HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-02-23-AC-min02/23/2017 AC Minutes
Minutes
Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee (AC)
February 23, 2017
Place and time: Parker Room, Town Office Building, 7:30 p.m.
Members present: John Bartenstein, Chair; Alan Levine, Vice -Chair & Secretary; Ellen Basch;
Eric Michelson; Lily Manhua Yan;
Members Absent: Richard Neumeier; Sanjay Padaki; Andrei Radulescu -Banu; Jian Helen Yang;
Carolyn Kosnoff, Assistant Town Manager, Finance (non- voting, ex officio)
Other Attendees: None
The meeting was called to order at 7:35 pm.
1. Announcements and Liaison Reports
Mr. Levine provided background information regarding two issues identified at this Committee's
February 15 meeting:
• The 15% increase in Chapter 70 State aid for education identified on the "cherry sheet ".
Chapter 70 aid is based on a complex formula that, in a nutshell, first defines a foundation
budget based on a detailed analysis of the student enrollment and then subtracts the
municipality's required contribution which is determined from a combination of property
value and income information. The Chapter 70 aid more or less follows the resulting
difference. While growth in Lexington's student enrollment is undoubtedly a factor in this
year's significant proposed increase in Chapter 70 aid, it would be difficult to predict
whether future enrollment growth will result in similar increases.
• Factors that influence the Massachusetts School Building Association's (MSBA) partial
reimbursement for construction costs of approved projects. This is relevant because the
Town's estimate of the effective reimbursement rate which can be expected for the Hastings
project was recently reduced from 30% to 25 %. It appears that the reimbursement
calculation for all recent MSBA projects starts at a base of 31% of reimbursable costs.
Additional percentage points may be allocated based on both municipality and project
characteristics. The 25% estimate of our effective reimbursement rate undoubtedly factors
in an estimate of our likely actual costs versus reimbursable costs and the likelihood of
earning additional percentage points.
Mr. Bartenstein reported that the Town Manager is recommending a reduction in the 2017 Special
Town Meeting (STM) request for Article 4: Appropriate Design Funds for Lexington Children's
Place (LCP) /20 Pelham Road, from $771,250 to approximately $581,000. The $581,000 is needed
for the LCP design, as described in the warrant article. The $190,250 difference is needed for
design of the renovation work to be performed on the parts of the building to be used by the
Lexington Community Center. It is anticipated that those funds would come from past and future
articles that fund Public Facilities Bid Documents (Article 16(e) in the 2017 ATM Warrant).
2. Minutes
Approval of the February 15 Minutes was deferred.
02/23/2017 AC Minutes
3. AC Report to 2017 ATM
Articles were discussed as follows:
• Article 4: Appropriate FY2018 Operating Budget —line item for Minuteman Technical
High School (Minuteman Tech): Mr. Michelson discussed reasons for the 15% increase in
Lexington's per student assessment. He is exploring options for mitigating the FY2018
"spike ".
• Article 6: Appropriate for Senior Services Program: Mr. Bartenstein discussed the decrease
in participation in Lexington's program that allows eligible residents to work for the Town
in exchange for a credit on their local property tax. At existing levels of participation, the
proposed appropriation of $30,000, plus carryover balances in this account, would be well
more than is needed to fund the program. However, to bolster participation, the income
ceiling and /or the hourly wage rate may be increased.
• Article 7: Appropriate for Updating the Town's Comprehensive Plan: Ms. Yan reported
that Lexington's last comprehensive plan is 15 years old; usually such plans are most useful
for about 10 years. This technical document provides the Town with guidelines for creating
policies and making decisions. It was noted that the plan could have financial implications;
perhaps a member of this Committee should serve as a liaison for the project.
• Article 21: Appropriate to Post Employment Insurance Liability Fund: Mr. Levine
reviewed past practices regarding the funding of Town retiree benefits, which include
pension and health insurance benefits. Pension liabilities are close to 100% funded. This
article is requesting about $1.8 million for the Other Public Employee Benefits (OPEB)
fund, which will be used to fund future retiree health benefits. While the Governmental
Accounting Standards Board's accounting standards promote efforts to fully fund this
liability over 30 years, Mr. Levine believes that a 30 -year funding program is unnecessarily
burdensome.
It was noted that this Committee's report for STM needs to be ready to go to print no later than
March 13, and the ATM report must be ready to go to print no later than March 20.
4. Adjourn
The Committee adjourned at 9:38 p.m.
The documents used at the meeting are listed below.
Respectfully submitted,
Sara Arnold, Recording Secretary
Approved: March 2, 2017
Exhibits
• Agenda, posted by John Bartenstein, Chair
• Analysis of Minuteman FY18 assessment increase, prepared by Eric Michelson
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