Lincoln selectmen vote to drain L-S stabilization fund to balance FY10 budget

LINCOLN -- September 21, 2009, Lincoln selectmen vote to zero out L-S stabilization fund rather than cut firefighter or highway jobs. The board unanimously backed Town Administrator Tim Higgins's recommendation to apply roughly $89,000 from the Lincoln-Sudbury High School stabilization fund and $36,000 in general insurance savings against a $197,000 FY10 shortfall, asking the Finance Committee to cover the remaining roughly $80,000 from free cash or the reserve fund. Finance Committee Chair John Koenig told the board state aid came in 17 to 18 percent below FY09 against a 10 percent projection and a slowed Deaconess project produced a $444,000 property-tax revenue shortfall. Higgins called the alternative cuts, one firefighter and one highway crew position, a list that would "do the least damage" but said he could not "remain silent" about holding "the piggy bank for L-S" harmless while frontline staff were cut. The board also appointed Carolyn Bodum, currently Bedford's COA director, as Lincoln's new Council on Aging director effective Oct. 5, and awarded the Bemis Hall slate roof contract to Stanley Roofing Co. of Ipswich for $53,850.