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November 13, 2007
Minutes
Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee
November 13, 2007
Place and time: Town Office Building, Selectmen’s Meeting Room, 7:30 p.m., with
follow-up meeting in Room G-15
Members present: Alan Levine (Chair), Rod Cole (Vice-Chair), John Bartenstein
(Secretary), Deborah Brown, Richard Eurich, Pam Hoffman, Mike Kennealy, Susan
McLeish, Eric Michelson, Rob Addelson (ex officio, non-voting)
Budget Summit 2.
The initial part of this meeting was held in conjunction with Budget-
Collaboration-Financial Summit 2 and was called to order at 7:30 PM.
The agenda items were:
1. FY09 Revenue Projections
2. Special Education – Burlington Budget Model
3. Establish Date: Budget Collaboration-Summit 3
Please see the minutes of the Board of Selectmen at
http://ci.lexington.ma.us/TownClerk/minutes/selectmen_minutes.htm (or in the Town
Clerk’s office) for details.
The summit meeting concluded at approximately 9:00 p.m., and the Committee then
continued its meeting in Room G-15.
Minutes.
Minutes of the meetings held on July 19, 2007 and October 30, 2007 were
reviewed and approved with minor changes. AL exhorted the members to try to finish as
many backlogged minutes as possible before serious work begins on the FY09 budget.
Reports on Other Committees, Meetings and Events.
EM reported on the current
status of applications under the Community Preservation Act (CPA) for project funding
in FY09 and the meeting schedule of the CPA Committee.
Rob Addelson stopped in briefly to alert the Committee that there will likely be requests
in the near future to: (a) approve a reserve fund transfer for the costs of labor counsel,
which is expected to exceed the budget; and (b) approve an increase in the ceiling for the
PEG Access revolving fund to cover work being undertaken at Kline Hall at Avalon Bay.
AL reminded members that there will be an event on November 19 to honor Phil
Poignelli, who is stepping down as Chair of the Permanent Building Committee.
November 13, 2007
MK, SM and PH reported briefly on a meeting they recently attended of the Association
of Town Finance Committees. Discussion topics included new opportunities for
municipalities to achieve savings by participating in the state’s employee health
insurance program (GIC). State officials who spoke at the meeting, including Secretary
of Administration and Finance Leslie Kirwan, were not optimistic about the prospects for
significant increases in state aid in the near term.
RE reported on the most recent School Committee and a quarterly budget report that was
distributed at that meeting. AL will follow up with the School Committee about the
distribution of that report to the AC in accordance with the resolution passed at the 2007
Annual Town Meeting.
Miscellaneous.
AL said that he would like to include among future topics for discussion
and review: (a) the reserve policy for FY09 and the proposal to consider the Burlington
Plan for budgeting out-district special education expenses; and (b) the issue of funding
OPEB (“other post-employment benefit”) costs.
MK would like to look further into the issue of savings that might be achieved by joining
the GIC, although this may not be a viable option for the Town of Lexington.
The next meetings will be held on Monday, November 26; Wednesday, December 5; and
Tuesday, December 18. AL does not plan to schedule any additional meetings before the
end of the year.
The meeting adjourned at 10:08 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
John Bartenstein
Approved December 5, 2007