Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-09-08-AC-min 09/08/2022 AC Minutes 1 Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee (AC) September 8, 2022 Place and Time: Remote Participation: in accordance with “An Act Relative to Extending Certain State of Emergency Accommodations”, signed into law by Gov. Baker on July 16, 2022, communication took place via a Zoom teleconferencing session that was open to the public; 7:30 p.m. Members Present: Glenn Parker, Chair; Sanjay Padaki, Vice-Chair; Anil Ahuja; John Bartenstein; Alan Levine, Secretary; Eric Michelson; Sean Osborne; Carolyn Kosnoff, Assistant Town Manager, Finance (non-voting, ex officio) Member(s) Absent: Lily Manhua Yan; Other Attendees: David Kanter, Capital Expenditures Committee At 7:34 p.m. Mr. Parker confirmed attendance by roll call, and stated that the meeting was being recorded for the purpose of creating minutes. Mr. Levine agreed to take minutes in the absence of a recording secretary. Announcements and Liaison Reports Ms. Kosnoff reported that the Recording Secretary position has been posted. The person in this position takes minutes for this committee. Mr. Parker reported that he is working on preparing material on last year’s official actions of the Appropriation Committee for the annual town report, and that he will circulate a draft within the next few days. Mr. Padaki asked about arranging a time and day for a group photo. Mr. Parker introduced Sean Osborne, who is attending his first meeting as an AC member. Mr. Osborne said he has lived in Lexington twice, this time since 2011, and has followed Lexington politics although he is not a town meeting member. He also said that he does civil engineering consulting work for departments of public works. Election of Officers There was a motion and a second to reelect the current slate of Committee officers to serve for this fiscal year (FY 2023). The slate includes Glenn Parker as Chair, Sanjay Padaki as Vice Chair, and Alan Levine as Secretary. There were no responses to a call for additional nominations. The motion was approved by a roll call vote. VOTE: 7-0 AC Liaison to the School Building Committee A School Building Committee has been formed to guide the process of preparing to replace or renovate Lexington High School in conjunction with the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA). Mr. Parker nominated Mr. Levine to serve as the AC liaison to that committee. This was put into a motion and seconded. The motion was approved by a roll call vote. VOTE: 7-0. Ms. Kosnoff agreed to alert the proper persons that Mr. Levine will be serving as the AC liaison, and to make sure that Charles Lamb, Chair of the Capital Expenditures Committee, is informed of School Building Committee meeting dates. Mr. Michelson inquired about the role of the School Building Committee, and whether it is responsible for a list of deliverables. The response was that the School Building Committee 09/08/2022 AC Minutes 2 oversees the High School project process and is responsible for selecting the architectural design team. The process is described in detail on the MSBA web site. Water/Sewer Rate Setting Mr. Bartenstein briefly reviewed the context for setting water/sewer rates. The amount of revenue received by the Town from the water/sewer fees depends on how much water is used. The volume of irrigation water use, most of which is separately metered and charged at the highest rate, depends on the weather and is therefore rather volatile since the amount of rainfall, particularly in the summer months, varies greatly from year to year. The Select Board will set the rates for the current fiscal year (FY 2023) this fall. Since the rates must be set using projections of water usage which, in the case of irrigation water, fluctuate substantially, the water rates can increase substantially when a “dry year” is followed by a “wet year”. Mr. Bartenstein proposed that when the calculations are done to set the rates, the projected irrigation usage be based on a 5 or 10-year rolling average, rather than on a projection from the most recent June through September time frame. This would tend to “smooth” rate increases as revenue surpluses generated during a dry year, separately accounted for in retained earnings, could then be applied to offset revenue deficits incurred in wet years. Mr. Bartenstein suggested that FY2023 would be an ideal year to initiate such a practice as: (1) the FY2023 water budget is increasing minimally over last year (0.66%); (2) projected irrigation usage will increase substantially this year as FY2022 was an unusually wet year and FY2023 will be an unusually dry year; and therefore, (3) projecting FY2023 irrigation usage at the 5 or 10-year average should generate a substantial surplus in the water fund with a minimal increase in the water rate. Ms. Kosnoff noted that a number of other factors have also affected the amounts of water/sewer revenues received by the Town in the past year or two. These factors include a decrease in water use at Hanscom Air Force Base, closure of the Boston Sports Club, closure and sale of the hotel on Bedford St., and effects of the pandemic on the numbers of people in office buildings. The implementation of automatic meter reading (AMR), which is in process, will yield information on water use in a more timely way than has been the case. AMR will also make it easier to go to quarterly rather than semiannual billing, which would tend to reduce year-to-year revenue changes as it will minimize the spill-over of end-of-year payments from one fiscal year to the next. Minutes of Prior Meetings There was a motion and a second to approve the minutes of the AC meetings of April 13, 2022, and June 23, 2022. The motion was approved by a roll call vote. VOTE: 6-0-1. Mr. Osborne abstained. Future Meetings There will be a fall special town meeting (STM), scheduled for November 1, 2, and 3. The warrant for that meeting is expected to be closed on October 3. The warrant is expected to include an article for routine budget adjustments, for a supplementary appropriation for the renovation of the Center Recreation bathrooms, for transferring an expected large surplus in new growth revenue to a stabilization fund, for beginning the planning for the 2025 celebrations, for addressing a reorganization of LexHAB, and for establishing an affordable housing trust. Mr. Parker noted that the AC report to the STM should be published on October 25. It was therefore agreed to schedule AC meetings for October 6, 13, and 20, and to tentatively schedule a meeting for September 21. Budget summits are scheduled for September 29, October 27, and November 16 so those are not good dates for the AC to meet on its own. 09/08/2022 AC Minutes 3 Mr. Padaki asked about creating, in WDesk, a template for the AC report to the STM. Mr. Michelson offered to work on investigating and writing up the affordable housing articles on the STM warrant. Ms. Kosnoff noted that a committee has been working on recommendations for an affordable housing trust and therefore that a substantial amount of relevant material should be readily available. Adjourn The meeting was adjourned by roll call vote at 8:49 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Alan Levine Approved: September 21, 2022 Exhibits ● Agenda, posted by Mr. Parker