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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-01-28-AC-min 01/28/2021 AC Minutes Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee (AC) January 28, 2021 Place and Time: Remote Participation: in accordance with the Governor's March 12, 2020 Order Suspending Certain Provisions of the Open Meeting Law; communication took place 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; John Bartenstein; Eric Michelson; Meg Muckenhoupt; Lily Manhua Yan; Carolyn Kosnoff, Assistant Town Manager, Finance (non-voting, ex officio) Member(s)Absent: None Other Attendees: Eileen Jay, Vice-Chair, and Deepika Sawhney: Lexington School Committee; David Kanter, Vice-Chair and Clerk: Capital Expenditures Committee; Sara Arnold, Recording Secretary Mr. Parker confirmed attendance by roll call, reviewed the authorization for meeting remotely, noted that the meeting was being called to order at 7:32 p.m. on January 28, 2021, and stated that the meeting was being recorded for the purpose of creating minutes. He also noted that materials for the meeting were available on-line. Announcements and Liaison Reports Mr. Bartenstein provided an update on the 2020 Town Meeting article that requested home rule legislation designed to delay application of the 16%interest rate to outstanding deferred property taxes after a homeowner dies. The legislation was signed into law by the Governor on January 13, 2021. Mr. Michelson reported that the Minuteman Technical High School budget had been approved on January 26. He also reported that the number of student applications from member towns is greater than anticipated, which has triggered discussion about ways to increase the capacity of the facility in regard to number of students including repurposing a facility on Mill Street in Lincoln, previously used for a preschool, to accommodate some additional classrooms. This is not in the current budget but is being considered as a future possibility. Mr. Levine and Mr. Parker reported that the Financial Policy Working Group had met with Dan Sherman, the Town's actuary who has prepared actuarial evaluations of the Town's liability for Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB). The discussion involved policies and strategies relevant to contributions to the Town's OPEB trust fund. A draft policy is being reviewed. Currently, funding for retiree health and dental insurance in the next fiscal year is directly funded through the operating budget, while funds are appropriated in a separate article into the OPEB trust fund, with the goal of fully-funding OPEB future obligations. The fund currently has a balance close to $20 million. Mr. Sherman agreed to provide a few alternative implementation scenarios and a"live" spreadsheet. The option to transfer the remaining balance of the Health Care Trust Fund into the OPEB trust fund was discussed, as was the idea of routing all OPEB payments, i.e., the sum of the annual obligations plus any payments for unfunded and/or future liabilities, through the OPEB trust fund. Annual obligations would then be appropriated from the OPEB trust fund instead of directly from the operating budget. Ms. Kosnoff noted that drawing on the OPEB trust fund could provide critical flexibility during the first few years of debt service for a new high school. It was noted that when 1 01/28/2021 AC Minutes the Pension Fund is fully funded, it will be easier to address the funding of future OPEB liabilities, but it is not clear when the Pension Fund will be fully funded. Ms. Kosnoff reported that Mr. Sherman's contract to serve as actuary for the Town's Pension Fund had expired on December 31, 2020. The Town has interviewed two firms to assume those responsibilities. Mr. Sherman's contract to handle the OPEB recommendations expires at the end of calendar year 2021. Mr. Sherman may be interested in extending his OPEB role. Ms. Kosnoff reported that Governor Charlie Baker has released a draft budget, which includes more State aid (including Chapter 70 and General Aid and Veterans allocations) for Lexington than anticipated. Using a comparison of potential changes between the FY2022 Town Manager's Preliminary Budget& Financing Plan (White Book) and the FY2022 Recommended Budget and Financing Plan (Brown Book), she demonstrated how the budget would be adjusted to reflect this change. She noted that, at present, staff will recommend that the additional aid be used to reduce the use of the Stabilization Fund rather than the Special Education Stabilization Fund. This triggered discussion about the revenue allocation between the municipal and school budgets and the contingency options that are available should there be shortfalls in the budget during FY2022 because of"unknowns". Ms. Kosnoff also reported on some minor adjustments to the budget, plus she noted that in the last fiscal year the revenue in the Water and Wastewater Enterprise Funds was higher than projected. Thus, cash capital may be used for the water tank design capital project rather than debt financing. Planning for Committee Report to Annual Town Meeting 2021 Mr. Parker agreed to contact each member to discuss preferred assignments for this Committee's report. Using the Report Planner, Mr. Parker led a discussion to determine this Committee's support for a Consent Agenda that included those articles previously identified by the Select Board for inclusion. The Report Planner was updated during the meeting with a"Y" (or"Y if indefinitely postponed (IP'd)")if there was no objection to the article being included on the Consent Agenda by a member of this Committee. For information purposes, a"CEC" was added for those supported by the CEC but not by the Select Board (SB). Discussion included the following: • Article 6: Appropriate for Senior Services Program: There is an effort to get additional participation in this program. • Article 13: Water System Improvements: (b)Water tank replacement: This article covers design work only. The construction phase of the project is expected to cost roughly $6 million. • Article 24: Appropriate for High School Feasibility Study: It was noted that if the Massachusetts School Building Authority determines that Lexington's high school will not be included in its accepted list of projects this year, this article will be IP'd. Ms. Jay reported that she does not expect the Town will be informed by the MSBA before the ATM. • Article 25: Amend Borrowing Authorization Conservation Land Acquisition: Mr. Kanter explained that although the SB supported including this on the Consent Agenda, the CEC did not do so because of comments by Ms. Kosnoff, who had indicated that there would be value in letting Town Meeting members know about the proposed change in the way the purchase of the land behind 39 Highland Avenue will be funded. Ms. Kosnoff reported that 2 01/28/2021 AC Minutes there will be a separate presentation about this at the ATM, so it isn't necessary to keep it off the Consent Agenda. • Article 29: Clean Heat—Authorize Special Legislation to Regulate Fossil Fuel Infrastructure: It was questioned whether this would impact Town construction projects. It was agreed to potentially include it in this Committee's report with a brief comment, although at this Committee's January 21, 2021 meeting it was not going to be included in this Committee's report. • Article 37: Amend General BylawsStormwater Management(Chapter 114): At this Committee's January 21, 2021 meeting this article was not going to be included in this Committee's report, but it was decided to reconsider this decision after Mr. Michelson gets additional information about the article. Mr. Parker agreed to forward to the Town Moderator the updated list of articles that this Committee had identified on the Report Planner for the Consent Agenda. Minutes of Prior Meetings A motion was made and seconded to approve the AC draft minutes, with edits, for its January 21, 2021 meeting. There was a roll call vote. The motion was approved. VOTE: 7-0 The meeting adjourned at 9:17 p.m. by a roll call vote. VOTE: 7-0 Respectfully submitted, Sara Arnold Approved: February 4, 2021 Exhibits • Agenda, posted by Mr. Parker, Chair • Report Planner: List of Articles for 2021 ATM • Crosswalk of Potential Changes: White Book to Brown Book • White Book, Section 11 Revenues, Town of Lexington, MA 3