HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-03-05-AC-min.pdf 3/5/2026 AC Minutes
1
Minutes
Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee (AC)
March 5, 2026
Place and Time: Remote participation via a Zoom teleconferencing session that was open to the
public; 7:30 p.m.
Members Present: Glenn Parker, Chair; Sanjay Padaki, Vice-Chair; Alan Levine, Secretary; Anil
Ahuja; John Bartenstein; Eric Michelson; Sean Osborne; Vinita Verma; Lily Yan
Members Absent: Carolyn Kosnoff, Assistant Town Manager, Finance (non-voting, ex officio)
Other Attendees: Charles Lamb, Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC); Lisah Rhodes, CEC
All votes recorded below were conducted by roll call.
At 7:35 p.m. Mr. Parker called the meeting to order and took attendance by roll call.
Announcements and Liaison Reports
Ms. Kosnoff reported that the current year expenses for snow removal have gone over budget, and
that legal expenses are also trending very high.
Discussion of Financial Articles for the 2026 Annual Town Meeting
The Committee discussed each of the articles deemed to be financial and voted on the recommenda-
tions to be made in the report for those articles where the Committee felt prepared to vote. The
Committee voted on Articles 4, 8 through 18, 20 through 23, 25, 26, 28, and 31. The votes of each
Committee member are shown in a table below.
Mr. Bartenstein said that he would report orally on Article 5 at the next meeting.
The motion for Article 6 had not yet been set to augment the snow removal budget and, perhaps, the
legal budget, so the vote on that article was deferred.
Mr. Michelson voted “no”, i.e., to recommend disapproval of Article 8 because he did not see a jus-
tification for a 50% increase in the present request of $75,000 for an appropriation compared to the
$50,000 appropriated for the previous survey done in the year 2022. He indicated that he would
consider changing his position if he were to receive such justification. Mr. Padaki abstained for sim-
ilar reasons.
Voting on Article 9 was postponed because the spending limit of zero dollars for the Refuse and Re-
cycling Revolving Fund did not appear to be consistent with the plan to impose a fee for collection
of bulky items in FY2027. Mr. Parker said that this article should not be put on the consent agenda
because it includes the Refuse and Recycling Revolving Fund.
Regarding Articles 13 and 14 that concern water and wastewater system improvements, Mr. Barten-
stein noted that the Town is gradually implementing a transition over an interval of 10 to 12 years in
the funding for such work from borrowing to raising the funds in the water and sewer rates.
Regarding Article 15, a question was asked about the number of Chromebooks that would be pur-
chased. It was answered by those present using information obtained from the Superintendent’s
Recommended Budget Book and the presentation for this article posted on the Town Meeting web
site. Ms. Rhodes added that after a Chromebook is used for 3 or 4 years by a middle or high
schooler, it is then made available for use by school staff. The old units are either sold to a buyback
3/5/2026 AC Minutes
2
program or recycled in some other way. No one present was able to say whether the funds received
for an equipment buyback go to the schools or the Town General Fund.
Regarding Article 16, there was a request to change the heading “Bond Proceeds” and to add an ex-
planatory paragraph to note that this refers to funds obtained from a previously issued bond. In re-
sponse to a question raised in the discussion, Mr. Lamb informed the meeting that part (d) of Article
16 would fund the installation of new energy recovery units at the Fiske Elementary School.
Regarding Article 17, there was a request to explain the amount of the requested appropriation and
to compare that amount with the amount appropriated into the PEIL fund at the 2025 Annual Town
Meeting.
Regarding Article 19, it was clear that the article would put $6,580,908 into the Capital Stabiliza-
tion Fund. However, it was not clear if additional actions including a withdrawal from the Capital
Stabilization Fund would be included in the motion.
Most Committee members did not see a need for the new committee to be authorized by Article 26
since the subject would be covered by the School Building Committee and the newly created School
Building Committee finance subcommittee as well as being addressed under Article 27, and, hence,
voted to recommend disapproval. The members who voted to recommend approval, Ms. Verma and
Ms. Yan, were asked to supply a paragraph that explains why they support the article.
Voting on Article 27 was postponed because the motion had been changed substantially only a few
days earlier (March 2).
The “no” votes on Article 28 were explained by recognizing the Transportation Safety Group’s
deep involvement in choosing a method to address speeding on Walnut St. and the Fire Chief’s
strong recommendation against speed humps.
Regarding Article 31, Mr. Bartenstein suggested that the report could briefly describe the history of
the attempt to implement pay-as-you-throw about 25 years ago.
A roll call vote of 9-0 confirmed all the votes shown in the table.
Future Meeting Schedule
The Committee will meet next week on Thursday, March 12, with the goal of completing the voting
on all articles.
Minutes of Prior Meetings
The approval of minutes for the meeting of February 26, 2026, was deferred to the next meeting
(March 12).
