HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-03-30-AC-min.pdf 3/30/2026 AC Minutes
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Minutes
Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee (AC)
March 30, 2026
Place and Time: Cary Memorial Building, Ellen Stone Room; 7:00 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; Carolyn Kosnoff,
Assistant Town Manager, Finance (ex officio, non-voting)
Members Absent: none
Other Attendees: Rosalyn Impink, Budget Officer
At 7:00 p.m. Mr. Parker called the meeting to order.
Announcements and Liaison Reports
Mr. Levine and Ms. Kosnoff told the Committee that the School Building Committee Finance sub-
committee had met earlier in the day and had discussed the content of the Lexington High School
project dashboard and the timing of its implementation. The owner’s project manager is producing
the dashboard. Ms. Kosnoff emphasized that the process for the development of this dashboard will
not be applicable to other capital projects where there is no owner’s project manager.
Discussion of Financial Articles for the 2026 Annual Town Meeting
Regarding Article 27 Online Capital Project Platform, Mr. Parker showed a slightly revised version
of the substitute motion that had been developed at the previous (March 19) Committee meeting.
No objections to the change were raised. The revised version is:
Substitute Motion
Resolved that, in the interest of providing additional financial transparency for major capital
projects, the Town, in consultation with Town staff, the Select Board and other interested
parties:
(a) Develop a prioritized set of requirements to share information with residents about
selected capital projects in Lexington.
(b) Investigate commercially available systems and/or in-house solutions that could sat-
isfy the above requirements.
(c) Develop proposals for a project timeline and budget, including initial setup and on-
going expenses to implement the preferred solution.
(d) Provide a progress report at the 2026 fall Special Town Meeting.
Regarding Article 4 Operating Budget, there was discussion of the proposal to reduce the number of
staff in the Lexington Public Schools (LPS) in FY2027. Mr. Parker said that he had heard that
Dawn McKenna plans to offer an amendment that would increase the LPS budget line by use of a
portion of the $2.5 million of presently unallocated free cash. He said that he had talked to the Mod-
erator who may allow it to go forward because the amendments to change the school budget that
were announced before the deadline will not be offered.
3/30/2026 AC Minutes
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Ms. Kosnoff reported that she watched the presentation to the School Committee at their meeting
just prior to this meeting and found that most of the cuts that have been proposed are related to ei-
ther the decrease in enrollment over the past several years or changes in student needs.
There was further discussion of the number of staff that the recommended school budget could sup-
port, the proposed use by LPS of $3.8 million of circuit breaker funds to be received in the same fis-
cal year, and the principle that free cash should not be used to support operating budgets because
that would be using one-time revenue for recurring expenses. It was further pointed out that free
cash is being used to support the conversion to a new curriculum in the amount of $700,000 and that
is supplementing the operating budget. This is an exception to the rule just stated, in that it is one-
time revenue being used for a one-time expense.
A motion was made and seconded to support the use of one-time revenue in an amount that is un-
specified but would be roughly $1.5 million to support the operating budget. The motion failed with
a vote of 0-9.
Future Meeting Schedule
The Committee will meet next on Monday, April 6, 2026, at 7 p.m. prior to the second session of
the annual town meeting.
Adjourn
The meeting was adjourned at 7:27 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Alan M. Levine
Approved: April 8, 2026
Exhibits
● Agenda, posted by Mr. Parker