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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-10-19-AC-min 10/19/2023 AC Minutes 1 Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee (AC) October 19, 2023 Place and Time: Remote participation via a Zoom teleconferencing session that was open to the public; 7:30 p.m.–9:30 p.m. Members Present: Glenn Parker, Chair; Sanjay Padaki, Vice-Chair; Alan Levine, Secretary; Anil Ahuja; John Bartenstein; Eric Michelson; Carolyn Kosnoff, Assistant Town Manager, Finance (non-voting, ex officio) Members Absent: Sean Osborne; Lily Manhua Yan Other Attendees: David Kanter, Capital Expenditures Committee At 7:33 p.m. Mr. Parker called the meeting to order and took attendance by roll call. Announcements and Liaison Reports Mr. Levine reported that the School Building Committee (SBC) met on Thursday, October 12. Pre- viously on October 3, the Designer Selection Panel chose SMMA as the architectural firm for the design process. The SBC, Dore and Whittier, and SMMA will host community meetings in Novem- ber, February, and April. Over the next 3 to 6 months, the designers will document existing condi- tions at LHS and research wetlands issues and deed restrictions for the areas around the high school, and will develop an educational plan for the high school. This work will be followed by about 6 months of work creating designs based on at least the three required options that are renovation, renovation with additions, and full replacement. Ms. Kosnoff stated that the Town plans to request $10 million in FY2025 to fund further design work on the high school project. Those funds are intended to enable the generation of preliminary cost estimates for the project that will be adequate for informing the community in advance of a debt-exclusion referendum. Review the Committee’s Report to the 2023-1 Special Town Meeting Mr. Parker led the Committee through a discussion of all the articles covered in the Committee’s report. Article 2 Appropriate for Prior Years’ Unpaid Bills Mr. Parker stated that he had added a very brief summary of the situation in the report draft, which involves a payment for the FY 2023 annual assessment by Minuteman Regional High School. Ms. Kosnoff stated that there are two kinds of unpaid bills, the first of which happens for an ex- pense for which funds were appropriated in a prior fiscal year, and the second in which there was no appropriation. The second kind requires nine-tenths voting quantum for approval at town meeting. Town Counsel has indicated that this bill is of the first type. The Committee suggested adding more context to the report explaining that this bill does not reflect an additional payment to Minuteman Regional High School above the FY 2023 assessment, why the funding source would be the tax levy, and how the unexpended funds from the prior fiscal year would flow to Free Cash. 10/19/2023 AC Minutes 2 Ms. Kosnoff explained that making the final payment for the Minuteman Regional High School will be put on the Finance Department’s end-of-year checklist, so that, in future fiscal years, the final payment will be made on a timely basis. The Committee recommended approval of Article 2 by a roll-call vote of 6-0. Article 3 Establish, Amend, Dissolve and Appropriate To and From Specified Stabilization Funds Mr. Padaki stated that he had not received sufficient information to write a draft. Ms. Kosnoff stated that the only appropriation under this article would be roughly $2.8 million from the tax levy into the Capital SF, but an appropriation from the Traffic Mitigation SF will be requested under Article 7. Ms. Kosnoff will supply the exact amount of the appropriation for the Capital SF tomorrow. Article 4 Amend FY2024 Operating, Enterprise and CPA Budgets The requested supplemental appropriation for the Public Facilities Department has been reduced from $113,000 to $85,000. After some discussion, the dollar figures in the draft report to the special town meeting for changes in the water and wastewater enterprise funds were corrected. The Committee recommended approval of Article 4 by a roll-call vote of 6-0. Article 5 Appropriate for Authorized Capital Improvements Ms. Kosnoff confirmed that no action is expected under this article. The Committee recommended indefinite postponement of Article 5 by a roll-call vote of 6-0. Article 6 Appropriate Opioid Settlement Mr. Bartenstein noted that the current opioid settlement payments were determined in 2021, but that additional payments from settlements reached in 2022 will, according to his understanding, effec- tively more or less double the total payments to the Town from opioid settlement court cases. The Town has yet to receive any payments related to the 2022 cases. The Committee recommended approval of Article 6 by a roll-call vote of 6-0. Article 7 Appropriate Housing Resale and Rental Monitoring Fees Mr. Michelson reviewed his write-up for Article 7. He noted that the article, as it currently stands, would sever the connection between fee revenues and the services the fees are intended to support, i.e., developers that provide rental affordable housing pay fees to the Town and the Town pays the Regional Housing Services Office (RHSO) annually to perform the associated rental monitoring as well as other affordable-housing related tasks. He emphasized the impact this motion could have on the operating budget. Ms. Kosnoff stated that there was nothing preventing this appropriation, and that it was more of a policy issue. The Committee concurred with Mr. Michelson’s concerns and also noted that it seemed like a very small amount of revenue to be subject to this kind of appropria- tion. The Committee recommended approval of Article 7 by a vote of 0-6, i.e., the Committee recom- mended disapproval. Article 8 Appropriate for Speed Hump Pilot Program Mr. Padaki asked that the report clarify that the funds sought under this article is a capital request, which allows it to cover expenses incurred beyond the current fiscal year. 10/19/2023 AC Minutes 3 Mr. Bartenstein asked there was any community opposition to this request. Ms. Kosnoff was not aware of any opposition. The Committee recommended approval of Article 8 by a vote of 6-0. Article 9 Authorize Home Rule Petition for Special Legislation — Establishing The Election of Town Offices Using Ranked Choice Voting (Citizens’ Petition) There was some discussion of how RCV functions in unusual voting scenarios. Ms. Kosnoff con- firmed that the Town Clerk is looking to purchase new voting machines, and, given the options cur- rently on the state bidding list, it is likely that any new machines would come from the same vendor that the Town currently uses (Dominion). Mr. Padaki asked how this would affect future budgets and Ms. Kosnoff confirmed that the costs would be included in the operating budget. Mr. Parker asked whether there would be any further steps following approval by the legislature before RCV was initiated. Ms. Kosnoff stated that she believed the legislature’s approval would trigger the tran- sition to RCV. Mr. Michelson stated that he was opposed to the motion because the history of voting in the Town does not justify the added complexity and expense. Mr. Bartenstein noted that he would be in sup- port, but felt that implementing RCV should not proceed without first gaining approval of the voters in a townwide referendum. The Committee recommended approval of Article 9 by a vote of 4-2. Policy on Appropriations from New Growth into the CSF Mr. Padaki asked when the current guideline for appropriating funds from new growth into the Cap- ital Stabilization Fund (CSF) began. Ms. Kosnoff stated that it was first implemented in the FY2023 budget. Ms. Kosnoff reminded the Committee that the Town’s current policy is to tax to the levy limit, which is a choice, and that Town officials recommend the dedication of any otherwise unused reve- nue to the CSF for the time being. Approve Minutes of Prior Meetings Ms. Kosnoff objected to a statement in the draft minutes for October 12 that characterized her opin- ion incorrectly regarding the impact of purchasing new voting machine hardware. Mr. Parker agreed that the minutes should be rephrased. The Committee agreed to defer approval of the October 12 minutes pending further edits. Minutes from the Committee meeting on October 5 were approved by a roll call vote of 6-0. Adjourn The meeting was adjourned by roll call vote at 9:03 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Glenn P. Parker Approved: October 26, 2023 10/19/2023 AC Minutes 4 Exhibits ● Agenda, posted by Mr. Parker