HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-01-13-CEC-min LL n Minutes of the
Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting
January 13, 2015
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Location and Time Town Office Building, Reed Room, 8.00 A M
Members Present Jill Hai, Chair, David Kanter, Vice-Chair & Clerk, Elizabeth Barnett,
Rod Cole
Member Absent Wendy Manz
Others Present Carl Valente, Town Manager, Rob Addelson, Assistant Town Manager for
Finance, Melissa Jones, Management Analyst, Finance Department, Sara Arnold,
Recording Secretary, Richard Neumeier, Appropriation Committee, Kate Colburn,
Precinct 4 Town Meeting Member
Documents Presented
• Notice of Public Meeting/Agenda for January 13, 2015
• Excluded Debt Service Summary ($50 increases to average residential tax bill) Draft
Model with Sample Data for Analysis, January 12, 2015, prepared by the Finance
Department
• Excluded Debt Service Summary ($100 increases to average residential tax bill)
Draft Model with Sample Data for Analysis, January 12, 2015, prepared by the
Finance Department
• Excluded Debt Projection, Draft Model with Sample Data for Analysis,
January 12, 2015, prepared by the Finance Department
• Within Levy Debt Projection, Draft Model with Sample Data for Analysis,
January 12, 2015, prepared by the Finance Department
• Fiscal Year 2016 Town Manager's Preliminary Budget and Financing Plan,
January 12, 2015 ("White Book")
• Wendy Manz E-Mail to the CEC, January 11, 2015 3.30 P M , Subj Center
Committee Report, with attached Selectman Peter Kelley Interoffice Memorandum to
the Board of Selectmen (BoS), January 7, 2015, Subject Use of Design Funds for
Visitors' Center
• Draft #2 Minutes of the CEC Meeting, December 9, 2014 (Distributed by Mr Kanter's
e-mail to the other CEC Members and Ms Arnold, December 18, 2014 9.30 P M )
• Draft Minutes of the CEC Meeting, December 15, 2014 (Distributed by Mr Kanter's
e-mail to the other CEC Members and Ms Arnold, December 21, 2014 0.37 A M )
• Draft #3 Minutes of the CEC Meeting, December 16, 2014 (Distributed by
Mr Kanter's e-mail to the other CEC Members and Ms Arnold,
January 4, 2015 9.02 P M )
• Draft #3 Minutes of the CEC Meeting, January 6, 2015 (Distributed by Mr Kanter's
e-mail to the other CEC Members and Ms Arnold, January 10, 2015 9 41 P M )
• Draft Minutes of the CEC Meeting, January 8, 2015 (Distributed by Mr Kanter's
e-mail to the other CEC Members and Ms Arnold, January 11, 10 10 P M )
Page 1 of 4
Minutes of the Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting
January 13, 2015
Call to Order Ms Hai called the meeting to order at 8.00 am
Updates to the FY2016-2020 Capital Improvement Projects (CIPS) and Other
Proposed Capital Projects: It was noted that further discussion of the capital projects
would be postponed until next week's meeting
Updates and Discussion Regarding this Committee's Positions on the FY2016—
FY2020 Capital Program and Potential Financing Plans Mr Valente and Mr Addelson
reported that staff have been preparing a model for analyzing the financial impact of capital
projects that are being considered It was stressed that the identified projects and
associated costs identified in the distributed handouts were based on reasonable
assumptions, but should not be used as representing decisions that still must be made by
the School Committee, the Selectmen, and Town Meeting The current exercise is to
determine whether the model addresses the questions, not whether the data included in the
model is the correct data to be used It was noted that the model assumes 5% annual
increases in revenue and growth, which is consistent with past assumptions
The model includes three components
• Those projects that are likely candidates for debt exclusion over the next four years
(e g , new fire station, new police headquarters, a new elementary school, and major
renovations at the other elementary schools and the two middle schools), and how
those are financed,
• Those projects that will fall within the levy-limit, the Town typically allocates
$5 0 million for such projects, and
• A process that identifies the financial impacts so that it can be determined whether
those impacts are acceptable This includes a focus on the following
The amount that would be withdrawn from the Capital Project/Debt Service
Reserve/Building Renewal Stabilization Fund ("Capital Stabilization Fund") to
smooth out the impact on the average tax bill, and
. The annual increase in the average tax bill for debt-exclusion projects
Ms Jones reviewed the handouts, which demonstrated two options
• An approach that results in a $50 annual increase in the average residential tax bill
for debt exclusion projects, and
• An approach that results in a $100 annual increase in the average residential tax bill
for debt exclusion projects
She explained that there are some important outstanding questions, including
• Should the Town pursue a replacement Hastings Elementary School without
Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) financial assistance, considering
MSBA's recent denial of the Town's Statement of Interest (SOI) for the coming year?
• Can budgets over the next four years include a $2 0 million allocation into the Capital
Stabilization Fund as has been previously discussed?
The handouts include analyses for alternative answers to these two questions
Staff added the following in response to questions
• The Capitalization Stabilization Fund currently has about $8 0 million in it.
