By Brock Parker, Town Correspondent

Lexington is offering almost $300,000 in tax reductions to lure a Dutch gene therapy company to town.

Town Meeting members Monday night approved the terms of a tax increment financing agreement with uniQure that offers almost $285,790 in tax savings to the company over a 10-year period if it opens a manufacturing facility on Hartwell Avenue in Lexington.

Stephen Gorgol, a consultant for the uniQure, said the company is in negotiations to sign a lease at 113 Hartwell Ave., where the company hopes to eventually produce Glybera, which treats a rare condition called lipoprotein lipase deficiency that causes inflammation of the pancreas.

The gene therapy was approved by the European Commission in November, according to the company’s website. Gorgol said uniQure is hoping to receive the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of Glybera by late 2014.

The company would create about 90 jobs in Lexington and would move into about 52,000 square feet of space in an existing building during the third quarter of 2014, said Selectman Joseph Pato.

The town expects to net about $1.25 million in taxes paid by uniQure after subtracting the $285,000 in tax relief over the 10-year period.

Pato said Lexington has been trying to find ways to attract businesses to the Hartwell Avenue area, where the vacancy rate has ranged from 25 to 28 percent.

The tax break for the company was not without some opposition Monday. Some Lexington Town Meeting members said the town was basically giving money away even though the savings uniQure would realize may not even influence whether the company comes to town.

Bonnie Brodner, a town meeting and school committee member, said the town needs tax revenue for many capital projects and she said she wouldn’t support the tax break for uniQure.

“They very well may still come to Lexington,” she said.

Town Meeting approved the tax increment financing agreement by a voice vote.

Science fair dinner: Noreen Colannino, Everett Science Department Head; Tony Scaraggi, Director, Operations, Maintenance, and Regulatory Affairs for Distrigas; and Charlie Obremski, Everett Public Schools Assistant Superintendent honor Gabriel Simao of the Parlin School in Everett. Gabriel won first prize in the Grade 6 City-Wide Science Fair and is seen here at a dinner sponsored by Distrigas.

Science fair dinner: Tony Scaraggi, Director, Operations, Maintenance, and Regulatory Affairs for Distrigas; Noreen Colannino, Everett Science Department Head; and Charlie Obremski, Everett Public Schools Assistant Superintendent honor Christopher Boucher of Everett. Christopher won first prize in the Grade 7 & 8 City-Wide Science Fair and is seen here at a dinner sponsored by Distrigas.

By Jarret Bencks, Town Correspondent

A competition to create a youth public service announcement for the Middlesex County District Attorney started with more than 50 entries and has been narrowed to five.

Entries from Lexington High School, Melrose High School, Nashoba Valley Regional Technical High School, and two from Somerville High School are among the finalists, according to an announcement from Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan.

Middle school and high school students will view the final videos and vote to select the winning video, which will air in Greater Boston.

By Brock Parker, Town Correspondent

Before they hit the dance floor, students at Lexington High School will strut their stuff on the red carpet this afternoon as local access channel LexMedia hosts live coverage and interviews of students attending the prom.

From dresses to their dates, LexMedia hosts Colleen Smith and Petra Hoffman will interview students on the red carpet as they depart from Lexington High School for their prom at the Danversport Yacht Club this evening.

It’s the first year LexMedia is offering live red carpet coverage, and third year the local access channel has covered the prom.

Smith, who gets her hair done and wears a gown for the program, said her first year hosting the coverage she had to beg students to walk down the red carpet for an on-camera interview. By last year, the idea had caught on.

“We had to cut it off because there was so many kids,” Smith said.

Florence DelSanto, the executive director of LexMedia, said students all come to Lexington High School before departing on buses to the prom, and the local access channel puts out the red carpet to interview the students as they prepare to depart. DelSanto said the program is good for parents who would like to see some of their prom, even if their kids don’t want them there.

Smith said she bought the red carpet online, and she asks the girls about their dresses and their dates, and ask the guys what they think of their date’s dress. She brought in Hoffman, who just opened a new boutique called Petra!, to help with the interviews this year.

Some students are more talkative than others, and some giggle or blush, and DelSanto said if the students don’t want to appear on television they can simply bypass the red carpet.

Smith said some of the guys don’t want to be interviewed, so the girls will come with each other to be interviewed. Other guys are enthusiastic, and some even coordinate the colors of their tuxedos with their date’s dress.

“They are all very excited,” Smith said.

The live coverage of the Lexington High School Prom red carpet will appear on LexMedia Thursday from 4:15 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. on LETV Channel 13 on RCN, Channel 9 on Comcast and Channel 36 on Verizon.

The red carpet coverage can also be viewed online using the LexMedia app for iPads and iPhones or LexMedia’s website at here.