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Home My WebLink About2020-03-05-AC-min 03/05/2020 AC Minutes Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee (AC) March 5, 2020 Place and Time: Cary Memorial Building, Hudson Room, 7:30 p.m. Members Present: Glenn Parker, Chair; Sanjay Padaki, Vice-Chair; Alan Levine, Secretary; John Bartenstein; Eric Michelson; Meg Muckenhoupt; Nick Nichols; Carolyn Kosnoff, Assistant Town Manager, Finance (non-voting, ex officio) Members)Absent: Lily Manhua Yan Other Attendees: None The meeting was called to order at 7:35 p.m. Announcements and Liaison Reports There were no reports. 2020 Annual Town Meeting (ATM) Financial Articles and Report Planning Mr. Parker led a review of the financial articles to identify those that still need written material for the report and to vote on those which this Committee was prepared to vote. • Article 4: Appropriate FY2021 Operating Budget: Mr. Levine reported that he is finalizing the draft text for the school budget, which is included in this article. A motion was made to recommend approval of this article. Mr. Michelson read the first three paragraphs of the written material he had prepared regarding Minuteman Technical Regional High School (Minuteman Tech), noting that the increase in Lexington's portion of the school's budget continues to increase significantly. There are a number of contributing factors, from the capital costs for building a new facility to operating costs associated with the number of non-district students. It was noted that Minuteman Tech serves the highest number of special education students as compared to all other technical high schools in the State. The motion was seconded and passed. VOTE: 7-0 • Article 5: Appropriate FY2021 Enterprise Funds Budgets: Mr. Bartenstein reported that he is preparing the draft text for this article. It will be available next week. • Article 6: Establish Qualifications for Tax Deferrals: Mr. Bartenstein reported that this program is perceived as the best approach for helping residents, particularly senior citizens, remain in their homes. Approximately 40 homeowners participate. The article recommends increasing the income criteria for eligibility to no more than $90,000. A motion was made and seconded to recommend approval of this article. The motion passed. VOTE 7-0 • Article 7: Petition General Court to Amend Legislation Regarding Tax Deferrals: Mr. Bartenstein explained that, per State regulations, the rate of return on funds owed the Town by residents participating in the tax deferral program is currently 2.5%until the death of the participant(s), when the rate of return increases to 16%. This article would allow the Town to petition for a one-year delay in that increase. A motion was made and seconded to recommend approval of this article. The motion passed. VOTE: 7-0 • Article 8: Short Term Rental Impact Fee: Ms. Muckenhoupt and Mr. Bartenstein explained that this article would allow the Town to implement a short term rental impact fee of up to 1 03/05/2020 AC Minutes 3% on short term rental facilities, such as rooms or apartments used as AirBnBs. Ms. Kosnoff reported the following: ➢ Department of Local Services' Frequently Asked Questions provides valuable information in understanding this article. ➢ Article 36: Amend Zoning Bylaw—Short Term Rentals: This article is intended to further regulate short term rentals. ➢ Projecting new revenue is challenging. ➢ It is expected that some of the funds will be allocated to community housing. A motion was made and seconded to recommend approval of this article. The motion passed. VOTE 6-0-1 • Article 9: Establish and Continue Departmental Revolving Funds: It was noted that Lexington does not currently require permits for the use of laboratory animals. The amount to be authorized for Lab Animal Permits is yet to be determined. A motion was made and seconded to recommend approval of this article. The motion passed. VOTE: 7-0 • Article 10: Appropriate the FY2021 Community Preservation Committee Operating Budget and Community Preservation Act Projects: Ms. Muckenhoupt reported that she has completed and will submit her written material. Mr. Nichols, who was not in attendance on February 20th when other committee members voted on this article, added his support for approval of all the sub-sections of this article except for the following: ➢ d) Conservation Land Acquisition ➢ e)Daisy Wilson Meadow Preservation ➢ f)Wright Farm Site Access Planning and Design ➢ 1)Lexington Housing Authority (LexHAB)-Greeley Village Community Center Preservation ➢ m)LexHAB-116 Vine Street Design Funds • Article 11: Appropriate for Recreation Capital Projects: Mr. Padaki explained that this article has two parts, part a)for the Pine Meadows Club house and part b)for golf course equipment. There will be separate motions at the ATM. A motion was made and seconded to recommend approval of both parts of this article. The motion passed. VOTE: 7-0 • Article 12: Appropriate for Municipal Capital Projects and Equipment: Mr. Michelson agreed to create a table identifying the funding sources for the projects included in this article. A motion was made and seconded to recommend approval of this article. The motion passed. VOTE: 7-0 • Article 13: Appropriate for Water System Improvements and Article 14: Appropriate for Wastewater System Improvements: Mr. Bartenstein reported that setting water/sewer rates in 2020 will be challenging because of the considerable increases projected for the Massachusetts Water Resources Commission assessments. Ms. Kosnoff agreed to review Mr. Bartenstein's write up for the report. A motion was made and seconded to recommend approval of Articles 13 and 14. The motion passed. VOTE: 7-0 • Article 15: Appropriate for School Capital Projects and Equipment: Mr. Levine reported that he would complete his write-up on this article by the weekend, based primarily on previous discussions. 2 03/05/2020 AC Minutes A motion was made and seconded to recommend approval of this article. The motion passed. VOTE: 7-0 • Article 16: Appropriate for Public Facilities Capital Projects: Mr. Parker reported that he had received written material from Ms. Yan. Mr. Padaki noted his concern that the fees for Westview Cemetery will not cover the 20-year debt service for the project. This is because a crematory study caused delays, thus an increase, in the project's costs, but the fees were not increased accordingly. He plans to submit additional comments for the report. A motion was made and seconded to recommend approval of this article. The motion passed. VOTE: 7-0 • Article 17: Appropriate to Post Employment Insurance Liability Fund: Mr. Parker reported that he is preparing text for this article. He noted that the current budget does not include taking expenses for employee health insurance from this fund. A motion was made and seconded to recommend approval of this article. The motion passed. VOTE: 7-0 • Article 22: Amend FY2020 Operating, Enterprise and CPA Budgets: Ms. Kosnoff reported that because the Town received an increase in State funding for CPA projects, the FY2020 revenue for each of the identified categories is increasing to $68,000 and the total revenue is increasing to $634,495 A motion was made and seconded to recommend approval of this article, as described. The motion passed. VOTE: 7-0 Minutes After a brief discussion, a motion was made and seconded to approve the AC meeting minutes for both February 13 and 20, as distributed by Mr. Levine. The motion passed. VOTE: 7-0 The meeting adjourned at 9:40 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Sara Arnold Approved: March 19, 2020 Exhibits • Agenda, posted by Mr. Parker, Chair • Article 4, Minuteman FY21, v3, prepared by Mr. Michelson 3