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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-03-03-AC-min March 3, 2008 Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee March 3, 2008 Place and time: Town Office Building, Room G-15, 7:30 PM Members present: Alan Levine (Chair), John Bartenstein (Secretary), Deborah Brown, Richard Eurich, Michael Kennealy, Susan McLeish, Eric Michelson, Rob Addelson (ex officio, non-voting) Also present (for portions of the meeting): Gerry Paul, John Frey, and Karen Longeteig of the Lexington Tree Committee; Betsey Weiss, Chair of the Community Preservation Committee and a member of the Lexington Housing Partnership; and William Hays, Acting Chair of LexHab. The meeting was called to order at 7:40 PM. Miscellaneous Budget items. 1. Rob Addelson confirmed that $750 will be appropriated from Free Cash for FY2008 for Battle Green guides. He also indicated that snow and ice removal are over budget for FY2008 and that the reallocation of surpluses remaining in other line items in the FY2008 budget to help cover line items with overruns would be included in Article 27 (Amend FY2008 Operating Budget). The Free Cash available has all been accounted for – there are no additional amounts available. Lastly, Rob indicated that the amount in FY2008 for collective bargaining has not been used, and that it will be available for police and other settlements. Article 7 – Appropriate for Street Trees. 2. GerryPaul, John Frey and Karen Longeteig of the Tree Committee were present to discuss Article 7 (Appropriate for Street Trees). Gerry indicated that the Tree Committee is asking for $24,000 to replace 70 trees that will be removed next year (natural loss due to age/disease). This is in addition to $5,000 in the budget for tree replacement. The Tree Committee believes that keeping up with replacement is a critical issue. Historically, tree replacement has not made it through budget cuts. The Tree Committee sees this more as a program reinstatement than a program improvement, and in the current budget environment it is difficult to get something reinstated once cut. This is the third year that the committee has tried to get budget money for tree replacement. They have now gone through the appropriate process, but they have not been successful and every year that passes finds the Town further behind in terms of trees lost and not replaced. The Committee has planted 120 trees at Lower Vinebrook as a future source of trees (they won’t be available for 3-4 more years) and, in the meantime it costs $250 to purchase a tree and $250 to plant it. Gerry has spoken with the DPW and they are able to provide labor to plant 40 of the trees to help keep the costs down. As the municipal budget has been submitted and is in balance, it is difficult to free up the funds to make them available for this request. Use of funds currently planned for the Stabilization Fund was discussed as a possible source. The Committee discussed the issue, and it was agreed that it would be useful to determine - 1 - March 3, 2008 the reasons that the Town Manager and the Board of Selectmen are not supporting this request before taking a final position on the Article. Article 9(a) – Survey and Define Affordable Housing Assistance 3. Programs. Bill Hays, Acting Chair of LexHab, and Betsey Weiss, Chair of the Community Preservation Committee and a member of the Lexington Housing Partnership, were present to discuss the $25,000 request for a consultant to research what other cities and towns, including Newton, Cambridge, and Chatham, are doing successfully with respect to providing subsidies for home ownership. LexHab currently provides subsidies for rentals and is considering providing a subsidy to home ownership. There have been two proposals for subsidized home ownership which have been determined to either not be viable or did not pass beyond public hearings, so the Lexington Housing Partnership has determined that it would like to hire a consultant to research what the three towns are doing and to help define a policy that would be viable for Lexington. A lengthy discussion was held and significant concerns were raised regarding why a consultant versus the volunteers on the committee would gather the data and the lack of a defined policy analysis with respect to subsidized home ownership versus subsidized rentals. The committee took a vote and one member voted to support the article with a condition that the study would include looking at other programs with the intention to use the information for a serious policy discussion and what would work in Lexington. Six members voted no. Article 37 – Amend Code for Fees to Remove Protected Trees. 4. It was decided that we would discuss this at our next meeting (to be held on Monday, March 10, 2008) and that Alan Levine would talk to the Selectmen to understand why they are not supporting this article. We agreed that we would devote no more than ten minutes to the discussion. Article 9 – Appropriate the FY2009 Community Preservation Committee 5. Operating Budget and for CPA Projects. It was moved to support all but items a) Survey and Define Affordable Housing Assistance Programs (see paragraph 3 of these minutes for discussion/position taken), n) Town Office study – the original request included design and drawings and the CEC objected as these are normally separate requests – the CEC unanimously approved an appropriation of $35,000 and are awaiting additional information and may approve an additional appropriation, h) Senior Center Design, o) Stone Building Renovation, and p) Land acquisition (decisions deferred as the amounts requested for h), o), and p) are currently unknown). The committee voted unanimously in favor of accepting items b), c), d), e), f), g), i), j), k), l), m), r) and q). Article 14 – Appropriate for Recreation Capital Projects. 6. The Committee voted unanimously in favor of approving both proposed projects. Article 15 – Appropriate for Municipal Capital Projects and Equipment. 7. The committee voted unanimously in favor of all items with the exception of item d) CBD Sidewalks on which a decision was deferred. With respect to item a) Woburn Street Reconstruction, concerns were raised whether this is the type of project which - 2 - March 3, 2008 should be funded with a debt exclusion rather than the proposed combination of within- levy debt and the diversion of Chapter 90 funds normally used in conjunction with $500,000 in operating override funds voted in 2002 for the annual maintenance of non- arterial roadways. Rob Addelson explained that, according to the Engineering Department, delaying the Woburn Street resurfacing project would mean that approximately $200,000 of patching work would be required immediately, which would not be cost-effective. (Note: The Town Manager subsequently advised at the TMMA information session on Wednesday, March 5, that if his recommendation for a debt exclusion of approximately $15 million for the resurfacing of arterial roads were passed in a subsequent year, it would be possible retroactively to apply a portion of that excluded debt toward the Woburn Street project.) Article 19(k) – Fire Headquarters Renovation and Redesign. 8. We should comment on this in our report because the CPC did not approve it. Future Meetings. 9. There will be TMMA information sessions on March 5 (annual meeting and municipal budget) and March 6 (school budget) and AC meetings next week – March 10 at 7:30 and March 12 at 8:30. The meeting was adjourned at 10:20 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Susan A. McLeish Approved May 27, 2008 - 3 -