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February 21, 2008
Minutes
Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee
February 21 2008
Place and time: Town Office Building, Room G-15, 7:30 PM
Members present: Alan Levine (Chair), John Bartenstein (Secretary), Richard Eurich,
Susan McLeish, Eric Michelson.
Also present: Michael Young, Budget Officer.
The meeting was called to order at 7:35 PM.
Minutes.
1. Minutes of meetings held on December 5, 2007 (discussion of the
Burlington Plan), January 28, 2008 (Budget Summit 4), January 31, 2008, February 6,
2008 and February 13, 2008 (Budget Summit 5 and meeting before and after) were
approved.
Meetings.
2. Alan advised that the Committee will definitely meet on February
28 (initially scheduled as tentative) to discuss the full-day kindergarten proposal and that
Tom Diaz and Tom Griffiths will be present for that meeting. Alan will assess the need
for the meeting scheduled for Tuesday, February 26 and will communicate if it is to be
cancelled.
Discussion of Warrant, Budget and Report.
3. The Committee discussed at
some length key points to be covered in write-ups of warrant articles for its report to the
2008 Annual Town Meeting and available sources of information. Michael Young
advised that, weather permitting, the “Brown Book” containing the final version of the
proposed FY2009 budget should be delivered to the printer by the end of the day on
Friday, February 22, and that he expects it to be available on-line by that evening.
Printed copies of the report should be ready by Friday, February 29 and will be
distributed at the first TMMA Information Meeting.
Michael indicated that the Brown Book will include more in terms of historical
information this year to facilitate its use as a reference in the future. He does not expect
that there will be a Liberty Ride report this year in view of the stabilization of that
operation’s finances. Michael advised that the MWRA has now promulgated its
preliminary water and sewer assessments for FY2009, and those assessments will be
included in the Brown Book. He indicated in response to questioning that the water and
sewer billing system now seems to be working well and that the water usage estimates
have gotten much better in the past couple of years.
Michael offered a number of observations, in anticipation of his imminent departure, on
the generally strong financial position of the Town of Lexington and commended the
Committee for its support of measures to strengthen reserves, which should significantly
help the Town to weather a possible financial downturn in the future. Committee
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February 21, 2008
members thanked Michael again for the fine work that he has done as the Town’s Budget
Officer and wished him great success in his new position as Deputy Town Administrator
for the Town of Natick.
The Committee discussed possible appendices to its report, including the future-year
budget projections that are currently being prepared. It was agreed that it would not be
necessary or useful to include an appendix containing estimates of the change in taxes
this year as no override is being proposed.
Al emphasized that in order to meet our tight deadlines this year with financial articles
being taken up at the beginning of the Annual Town Meeting, it will be essential to have
good drafts of the report sections in two weeks.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Susan McLeish
Approved February 28, 2008
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