HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-01-23-AC-min 1/23/2025 AC Minutes
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Minutes
Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee (AC)
January 23, 2025
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; Vinita Verma; Lily Yan; Eric Michelson; Sean Osborne (8:05 pm); Car-
olyn Kosnoff, Assistant Town Manager, Finance (non-voting, ex officio)
Members Absent: none
Other Attendees: Charles Lamb, Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC); Lisah Rhodes (CEC); Bri-
elle Meade
Mr. Parker called the meeting to order at 7:31 p.m. and took attendance by roll call.
All votes recorded below were conducted by roll call.
Announcements and Liaison Reports
Ms. Kosnoff reported that the Governor released her proposed budget. It proposes an increase of
$75 per student in Chapter 70 aid as opposed to $60 per student that was anticipated by Lexington
staff. Additionally, the budget sets unrestricted government aid at 2.2% versus the anticipated 2.0%.
The proposed state budget would add a total of about $100K to the revenue for Lexington.
Mr. Parker noted that he had revised article author and review assignments for the report to the an-
nual town meeting to balance the work assignments. He also announced that he had begun to edit
the draft memo on MBTA zoning impacts, sent the list of proposed consent agenda items for the an-
nual town meeting to the Moderator, circulated the draft annual town meeting warrant to Committee
members, and would like to work on a list of people to invite to Committee meetings to help in
preparation of the Committee report and a schedule for those meetings. Mr. Levine suggested invit-
ing Lexington Public Schools representatives to discuss the school budget. Other suggestions in-
cluded the Town Manager, Marilyn Fenollosa, chair of the Community Preservation Committee,
David Pinsonneault, Melissa Battite with a focus on funding of new fields at the old Harrington
School site, and a staff person who could discuss sustainability capital projects.
Ms. Kosnoff told the Committee that the Town received a preliminary estimate of the assessment
from Minuteman Regional High School that is about 6% higher than the final FY2025 assessment.
Special Town Meeting 2025-1
Mr. Bartenstein summarized the process and timing of the events that are planned prior to the spe-
cial town meeting and changes to the motion to be presented under Article 2.
The scope and timing of the Select Board sponsored study of the impacts of Lexington’s MBTA
Community zoning was discussed.
Review of Committee Memorandum
Mr. Levine asked whether any members had comments on the memo on financial impacts of the
MBTA Community zoning.
1/23/2025 AC Minutes
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The changes in tax revenue were briefly discussed noting the differences between the revenue from
apartments vs. from condominiums,
Mr. Osborne responded that the memo does not adequately distinguish between general financial
impacts and those that will fall within the scope of the Water and Wastewater Enterprise Funds. He
noted that water and sewer rates will be adjusted to yield new revenue to offset the costs of any new
water/sewer infrastructure projects and to balance the enterprise fund operating budgets. Mr. Os-
borne also noted that housing development will lead to additional rate payers, and that developers
will pay the costs of any capital projects needed to serve their developments. Ms. Kosnoff noted
that certain commercial buildings, especially those containing laboratories, use extraordinarily large
amounts of water at the third (highest cost) tier of the rate schedule and that replacement of such
buildings with multifamily housing, where individual dwelling units are typically billed at the low-
est tier rate, could have significant effects on water/sewer finances.
Mr. Bartenstein added that the EOHLC guidelines specifically state that towns are not obligated to
pay for water and sewer infrastructure upgrades needed to service new MBTA housing develop-
ments. These upgrades are generally the responsibility of the developers.
There was also a discussion about the impact to trash collection and disposal costs.
Mr. Levine agreed to add both these points to the next draft of the memo.
2025 Annual Town Meeting
Mr. Parker said that he had created a draft Wdesk report and started to put links to the White Book
data in it.
Ms. Kosnoff noted that the White Book would be published on Friday, January 24. She also noted
that Ms. Impink could change permissions, if needed, in the Wdesk document.
Minutes of Prior Meetings
Minutes from the Committee meetings on January 9 and 16, 2025, were approved by a vote of 9-0.
Future Meeting Schedule
There was discussion of a conflict between the Committee meeting on February 13 and the League
of Women Voters’ Candidates’ Night. The sense of the discussion was to tentatively cancel the
Committee meeting that evening.
Adjourn
The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Alan M. Levine
Approved: February 20, 2025
Exhibits
● Agenda, posted by Mr. Parker
● Table of article assignments