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Home My WebLink About2011-03-17-AC-min March 1Z 2011 Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee March 17, 2011 Place and time Cary Hall, Estabrook Lobby, 7 30 p m Members Present Glenn Parker, Chair; John Bartenstein, Vice Chair and Secretary; Joe Pato, Vice Chair; Eric Michelson, Richard Neumeier; Rob Addelson (non-voting, ex- officio) The meeting was called to order at 7 36 p m 1 Report Schedule. The Committee discussed the timing of its report to the Annual Town Meeting The goal is to have a final draft ready by Monday, March 21, 2011 and the complete report on the TMMA table and distributed electronically by Wednesday, March 23 2. Article Discussion and Votes. Article 4 - Operating Budget Mr Pato and Mr Levine reported that their write-up on the health insurance budget is still pending, and that they would be meeting on Tuesday with Carl Valente and Human Resources Director Denise Casey to obtain additional information regarding actual enrollment and its fluctuation, as well as school data The Committee agreed that the final report should reflect the true underlying increase in health insurance and that another meeting of the Committee should be scheduled for Tuesday, March 22, 2011 in order to finalize the report. Mr Addelson, referring to the 3/11/11 draft motion of Article 4 that was circulated at the previous meeting, pointed out that the appropriation of Free Cash has been increased to $4,838,115 This amount includes the $697,000 that during the budgeting process had been set aside to offset potential cuts to State Aid It will be appropriated at the Annual Town Meeting, even though there are no offsetting expenses in the budget, so as not to require a Fall Special Town Meeting in order to access this revenue Mr Addelson explained that there is no requirement that the Annual Town Meeting conclude with a balanced budget. If it turns out that not all of the $697,000 in unbudgeted revenue is needed to cover any remaining FY2012 snow and ice deficit and/or a reduction in State Aid, then he will reduce the current estimate of local receipts to the extent necessary to balance the budget for tax recap purposes in the fall, and the overage will appear as Free Cash at the end of FY2012 that is available for appropriation in FY2013 A motion was made and seconded to recommend approval of this article Vote Approved 6-0-0 Article 5 - Enterprise Funds Budgets - Recreation Portion Mr Bartenstein added his vote in the affirmative Final Vote Approved 9-0-0 Article 5 - Enterprise Funds Budget - Complete Article A motion was made and seconded to recommend approval of this article Vote Approved 6-0-0 Article 6 - Senior Service Program The Committee will leave its recommendation pending in the report and vote on this article after it receives the final amount proposed for appropriation 1 March 1Z 2011 Article 7- Revolving Funds Mr Bartenstein added his vote in the affirmative, bringing the Committee's vote on this article to Approved 9-0-0 Article 8 - CPC Operating Budget and CPA Projects Mr Bartenstein added his vote in the affirmative on everything previously voted for Article 8, including (a), (b), (d), (e), (g), (i) and (I), bringing the Committee's vote to Approved 9-0-0 Article 8(f) - Battle Green Master Plan Implementation A motion was made and seconded to recommend approval of this Article Vote Approved 6-0-0 Article 8(c) - Leary Property Planning Funds Mr Levine gave a background of the property and project. CPA funds were used to purchase 14 2 acres and a small lot on Vine Street was set aside for affordable housing The funds requested are for wetlands delineation, surveying of the housing site, and other technical information needed for the housing planning process to proceed LexHAB may develop this property, and a question was raised before the CPC whether LexHAB should be paying these costs The Committee decided to table this for a future discussion Article 9 - Recreation Capital Project Mr Bartenstein added his vote in the affirmative, bringing the Committee vote to Approved 9-0-0 Article 10 - Municipal Capital Projects and Equipment A motion was made and seconded to approve this article Vote Approved 6-0-0 Article 11 - Sewer System Improvements Mr Bartenstein gave a summary of his write up on this project and the Committee discussed the breakdown of the $1 3m requested A Motion was made and seconded to recommend approval of this article Vote Approved 6-0-0 Article 13(a) and (b) - (I) - Public Facilities Capital Project Mr Bartenstein added his vote in the affirmative on these article components, bringing the Committee vote to 13(a) Approved 8-0-1, and 13(b) through (I) Approved 9-0-0 Article 17- Reduce CPA Surcharge A Motion was made and seconded to recommend approval of this article The Committee discussed exemptions for particular income levels, future projects and the impact on debt exclusions as well as the commercial surcharge Vote Not approved 1-5-0 Article 18 - Post Employment Insurance Liability Fund A Motion was made and seconded to recommend approval of this article The draft write-up for the report was discussed and will be revised Vote Approved 6-0-0 Article 19 - Rescind Pnor Borrowing Authorizations will remain pending Article 20 - Specialized Stabilization Funds A Motion was made and seconded to recommend approval of this article Vote Approved 6-0-0 Article 22 - Debt Service Stabilization Fund Mr Bartenstein added his vote in the affirmative, bringing the Committee vote to Approved 9-0-0 2 March 1Z 2011 Article 23— Pnor Years' Unpaid Bills Article 24—Amend FY2011 Operating and Enterprise Budgets Article 25—Appropriate for Authonzed Capital Improvements The Committee's recommendation on the above articles will remain pending until the amounts of any proposed appropriations are determined Article 26 - Tax Deferrals and Exemptions Mr Pato added his vote in the affirmative bringing the Committee vote to Approved 9-0-0 Article 30 - Town Meeting Procedure Mr Pato summarized his write-up of this article Mr Bartenstein reported that he had been in discussions with the proponents of this article about several possible changes in the language A Motion was made and seconded to recommend approval of the article as currently written Vote Approve 5- 1-0 Article 37- Commercial Assessments The Committee continued its discussion of this article and the property assessment process Mr Addelson, who was absent when the article was previously discussed, noted that commercial assessments are usually based on a capitalization of income method which takes into account rental income and expenses that are not available for vacant property He cautioned that capturing value based on an up-zoning is speculative, and could expose the Town to claims for abatement and penalties He also expressed concern that a resolution questioning the assessors' methodology could undermine confidence in assessments Other members commented that the failure to recognize additional value from up-zonings could also undermine confidence in the process and that, if the DOR were to respond to this resolution by giving new guidance to the assessors, the assessors would be on sound ground if they followed those guidelines After further discussion, a motion was made and seconded to recommend approval of this article Vote Approved 4-2-0 Article 38 - Residential Assessments After discussion, a Motion was made, seconded and approved to take another vote on this article Two members changed their previous votes, bringing the Committee vote to Approved 6-3-0 The meeting adjourned at 10 10 p m A list of documents and exhibits used at the meeting is attached Respectfully submitted, Andrea Yepez Recording Secretary Approved Apnl 6, 2011 3 March 1Z 2011 Exhibits Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee March 17, 2011 1 Agenda posted by Glenn Parker, Chair 4