HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-04-15-AC-minMinutes
Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee
April 15, 2009
Place and time: Ellen Stone Room, Cary Memorial Building, 6:30 PM
Members present: Alan Levine (Chair), John Bartenstein (Vice Chair), Richard Eurich,
Pam Hoffman, Susan McLeish (Secretary), Eric Michelson, Glenn Parker, Mollie
Garberg and Rob Addelson (ex officio, non - voting)
The meeting was called to order at 6:40 PM.
Local Aid. Rob Addelson reported that the Town has heard that local aid to
Lexington will be $9,058,898 which is a shortfall of $166,687 from the
amount estimated in the 2010 budget in the Brown Book. This amount is still
tentative. Additionally, he has not spoken with representatives from
Minuteman Vocational Technical High School to see if there is an impact to
their budget (which in turn would impact the allocation to the Town). He
does not believe that there will be an impact but will check.
2. Articles. Rob Addelson also mentioned that the Finance Department is
currently preparing a third quarter exception report to identify any current
year budget problems which would require adjustment at Town Meeting
(under Article 30 — Amend 2009 Operating Budget), would fall under the 3%
rule, or could be addressed by a reserve fund transfer. A report will be given
to the Selectmen during their meeting on April 27 and he will provide us with
a report at that same time. He indicated that their goal is to have a motion to
put forward to Town Meeting that evening and that it will address Article 25
and the SPED reserve as well.
Article 31 for Supplemental Capital was to be indefinitely postponed;
however it may now be needed. There is a project planned for methane
mitigation at the Lincoln Fields for which bids were received and the low bid
(within the amount appropriated) was accepted. The next highest bidder
however, protested as the low bidder did not sign the two addendums. A
hearing before the Attorney General was held yesterday and their ruling on the
matter, when received, will be advisory. The company that is protesting could
take the matter to the Supreme Court. The Town could reject all bids received
and have the bidders rebid, in which case there may be additional funds
necessary. Additionally, the Town does have the ability to take a portion
($150,000) of the $217,000 appropriation from Article 8i in 2003 as a
supplemental appropriation.
The sprinkler head project at Clarke Middle School will be addressed in an
Article in the Special Town Meeting on May 6.
3. Warrant for Special Town Meeting. It was noted that the warrant has not
yet arrived in homes but is available on the Town's website.
4. Selectmen's Ad Hoc Fiscal Task Force. The Selectmen have created a task
force to evaluate the Town's likely financial scenario for the
FY2011 to FY 2014 period, identify options for dealing with the financial
challenges, and recommend policies and actions to maintain stable and
vibrant Town services when financially feasible, and would like a liaison from
the Appropriation Committee. We briefly discussed the mission and Alan
asked for people to consider their interest in being a liaison. A concern was
expressed that the timing was aggressive in terms of being able to put forth
recommendations and it was suggested that this was perhaps a good topic to
cover in a summit environment.
5. Zoning Related Articles. We held a short discussion regarding Articles 44,
45, 46, and 9 and concerns raised on the TMMA email list.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Susan McLeish
Approved July 6, 2009
2