• The Capitalization Stabilization Fund will be exhausted in FY2020 or FY2021, based
on the scenarios included in the current draft modeling
Page 2 of 4
Minutes of the Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting
January 13, 2015
• The draft modeling uses the Ad hoc Town-wide Facilities Master Planning
Committee's cost estimates for new separate Police and Fire Department facilities
• Past experience indicates that the Lexington taxpayer will accept $50 annual
increases for debt-exclusion projects
• The capital projects included in the White Book are projects that are expected to be
funded within the tax levy, the validity and/or priority of these projects will be
reviewed at the planned January 22nd Budget Collaboration/Summit Meeting
("Summit 5")
• The current value of the average residential property in Lexington is approximately
$820,000
• There aren't many Senior Citizens who take advantage of the programs that help
alleviate the tax burden for those with limited income
Comments made during the discussion included the following
• The funding of a capital project should be spread out over many years so that those
who are benefitting from it are helping pay for it.
• The Town has made an effort to maintain its level of services, which has minimized
the ability to reduce the tax levy
• It is the responsibility of the School Committee to make its recommendations
regarding the school projects based on education policies, and then all the relevant
boards, committees, and staff need to work together to develop an acceptable
financing strategy to present to Town Meeting and residents
• The School Committee is planning two public hearings on the school projects
There was discussion about how the material in the handouts would be presented at the
January 22nd Budget Summit. It was again stressed that these are working documents and
the substance will be changed as more definitive information becomes available
Initial Review of the FY2016 Town Manager's Preliminary Budget & Financing Plan
("White Book")
Mr Addelson provided the members their printed copy of the White Book. He noted that
Section XI is the FY2016 Capital Improvement Budget & Financing Plan
Ms Hai asked members to review those capital projects and be prepared to vote at the
Committee's January 20th meeting on the items for which this Committee current
preliminary position includes abstentions If there are any questions or concerns about the
projects that this Committee should bring to the attention of those attending Summit 5,
those should be brought to her attention no later than this Saturday (the 17th)
It was noted that the School Committee will not be voting on its position regarding the large
school projects until the evening of January 20th, which is between this Committee's
January 20th morning meeting and the January 22nd Summit 5 It was agreed that a meeting
of this Committee will be posted for 6.30 P M on the 22nd to provide this Committee a
means to deliberate further regarding its preliminary positions, if the Chair deems that is
needed
Committee's preparations for, and report to, the Budget Collaboration/ Meeting 4 on
January 15, 2015 As the capital presentation and discussion have been deferred until
Summit 5, the Committee should just review the White Book, and specifically its Section XI,
from a general-overview perspective in preparation for this week's Summit 4
Page 3 of 4
Minutes of the Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting
January 13, 2015
Preparation of the Committee's Report to the 2015 Annual and/or Special Town
Meeting(s) Mr Kanter reviewed the process for preparing the report. Although he has
recently distributed to the members a word-document version of the Committee's report to
last-year's Annual and companion Special Town Meetings—whose content can be viewed
as a source for the general information that might be included in this year's report—he will
be distributing a "shell" version for this year's report which would be the starting point for
the Committee members to use in making their actual inputs to the first draft of this year's
report. Any text included from last year's report will be colored blue to distinguish it as a
carryover Track changes should be used for edits In the "shell" version, he plans to shift
the columns in the tables that provide historical data to provide a place for each member to
enter the FY2015 appropriations as well as in the Committee's 5-Year Capital Plan The
key milestones for preparing the report were identified as follows
• February 10th Member drafts of the material for the front section of the report are
due to be submitted to Mr Kanter In most cases, it is expected that the members
will find that much of what had been in the 2014 report just can be updated by
deleting now-obsolete information and adding new background information if needed
because of new requests by the department in the 5-year plan
• March 10th Approve the pending-final report.
• March 13th Have votes by any members that were not at the March 10th meeting and
address any substantive new information since that meeting Following this meeting,
and likely over the following weekend, Mr Kanter would submit the final version of
the report to the School Print Shop and for posting to the Town's Website
• March 16th Make the printed report available to Town Meeting members, the BoS,
other committees, and Town staff (The 2015 Annual Town Meeting and companion
Special Town Meeting begin on March 23rd with financial deliberations at the latter )
Member Concerns and Liaison Reports None
Approval of Minutes: The following votes on Minutes were taken
A Motion was made and seconded to approve the Draft #2 Minutes of the CEC Meeting,
December 9, 2014, with the described editorial change Vote 3-0-1 [Mr Cole abstained as
he was not at the meeting]
A Motion was made and seconded to approve the Draft Minutes of the CEC Meeting
December 15, 2014, with the described editorial changes Vote 4-0
A Motion was made and seconded to approve the Draft#3 Minutes of the CEC Meeting,
December 16, 2014, with the changes as discussed Vote 3-0-1 [Mr Cole abstained as
he was not at the meeting]
A Motion was made and seconded to approve the Draft #3 Minutes of the CEC Meeting,
January 6, 2015, with the changes as discussed Vote 3-0-1 [Ms. Barnett abstained as
she was not present at that meeting]
A Motion was made and seconded to approve the Draft Minutes of the CEC Meeting,
January 8, 2015, as presented Vote 3-0-1 [Ms. Barnett abstained as she was not present
at that meeting]
Adjourn A Motion was made and seconded at 9 47 A.M to adjourn Vote 4-0
These Minutes were approved by the CEC at its meeting on January 30, 2015
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