HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-03-18-AC-minMinutes
Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee
3.18.09
Place and time: Ellen Stone Room, Cary Memorial Building, 6:30 PM.
Members Present: John Bartenstein (Vice Chair), Rick Eurich, Mollie Garberg, Pam Hoffman, Mike
Kennealy, Al Levine (Chair), Susan McLeish, Eric Michelson, Glenn Parker, Rob Addelson (Ex Officio)
Meeting called to order 6:30 PM
Preliminary Report — 20, 34, 35, 38, 39 — goes to Al to edit, then email to the list
Report 1— 4, 8, 28, 29, 43 Report needs to be on the table by March 25
Report 2 — 9, 30, 44, 48, 49 Report needs to be on the table by April 15
Eric will send shell to everyone Thursday morning. Everyone else can circulate edits by Friday AM.
Rob indicated that there was a $270K reduction in local aid in Brown Book - $270K more than proposed
by Governor. We kept that amount in our budget in case Legislature cut budget by more than the
Governor proposed. If we get confirmation Legislature isn't going to cut by this amount, this amount
could be put into the Stabilization Fund.
Report 1: Include currently no plans to put funds in stabilization fund, however we're carrying potential
$270K extra revenue if this $270 K reduction doesn't materialize. If this money isn't allocated to
anywhere it will fall to fund balance at the end of FY2010.
Article 43 scheduled for April 1 5t
March 23 — Articles 3, 32 — 40 (32 and 36 to be IP'd) (We will make recommendations on these four
articles: 34, 35, 38 and 39)
March 25 — Reports of Town Manager, Superintendent, maybe Superintendent of MM Tech, Article 41,
42, 20, 21
March 30 —Jay Kaufman to recognize high school students, AC report, possible report from Mike
Kennealy, School Finance Committee Report, Article 4 (split out the health benefits line item until April
1), 5, 6, 7,8 and 10
April 1, 6, 8, 13, 15 — Article 43, then continuing numerically from there
April 27 — Articles 44, 45, 46 as one presentation and discussion
April 27 or April 29 — Article 9 (needs to wait for 44, 45, 46) 47, 48, 30
May 4 - 49 (Beal)
May 6 — Special Town Meeting
Report 1— goal to have it printed and on TMMA table for 3/25
Mike Kennealy added his votes to the articles we had voted on:
35:9 -0
39: 8 -0 -1
20: 8 -0 -1
4: 9 -0
6: 9 -0
8: 9 -0 the money is already in the Town Manager's budget, however, it needs to be appropriated under
this article
10: 9 -0
11: b, d, e, f, g, i, j, k, 8 -0 -1 (MK)
11: n, 8 -1 (MK)
15: a, b, c, d, g, h, I, j, 9 -0
16: 9 -0 as described in the warrant p.15
17: 9 -0 as described in the warrant p.15
18: 9 -0
19: e, j, k and o are covered by CPA and will be voted under Article 11. We voted on a, b, c, d, f, g, h, i, I,
m, n approved 9 -0
24:IP
25: Assuming availability of the $350K, the AC supports adding it to the SPED Stabilization Fund 9 -0
26, 27 — we already voted on these — 26 may be IPd after consultation with Bond Counsel
28: pending
29: based on current information it will be IN (pending)
30: pending
31: pending (will be IN). This project w /drawn at request of Pat Goddard because falling price of oil
meant it was no longer cost - effective. It will be substituted with project to relocate /add sprinkler heads
at Clarke School (Brown Book, p. XI -II). This new project will be included in the Warrant for the May 6
STM.
43: 0- 8- 1(JB); Mike recommends against this article for many reasons. He will propose a different
resolution under the healthcare line item in Article 4.
Discussion about how to prepare the financial projections:
If recession ends FY11, won't see increase in state aid until FY12. There's a one -year lag between state
aid and the recession — either way. How do we decide on which growth numbers to use for healthcare
expenses, state aid, etc? Alan proposes using numbers that are more optimistic than what Eric is
hearing from town staff.
AI's suggestion: look at Rob's projection from the fall and write a narrative with a sensitivity analysis on
wages and other items.
Mike disagrees — he feels we're the AC, we should be telling TM what we think is the financial future of
the town.
JB —The policy question for next year will be whether to use money from the stabilization fund or
recommend an override.
AL —The error caused by going over budget is greater than being under budget. When building a budget
it's important to underestimate revenues and over estimate expenses. Can't do projections that way
though.
11: a) pending, c) Pine Meadows — where should the funding come from — CPA or Recreation Enterprise
Fund? 3 -6
Future meeting schedule:
Tuesday, March 24: 8:00 PM, Final discussion on drafts
Meeting Adjourned: 10:45 PM
Respectfully submitted,
Pam Hoffman
Approved July 6, 2009