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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-02-23-AC-min 02/23/2023 AC Minutes 1 Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee (AC) February 23, 2023 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* Member(s) Absent: Lily Manhua Yan, Carolyn Kosnoff, Assistant Town Manager, Finance (non-voting, ex officio) Other Attendees: David Kanter, Capital Expenditures Committee *Mr. Osborne left the meeting mid-way to attend to a family emergency At 7:32 p.m. Mr. Parker confirmed attendance by roll call and stated that the meeting was being recorded for the purpose of creating minutes. Mr. Padaki agreed to take minutes in the absence of a recording secretary. Announcements and Liaison Reports Mr. Bartenstein reported that he had reviewed the Cherry Sheet included in the Governor’s preliminary budget proposal. The projected increase is about $2.5M compared to the forecasted increase of $238K used for the FY2024 Town budget with the majority of the increase attributable to Chapter 70 aid. The Committee acknowledged that this number could change as the State budget is finalized and that it would be important to keep track of the final allocation to Lexington. Annual Town Meeting Report and Articles Mr. Parker proposed that the Committee follow a new process for voting on financial articles for the purposes of the Committee report. A similar process has been used by the Capital Expenditures Committee which has allowed for a more efficient utilization of time. Per the new process, all articles that require a vote of the Committee would be reviewed and discussed to determine which of them would be supported unanimously. At the end of the process, a single omnibus vote would be taken to cover all of the unanimously supported articles. This would reduce the number of roll- call votes that will otherwise need to be taken. Members were in general agreement with the proposed process. Mr. Bartenstein recommended that any single member could require an article to be removed from the unanimous list. Mr. Padaki, recommended that the member(s) researching a particular article provide a summary prior to deciding on how to vote. Both recommendations were agreed to by the Committee. Mr. Parker displayed a spreadsheet containing the list of the articles that this Committee will vote on. The following articles were discussed in detail: Article 5: FY2024 Enterprise Budgets Mr. Bartenstein indicated that the Brown Book was still carrying a plug-in number of 10% for the increase in the MWRA water/sewer assessment while the actual increase is closer to 5%. He also pointed out that assessment varies by town and is proportional to the amount of water consumed during the previous calendar year. Therefore towns like Lexington that saw a larger amount of 02/23/2023 AC Minutes 2 water consumed due to the dry summer in 2022, are seeing increases of 5% versus the average of 3.5%. Additionally, the gradual transition to the use of cash instead of borrowing to fund many of the enterprise capital projects will continue to impact water rates in the short term. Article 6: Establish Qualifications for Tax Deferrals Mr. Bartenstein indicated that the committee that is responsible for making recommendations on tax deferrals has proposed to increase, as they have in the past few years, the income threshold which is a primary qualification for this benefit. The current threshold is $90,000 and will be increased to $96,000 if this article is approved by town meeting. The deferral program allows the property tax to be deferred until the time when the property is sold. Mr. Parker mentioned that the second part of the motion would tie the income limit, starting in 2025, to the limit for married couples in the Massachusetts Senior Circuit Breaker Tax Credit. This will result in the future in the threshold being automatically adjusted without the need for town meeting votes. Article 7: Appropriate to Affordable Housing Trust Mr. Parker indicated that the balance in the Affordable Housing Stabilization Fund of $330,000 would be moved into the Affordable Housing Trust. This money was received from Brookhaven. However, new monies transferred into the Stabilization Fund cannot be automatically moved into the Housing Trust for another two years. The Committee decided to not include this article in the unanimous list pending additional information. Article 8: Evaluation of Archeological Resource Potential (CP) The Committee discussed whether this initial request of $65,000 could have cascading impacts in future years. The goal stated by the article proponent is to eventually pass a related Town bylaw. Article 9: Establish and Continue Departmental Revolving Funds The spending limit authorizations for several of the revolving funds are listed as TBD. Mr. Padaki proposed that, since approval of this article has been routine in prior years, it could be supported unanimously. Mr. Michelson, however, wants to better understand the trash and recycling