Planning for the Committee’s Report to the 2026 Annual Town Meeting
Mr. Parker said that he would like to see the Committee approve the report at the March 19 meet-
ing. That implies that the Committee needs to finish voting on all the articles at the next meeting
(March 12).
Adjourn
The meeting was adjourned by roll call vote at 9:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Alan M. Levine
3/5/2026 AC Minutes
3
Approved: March 12, 2026
Exhibits
● Agenda, posted by Mr. Parker
5MOOM4YRWIVFIOR==MWL/D 0RU#RWEOVEUIE;WRPEWIH!IV;OWGRO;P4MV-UII-RUP
I.&"EA 9G+&"-!.A 7AJLE. 4 )&E 1G%)E!)I&"8A!)8!)D!N EA)) &)&.!2&EN
(44 295 43904
0SSURSUMEWI5D(&(, SIUEWM4.1;H.IW )
(&(++IGMA .&&D D D D D D D D D
0SSURSUMEWI5D(&(,4WIUSUMVI5;4HV1;H.IWV )MG.A#&&&
(0PI4H5D(&( SIUEWM4.4WIUSUMVIE4H2 01;H.IWV )MG.A#&&&
)";VWEM4EFOI URNIGWV )MG.A#&&&
0SSURSUMEWI-RUBMVMR4-RU9I>M4.WR4";UYI?)
(&(++IGMA) ,
D D D D 0 D D D
VWEFOMVLE4H2R4WM4;I3ISEUWPI4WEO!IYROYM4.5;4HV )
(&(++IGMA .&&D D D D D D D D D
0SSURSUMEWI-RUWLI5D(&(,2RPP;4MW? UIVIUYEWMR42RPPMWWII SIUEWM4.1;H.IWE4H2 0 URNIGWV )
(&(++IGMA .&&D D D D D D D D D
0SSURSUMEWI-RU!IGUIEWMR42ESMWEO URNIGWV )
(&(++IGMA .&&D D D D D D D D D
0SSURSUMEWI-RU:;4MGMSEO2ESMWEO URNIGWVE4HT;MSPI4W )
(&(++IGMA .&&D D D D D D D D D
0SSURSUMEWI-RUCEWIU"?VWIP8PSURYIPI4WV )
(&(++IGMA .&&D D D D D D D D D
0SSURSUMEWI-RUCEVWI=EWIU"?VWIP8PSURYIPI4WV )
(&(++IGMA .&&D D D D D D D D D
0SSURSUMEWI-RU"GLRRO2ESMWEO URNIGWVE4HT;MSPI4W )
(&(++IGMA .&&D D D D D D D D D
(0SSURSUMEWI-RU ;FOMG5EGMOMWMIV2ESMWEO URNIGWV )
(&(++IGMA .&&D D D D D D D D D
)0SSURSUMEWIWR RVWPSOR?PI4W84V;UE4GI9MEFMOMW?5;4H )
(&(++IGMA .&&D D D D D D D D D
!IVGM4H UMRU1RUUR=M4.0;WLRUM@EWMR4V )
(&(++IGMA .&&D D D D D D D D D
VWEFOMVL0PI4H3MVVROYIE4H0SSURSUMEWI#RE4H5URP"SIGM-MIH"WEFMOM@EWMR45;4HV )MG.A#&&&
0SSURSUMEWI-RU UMRUDIEUVCA4SEMH1MOOV )
(&(++IGMA .&&D D D D D D D D D
0SSURSUMEWI-RU0;WLRUM@IH2ESMWEO8PSURYIPI4WV )
(&(06 .&&D D D D D D D D D
"WUIIW0GGISWE4GI )
(&(++IGMA .&&D D D D D D D D D
0SSURSUMEWI-RU#UEVL!IG?GOM4.1M4V )
(&(++IGMA .&&D D D D D D D D D
OHIUO?E4H3MVEFOIH#E>EWMR40MH5;4H2RPPMWWII 69
G&A)3 )MG.A#&&&
";UGLEU.IR4"SIGM-MG!IVMHI4WMEO3IYIORSPI4W 2MWM@I4 IWMWMR4)
(&(++IGMA .&&D D D D D D D D D
( YIUVII5M4E4GMEO>SI4HMW;UIV9I>M4.WR47M.L"GLRRO
URNIGW 2MWM@I4 IWMWMR4)
(&(-&J!++IGMA) (,& D D
) URG;UIPI4W-RU 4OM4I2ESMWEO URNIGW OEW-RUP 2MWM@I4 IWMWMR4 )MG.A#&&&
"SIIH7;PSVBCEO4;W"W 2MWM@I4 IWMWMR4)
(&(-&J!++IGMA
&-
0
0PI4HPI4WB2LESWIU.&A.a!I.;OEWMR4R-!I-;VI3MVSRVEOb )
(&(++IGMA
-&
D D D D D 0 D D D