Lincoln selectmen advance draft Capital Planning Committee bylaw for spring Town Meeting

LINCOLN — January 30, 2012 — Lincoln selectmen advance draft bylaw to codify and expand Capital Planning Committee. The Board of Selectmen on Jan. 30 worked through a third draft of a bylaw that would, for the first time, place the Capital Planning Committee in Lincoln's town code, grow it from seven to nine members and charge it with a 25-year capital forecast on top of its current $500,000-a-year cash capital review. Selectman Peter Braun presented the draft to Finance Committee Chair John Koenig, Vice Chair Laura Sander, member Peyton Marshall, and Capital Planning Chair Al Schmertzler. Koenig — "if it ain't broke, fix it" — pressed to keep detailed bond-term and tax-rate modeling with the Finance Committee, while Selectman Noah Eckhouse framed Capital Planning's job as the "5, 10, 25-year-out" view. Town Administrator Tim Higgins separately reported no override and no debt exclusion this year and roughly $60,000 to $100,000 better state-aid projections under the governor's budget.