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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-01-19-AC-minJanuary 19, 2012 Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee Meeting January 19, 2012 Time and Location: Selectmen's Meeting Room, Town Office Building, 7:30 p.m. Members Present: Glenn Parker, Chair; John Bartenstein, Vice Chair and Secretary; Joe Pato, Vice Chair; Alan Levine; Eric Michelson; Richard Neumeier; Jonina Schonfeld; Rob Addelson (non- voting, ex officio) Others in Attendance: Theo Kalivas, Budget Officer The meeting was called to order at 7:36 p.m. Alan Levine agreed to take minutes. 1. Minutes The status of minutes from previous meetings was reviewed. John noted that he had a question about handling minutes of the recent executive sessions regarding health insurance. He agreed to look into the matter. 2. Reports of Liaisons Jonina and Joe gave very brief reports about School Committee and Board of Selectmen meetings. Jonina agreed to continue to cover School Committee meetings and will ask Mollie to join in this effort. Joe will try to cover Board of Selectmen meetings and Glenn will try to attend CEC meetings. 3. Report Strategies and Assignments Glenn stated that a major goal of this meeting is to look over the draft warrant and to start to make work assignments. He also urged the Committee to rethink the Committee's report to Town Meeting by reconsidering the content and even the goals of the report, and to not only focus on what town meeting members are interested in reading in the report but also on what the Committee thinks would be most valuable for them to read. The question was raised as to what fiscal policies the Committee follows in formulating recommendations and drafting the report. A general discussion followed regarding who had made and who is making fiscal policies and where they are codified. The sense of the response to the question was that there are some aspects of adoption of a budget that are governed by laws, bylaws, or regulations, such as that the Town budget must be balanced in order to set a tax rate. Beyond these basics, the fiscal policies that have been adopted by the Board of Selectmen from time to time and that have been recommended by panels appointed by the Board, often are worth following, but are not binding on this Committee or Town Meeting. The Committee agreed to discuss this topic further at a future meeting. The Committee reopened the topic of reviewing "boiler plate" material and attempting to put such background information into appendices so that seasoned town meeting members do not January 19, 2012 need to reread it every year. One suggestion is to go even further and create a separate publication containing background information that would then not need to be repeated in the report. This was extended with the further suggestion that the CEC could be asked if it wants to join in this effort. Rob noted that the Department of Revenue (DoR) Division of Local Services (DLS) has published a handbook on finance for local officials that may be useful. Alan, Joe, and Jonina agreed to work on the topic of separating out background material. The first substantive item on the draft warrant is the appropriation of funds for a new Estabrook School. Technically, this is an item on the warrant for a special town meeting that will be held at or soon after the beginning of the annual town meeting. This item was assigned to Alan and Robert. Joe will join them if the January 24 referendum question about building a new Estabrook School is not approved. The following constitute a list of issues of special importance or timeliness this year. The items are not listed in any particular order. New MIS positions; School bus contract; Lexpress, including the possible loss on the $80K MBTA grant and the movement of the line item from the DPW line to the Community development line; Full -time veterans service officer Health insurance Increase in cash capital spending Debt exclusions Capital items to be discussed by School Committee and /or Board of Selectmen Second year of use of Avalon Bay mitigation funds and, more generally, the multiyear plan for managing the replacement of ARRA funds in the school budget; Use of surplus funds, if any, and whether the uses should include a reduction in the property tax rate. The Town Manager's recommended budget for FY 2013 at present includes approximately $1.6M that has not been allocated but is intended to fund as yet unidentified capital expenses, and also includes $400K or so that is set aside in case of a cut in State aid. The Committee made assignments for the financial articles on the draft warrant. The assignments are: Article 4 Operating Budget: Municipal budget (includes new MIS positions) — Robert; One of the MIS positions involves web services. Rob Addelson noted that the person in this position would provide services to a number of departments including the main Town web site and Cary Library but that there was no plan to combine staff to work on both the municipal and school web sites. Lexington Public Schools budget — Jonina, Mollie; This would include information on any changes in the school bus contract. Minuteman — Eric; 2 January 19, 2012 Shared expenses — Joe, Alan; This section will involve changes to the health insurance benefits and budget for FY 2013 among other changes of lesser importance. Information regarding the process to make changes in health insurance could be put in an appendix. Public Facilities — Eric; Article 5 Enterprise Funds — John, water and sewer; Dick, recreation; Article 6 Senior Service — John; Article 7 Revolving Funds — Joe; Article 8 Community Preservation — Eric, Robert, and TBD; Articles 9/10 Land Purchase — Alan; Article 11 Recreation Capital — Dick; Article 12 Municipal Capital — Glenn; Articles 13/14 Water and Sewer Capital — John; Article 15 School Capital — Mollie, Jonina; Article 16 Facilities Capital — Glenn; Article 17 School Bus Transportation (citizen's article) — Dick, Joe; This should be coordinated with the school bus contract part of Art. 4. Article 18 Post Employment Insurance Liability — Alan; Article 19 Rescind Prior Borrowing — TBD; Article 20 Minuteman Stabilization Fund — Eric; Article 21 Specified Stabilization Funds — Eric; Article 22 Stabilization Fund — Eric; Article 23 Debt Service Stabilization Fund — Eric; Article 24 Prior Years' Bills — TBD; Articles 25/26 Amend Operating Budget /Capital — Glenn; Article 27 Tax Deferrals and Exemptions — John; Articles 28/29 Accept MGL sections — John; Article 34 Retirement Board (TBD) — TBD; Financial Projections —Eric; Overview and introduction — Glenn; 4. Other Items. The Chair requested that the Committee meet next on Thursday, January 26, at 7:30 p.m. 3 January 19, 2012 The meeting was adjourned at 9:22 p.m. A list of documents and other items used at the meeting is attached. Respectfully submitted, Alan Levine Approved February 8, 2012 11 January 19, 2012 Exhibits Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee Meeting January 19, 2012 1. Meeting Agenda, posted by Glenn Parker, Chair.