HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-08-09-AC-minAugust 9, 2010
Minutes
Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee
August 9, 2010
Place and time: Town Office Building, Room G-15,730 p.m.
Members present: Alan Levine (Chair), Glenn Parker (Vice - Chair), John Bartenstein
(Vice Chair and Secretary), Mollie Garberg, Susan McLeish, Eric Michelson, Richard
Neumeier, Joe Pato, Rob Addelson (ex officio, non - voting)
Also present: Charles Lamb, Capital Expenditures Committee
The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m.
1. Welcome Dick Neumeier. The Committee welcomed its newest member,
Dick Neumeier, who was recently appointed for a three -year term, commencing July 1,
2010, to fill one of two vacancies on the committee.
2. Building Rental Revolving Fund. Rob Addelson made a brief presentation
on the proposal of the Public Facilities Department to increase the spending limit for the
FY2010 Building Rental Revolving Fund from the $275,000 limit approved at the 2009
Annual Town Meeting by $32,000 to $307,000, and circulated a supporting handout.
Limits set at Town Meeting may be increased by the combined action of the Board of
Selectmen and the Appropriation Committee. Rob explained that the additional funds
requested were needed to cover unexpectedly high overtime costs for maintenance and
upkeep resulting from the rental of school buildings and other facilities in June; that the
fund's receipts for the year, $349,821, were more than adequate to cover the requested
spending; that the fund began the fiscal year with a carryover balance of about $40,000;
and that with the requested spending increase there should be a carryover balance of
about $82,000 at the end of FY2010. The committee voted unanimously (8 -0) to support
the requested increase.
3. Election of Officers. The committee voted unanimously to elect the following
officers for FY2011: Glenn Parker, Chair; John Bartenstein, Vice -Chair and Secretary;
and Joe Pato, Vice - Chair.
4. Proposed Street Light Replacement. Rob Addelson made a presentation on
a proposal recently advanced by the DPW and the Town's Lighting Options Committee
to undertake the replacement of the bulbs and related fixtures in virtually all of the
Town's street lights with energy efficient bulbs and better - shielded fixtures. There is
some urgency because NSTAR has imposed a December 1, 2010 deadline for completion
of the entire project as a condition of participating in a rebate program that would fund
$237,724 of the project's anticipated cost of approximately $930,500. It is projected that
the replacement would reduce the Town's annual electricity costs for streetlights from the
existing level of $286,000 to $96,200, a savings of approximately $190,000 per year.
With the NSTAR rebate, the payback period would be about 3.6 years.
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August 9, 2010
Rob explained that the Town has an additional incentive to undertake this
exchange program promptly. For some years now, NSTAR has undercounted the number
of streetlights that are subject to charge. The number was reduced some years ago when
the Town turned off a number of streetlights as a cost - saving measure, and when those
streetlights were later turned back on, NSTAR failed to capture all of them in its billing
system. The Town has made NSTAR aware of this issue, but until now NSTAR has not
corrected its billing. NSTAR has told the Town that if it undertakes the bulb replacement
project, it will defer billing for the full complement of streetlights until the project is
complete. Presumably, if the Town decides not to do the replacement project at this time,
NSTAR will immediately start to bill for the full complement going forward, although it
is not expected to seek retroactive reimbursement. The annual cost of electricity for the
full complement of streetlights at current rates is approximately $350,000, and the Town
as a matter of prudence has budgeted this amount for FY2011.
If a decision is made to go forward with this proposal, a major challenge will be
the financing of the purchase and installation of the new bulbs and fixtures, particularly
in the absence of a capital expenditure authorization approved by Town Meeting. The
Town staff is currently exploring a "third party lease - purchase" arrangement, under
which a third party financing company such as GE Capital would pay the up -front costs
of the project and the Town would then make monthly lease payments out of the savings
to its existing streetlight budget. Rob said that Town Counsel had advised that the
Selectmen could approve such an arrangement without authorization by Town Meeting.
One option would then be to seek Town Meeting approval at the next annual town
meeting for a bond issuance whose proceeds would be used to buy out the lease, thus
reducing the financing costs going forward.
The committee was generally supportive of the project and its stated goal of
lowering costs and increasing efficiency, but raised a number of questions and concerns
that might be wise to address before deciding whether to go forward. Among those
concerns were whether, regardless of the financing method and projected savings to be
achieved, this might be considered a major capital expenditure that would require action
in advance by Town Meeting; whether NSTAR might be willing to extend the deadline
for completion of the project to allow the Town to pursue a more deliberative process;
and whether it was wise to swap all streetlight bulbs at once as opposed to phasing them
in so that they will not all reach their end of life at the same time.
The decision whether to proceed with this project or not will likely be made by
the Board of Selectmen at its next meeting in late August. Action by this committee is
not required but Rob will pass on its views and concerns and try to get back with answers
to the questions raised. Rob confirmed that a "test run" of the proposed replacement
bulbs will be undertaken before any commitment is made to proceed with the project to
make sure that the new bulbs will meet with community acceptance.
5. Miscellaneous. Minutes of the meetings held on February 8, February 17,
June 7 and June 30, 2010 were approved.
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August 9, 2010
A "summit" meeting with the Community Preservation Committee to discuss
CPA policy has been tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, September 29 but Susan
McLeish reported that the Board of Selectmen may want to accelerate it.
Joe Pato and Al Levine reported on the status of their review of health benefit
subscription and cost issues and a recent meeting with Carl Valente and Denise Casey.
Some progress has been made but there is a good deal more to be done and work on this
issue will likely continue up until the next annual town meeting.
Al Levine reported on a meeting of the Permanent Building Committee that he
attended on June 27. A presentation was made by the architects hired to study the
building needs of the police and fire departments, which are considerable. The PBC will
be making a report on these issues to the Board of Selectmen in September. Alan
commented that the Town will face an enormous challenge in prioritizing and funding the
large number of capital needs that have been identified, including not only the police and
fire stations but also the high school, several elementary schools, and a new senior center,
all of which would require debt exclusions. This will require a great deal of discussion
and will be a long process.
The meeting concluded with a brief discussion of agenda items for the next
meeting, which is scheduled for Monday, August 23.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:40 p.m.
A list of documents and other exhibits used at the meeting is attached.
Respectfully submitted,
John Bartenstein
Approved August 26, 2010
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Exhibits
Appropriation Committee Meeting of
August 9, 2010
Agenda circulated by Alan Levine, Chair, on August 3, 2010
2. Lexington Board of Selectmen, Agenda Item Summary, "Amend FYI Public
Facilities Building Rental Revolving Fund," dated August 2, 2010
Email from Rob Addelson to Charles Lamb and Alan Levine re "Proposed
Replacement of Streetlight Bulbs with More Energy Efficient Bulbs," dated July
30, 2010
4. Lexington Board of Selectmen, Agenda Item Summary, "Energy Efficient Street
Light Proposal," dated August 2, 2010, with attached analysis of "Estimated
Savings and Payback Resulting from Conversion of Streetlights to Alternative
Lamps," dated 7/30/2010