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Home My WebLink About2015-10-29-AC-min 10/29/15 AC Minutes Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee October 29,2015 Place and time- Parker Room, Town Office Building, 7 30 p.m Members present Glenn Parker, Chair, John Bartenstem, Vice Chair and Secretary; Kate Colburn, Alan Levine, Beth Masterman, Eric Michelson, Andrei Radulescu-Banu, Rob Addelson (non- voting, ex officio) Members Absent Mollie Garberg; Richard Neumeier Others Present: Jessie Steigerwald, Chair, School Committee, Margaret Coppe, School Committee, Elaine Ashton, Town Meeting member The meeting was called to order at 7 32 p.m. 1 Liaison Report: Ms Colburn reported on the first meeting of the Town Manager's Working Group on School Capital (School Capital Working Group) held on October 29t1i The group discussed parameters for a financial analysis that would help evaluate the potential impact on the taxpayer of the mynad school and town building projects currently being considered, as follows • The Term of the Debt: The Town usually issues 20 year bonds, a longer term could impact the Town's AAA credit rating and would increase the interest rate Regarding the former, the Towns of Newton and Concord recently issued bonds for school projects, 30 years and 23 years respectively Their bond ratings were not affected, indicating that Lexington's nsk is minimal The potential impact on the interest rate will be explored. The Finance Working Group agreed that 20 and 30 year bonds should be modelled. • The Specific Projects to be Included. The School Capital Working Group agreed that the following projects should be included. Diamond and Clarke Middle School renovations/additions, the purchase and renovations of the Armenian Sisters Academy on Pelham Road(a secondary access road was not discussed), the Lexington High School heating, ventilation, and air conditioning upgrade, remodeling at Minuteman Technical High School to accommodate the pre-kindergarten program, remodeling at Harrington Elementary School, a new Hastings Elementary School (Hastings)without Massachusetts School Building Authonty (MSBA) funds, a new fire station, and a new police station. It was agreed that a new high school would not be included because the date is unknown and will be more than five years hence, but a prominently displayed reference to this potential project will be included. • Taxpayer Tolerance There is general agreement that there shouldn't be sudden, large, tax increases The School Capital Working Group agreed that initial models will attempt to limit the tax increases attributable to excluded debt at 1% annually • Drawing on the Capital Stabilization Fund. The School Capital Working Group considered the strategy for drawing on this fund to control peak tax rate increases or to control the annual rate of increase generated by the school and town building projects being contemplated. 1 10/29/15 AC Minutes In response to questions, Ms Colburn noted that: • The Working Group did not discuss the possibility of reducing the Community Preservation Act surcharge to mitigate tax increases resulting from excluded debt. • It is anticipated that the model would be available for presentation at the November 12th Budget Summit. There was discussion about including as alternative scenarios in the model rebuilding Hastings with and without MSBA funding. It is anticipated that the Town will learn in December or January whether MSBA support will be offered. If the project proceeds with MSBA funding, it would take approximately one additional year to build the school than without State assistance 2. Articles for November 2, 2015 Special Town Meeting (STM) #2. Ms Masterman reported on the Moderator's meeting held in preparation for the opening of STM #2 It was agreed that Mr Parker will speak briefly about this Committee's position on all articles except Article 2 • STM#2, Article 2 Amend Minuteman Regional Agreement Mr Michelson will report on this article He noted that there may be new representation from the Town of Wayland on the Minuteman Regional High School Board, which could affect that Town's request to leave the district. The Committee discussed an Addendum which Mr Parker prepared to the discussion of Article 2 in the previously published report to the STM #2 A motion was made and seconded to approve the Addendum subject to a few edits which will be incorporated. The motion passed. VOTE 7-0 • Update of Voles Mr Parker added his "no" vote to the existing votes on Article 2 and his "yes" vote to the existing votes for Articles 4, 5, 7 and 8 3 November 2, 2015 STM#1. It was noted that the total funding request being considered for this STM has been increased from $132 million to $164 million. The following comments were made during discussions about the articles • STM#1, Article 2 Appropriate for School Facilities Capital Projects This includes projects at multiple schools, including the rebuilding of Hastings Elementary School with 30 classrooms Ms Steigerwald described an anticipated phased redistricting effort. It is expected that some redistricting will take place in the fall of 2016 to more evenly distribute elementary students among the elementary schools • STM#1, Article 3 Land Purchase and Improvements 20 Pelham Road Pat Goddard, Director, Department of Public Facilities, has estimated an amount needed to open and safely operate the Armenian Sisters' Academy Ms Steigerwald reported that Mr Goddard believes the heating system and roof should last for another five years Ms Steigerwald noted that if polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are found, they will be mitigated. Several years ago, the discovery of PCBs at Estabrook Elementary School led Lexington to rebuild the school but that was because the school was slated to be rebuilt anyway and the PCBs put pressure on the Town to do so as soon as possible 2 10/29/15 AC Minutes More detailed information about environmental issues will become available when the Town owns the facility • STM#1, Article 4 Appropriate for Engineering Sturdy 20 Pelham Road This funding request is for designing a second access road to 20 Pelham Road and to create a sidewalk connection to the Lexington Community Center and Marrett Road. It was noted that there will be a Town Meeting Members Association Information Meeting to discuss the Articles on the Warrant for STM#1 on November 16th The Committee adjourned at 9.28 p.m The documents used at the meeting are listed below Respectfully submitted, Sara Arnold Recording Secretary Approved November 5, 2015 Exhibits 1 Agenda, posted by Glenn Parker, Chair 2 Addendum to the Appropriation Committee Report to the November 2015 Special Town Meeting 3