HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-03-27-AC-min 03/27/2023 AC Minutes
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Minutes
Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee (AC)
March 27, 2023
Place and Time: Robbins Room – Cary Memorial Building, 1605 Massachusetts Ave.;
7:00 p.m.–7:30 p.m.
Members Present: Glenn Parker, Chair; Sanjay Padaki, Vice-Chair; Anil Ahuja; John Bartenstein;
Alan Levine, Secretary; Eric Michelson; Sean Osborne; Lily Manhua Yan; Carolyn Kosnoff, Assis-
tant Town Manager, Finance (non-voting, ex officio)
Members Absent: None
Other Attendees: None
At 7:04 p.m. Mr. Parker called the meeting to order.
Announcements and Liaison Reports
Mr. Michelson announced that the Minuteman Regional High School will be hosting a meeting to
discuss inviting new member communities to join the regional school district. Mr. Bartenstein stated
that adding more communities would reduce the availability of slots for students from Lexington,
which Mr. Michelson acknowledged. The Committee suggested that Mr. Michelson ask whether
new communities would be required to “buy in” by contributing an initial payment to cover some of
the capital costs associated with the recently completed school building construction.
Mr. Padaki reminded the Committee that an extension to remote meeting protocols was included in
the current state budget that is awaiting the Governor’s signature. Once approved, this would make
it possible for the Committee to use fully remote meeting again, if desired.
Appropriation Committee positions at the 2023 Annual Town Meeting
Mr. Parker noted that the Committee will need to take positions on several proposed amendments to
Article 10, which has a date certain of Wednesday, March 29. He will ask the Committee to do this
at the next meeting at 7:00PM, prior to the session of the Annual Town Meeting on that date.
Mr. Parker opened a discussion by asking for the committee’s position on possible amendments to
Article 4, the FY2024 operating budget. The Committee unanimously supports the current motion,
as recommended in our report to Town Meeting, but members also offered some options for how
the budget could be amended to provide more funding for the Lexington Public Schools if Town
Meeting chose to do so.
Mr. Levine stated that Town Meeting should not interfere with negotiations between the School
Committee, Superintendent, and the Lexington Education Association. Mr. Michelson noted that the
proposed education budget includes a salary adjustment account that is intended to fund possible
increases in salaries and the number of FTEs, and that there is no need to delay action on Article 4.
Mr. Osborne stated that interference in teacher’s union negotiations would set a bad precedent for
all other union negotiations with the Town. Ms. Kosnoff stated that the operating budget is designed
as an integrated request that cannot be broken out into individual items. Furthermore, delaying con-
sideration of the operating budget until all other financial articles are approved would greatly con-
strain the options for making any adjustments to the operating budget.
The Committee agreed that no changes in the education budget should be funded with Free Cash.
03/27/2023 AC Minutes
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The only clear option for shifting additional funds to the Education budget would be to reduce the
revenue from new growth that is currently dedicated to the Capital Stabilization Fund (CSF), since
it is part of a recurring revenue stream and is not currently encumbered. However, reductions in
funding for the CSF would negatively impact property tax bills once the high school project is un-
derway. Additional revenue resulting from such a change would be subject to the revenue allocation
formula, apportioning funds to both the municipal and education budgets.
Minutes of Prior Meetings
Minutes from the Committee meeting on March 2 were approved by a vote of 8-0.
There are currently outstanding sets of minutes from the meetings of March 9, 16, and 27.
Future Meetings
The Committee will meet at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 29. An agenda will be posted for
Monday, April 3.
Adjourn
The meeting was adjourned at 7:27 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Glenn P. Parker
Approved: April 3, 2023
Exhibits
● Agenda, posted by Mr. Parker