Capital Budget The first chart Mr Valente presented showed proposed changes to the School Budget as they were presented to the Selectmen This included proposed operating budget adjustments to the white book, proposed capital budget adjustments to the white book, and revenue allocation/revenue adjustments Dr Ash, Superintendent, went over the proposed changes to the School Budget as they were presented to the School Committee The main changes presented included eliminating the full day Kindergarten fee, eliminating the Instrumental Music fee, cutting the bus fee in half for Estabrook School during the two year construction phase, and not having to lay off 2 6 employees This leaves a shortfall of$277,903 and is the additional amount of money the School Committee is seeking from Town Meeting, hopefully, with the group's recommendation Proposed Chanes FY13 Municipal/ Shared Expenses Operatinm and Capital Under Shared Expenses Mr Valente explained that the Town was looking to increase the public facilities salary budget by $19,780 This is offset by a reduction in debt service by an equal amount so there is no substantive change Mr Valente reported that the proposed changes to the Municipal Operating budget include adjustments to the DPW budget, pending outcome of a new solid waste collection/recycling Summit Meeting—February 15, 2012 contract, Human Services expenses, due to a revised Lexpress contract, and Town Manager's personnel services, due to salary and benefits expenses of bringing an existing half time administrative support person for Human Resources to full time in order to provide support for administering the GIC transition Mr Valente also reported that the municipal share of the reduction in the Minuteman School assessment (preliminary assessment) is $106,678 This leaves a total Municipal expenses surplus of$128,248 Mr Valente also presented adjustments to the General Fund Debt There were changes in four items Street Betterment Improvements, Fire Pumper, School Department Classroom Furniture, and Visitor Center Upgrade Mr Valente also noted that the debt exclusion for Bridge, Bowman and Estabrook Schools was successful so the money being held for the Design& Engineering (D&E) process is now being moved from general fund debt to excluded debt After all of the adjustments, there was a total reduction in general fund debt service of$32,093 Mr Levine, Appropriation Committee, noted that the Town Budget is in reasonable shape, the construction environment is good and interest rates are low He urged the group to take advantage of this environment and think about prioritizing other capital projects to push forward Ms Mauger commented that she will take this to mean that both finance committees will support the $65,000 request the Selectmen have endorsed for a municipal capital planning process that is in this budget book and will be coming before Town Meeting Schedule for FY13 Recommended Budget (Brown Book) Mr Valente presented the next steps and schedule as follows 1 Selectmen continue/conclude FY13 Budget deliberations 2 February 27, 2012 Selectmen vote the FY13 Recommended Budget and Financing Plan (Brown Book) 3 March 2, 2012 FY13 Recommended Budget and Financing Plan to Appropriation Committee, Capital Expenditures Committee and Town Meeting Members 4 Continue to respond to questions from Appropriation Committee and Capital Expenditures Committee 5 March 26, 2012 Town Meeting begins 6 April 2, 2012 FY 12 Budget presentation Documents Presented 1 Proposed Changes to FY 2013 Operating and Capital Budgets Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted 5-0 to adjourn at 8 20 p m A true record, Attest Diana B Chabot Assistant to the Executive Clerk