revolving fund. The Committee decided to not include this article in the unanimous list pending additional information. Article 10: FY2024 CPC Budget/Projects Mr. Padaki indicated that he was still deciding on whether he will support parts (a), (e), (f), and (m). Mr. Bartenstein indicated that he was still deciding on whether he will support parts (c) and (d). Mr. Kanter indicated that the CEC had also decided to not unanimously support (a), (e), (f) and (m) at this time. The Committee also discussed (p) and it was not clear if the electricity credit for the power from LexHAB solar panels would be received by the tenants, Town, or LexHab. Therefore, it was also removed from the unanimous list. Article 11: Recreation Capital Projects The total appropriation requested is $309,000 from the Recreation Enterprise Fund. Mr. Padaki mentioned that the three items included under this appropriation request are $150,000 to restore the cart path at the golf course, $124,000 for golf course maintenance equipment, and $35,000 for pool water chemistry automated controllers for the town pool. The Pine Meadows clubhouse renovation project is not part of this article and is being funded from free cash under the Public Facilities projects article. Article 13: Water System Improvements & Article 14: Wastewater System Improvements 02/23/2023 AC Minutes 3 The $4,209,580 funding request under Article 13 is for the lead and copper line replacement project. The Committee decided to not include this article in the unanimous list pending additional discussion. Article 15: School Capital Projects and Equipment This article is for school information technology equipment $1,465,488. The CEC has found the request satisfactory and based on good estimates. Article16: Public Facilities Capital Projects Mr. Levine stated that this article concerns several projects like the Police Station solar canopies, East Lexington fire station, and 173 Bedford Street. The 173 Bedford Street project is for design funds needed to provide handicap access, elevators, HVAC improvement, and a sprinkler system. This building could be swing space for the school administration building if the existing Central Administration Building has to be torn down and converted to athletic fields prior to a new LHS building. The Committee had no objection to include this on the unanimous list. Article 17: Post-Employment Insurance Liability Fund Mr. Levine stated that although it is good fund this account, he is generally not in favor of over- funding this account. The proposed amount is $1.9M. He does not oppose this request this year, since, even if the budget is very tight, there is no budget emergency. Article 18: Rescind Prior Borrowing This article is likely to be indefinitely postponed (IP). Mr. Parker indicated that going forward the AC will vote on IP articles. Article19: Establish, Dissolve and Appropriate To and From Specified Stabilization Funds The Committee decided to not include this article in the unanimous list pending additional information. Article 20: Prior Year's Unpaid Bills This is likely to be indefinitely postponed. Article 21: Amend FY2023 Operating, Enterprise and CPA budgets The Committee decided to not include this article in the unanimous list pending additional information. Article 22: Authorized Capital Improvements Mr. Parker stated that no request for funds is expected this year. In response to a question, he clarified that this article concerns additional appropriations for previously approved capital projects. Mr. Padaki stated that he would like to revisit this article if it was not going to be indefinitely postponed. Article 23: Establish Special Education Reserve Fund The request under this article for $750,000 was negotiated as part of the closing of the budget gap in the school budget. Mr. Bartenstein clarified that once the Fund is established, the funds can be spent upon a vote by the Select Board and School Committee. Articles that could be supported unanimously by the members in attendance were identified and marked as such in the spreadsheet. Mr. Padaki moved to approve the list and the motion was 02/23/2023 AC Minutes 4 seconded by Mr. Levine. The motion passed by roll call vote. VOTE: 6-0 (Note: Mr. Osborne left mid-way through the discussion and hence did not vote). Return to in-person meetings Mr. Parker stated that this will be required after March 31 since the state law providing for remote meetings expires at the end of March. All Committee members in attendance indicated that they would be able to attend the in-person meetings. The process to reserve the meeting rooms is still under discussion with the Town Manager. Minutes of Prior Meetings Mr. Padaki moved to approve the meeting minutes from 2/2/23 and 2/9/23. The motion passed by roll call vote. VOTE: 6-0 Adjourn The meeting was adjourned by roll call vote at 9:21 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Sanjay Padaki Approved: March 2, 2023 Exhibits ● Agenda, posted by Mr. Parker ● 2023 ATM AC Report Planner