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Community Preservation Act The Community Preservation Act, enacted by the Legislature in 2000, allows cities and towns to impose a property tax surcharge for land and historical preservation and the creation of affordable housing. Voters will decide if they want to adopt or repeal the tax. The ballot asks residents to: Repeal: Hingham COMMUNITY PRESERVATION ACT 2 communities adopt act; 3 say noPembroke, Quincy say yes; Hingham votes to keep it More people in Hingham voted to keep the Community Preservation Act in yesterday’s election than voted to adopt it five years ago. Seventy-seven percent of the residents who voted on the question yesterday voted against rescinding the town’s adoption of the act. A petition brought by a group of opponents of the act made Hingham the first town to propose eliminating the act, which became a state law in 2000. Pembroke and Quincy, meanwhile, adopted the act yesterday, while Stoughton, Hull, Canton and Rochester rejected it. “I was very happy with (the vote). It’s a strong affirmation the that town supports the surcharge,” Hingham Selectman Melissa Tully said. “It was an overwhelming vote. I had felt it would go in our favor to keep the CPA, but in a local election, where it’s just by word of mouth, you don’t now what people are going to do.” The act allows towns to raise money for open space conservation, historic preservation and affordable housing through a property-tax surcharge of up to 3 percent. In the five years since the program began, the state has matched the funds collected by the towns. A full match is called for but not guaranteed, with the amount of state funding each year determined by several factors, including property valuation and levy rates, local decisions about the percentage of the surcharge and exemptions, and the number of other communities participating. Yesterday’s vote in Hull marked the second time the town had rejected it. The first time was in 2001. Those who voted against the act expressed concern about the projects the money was being spent on. Pembroke Conservation Commission member Mark Ames expressed enthusiasm over his town’s adoption of the act. “We’re excited. I know I can speak for the committee and say that they have done a very wise thing that is a great opportunity for Pembroke to preserve the future,” Ames said. In Stoughton, Al Lipkind, who gathered the signatures needed to get the question on the ballot, said he was disappointed that the town’s voters did not adopt the act. “I’m not going to give up. I think it’s an issue of learning about it, and I’m going to continue on,” Lipkind said. “I’m going to get more signatures and bring it to town meeting again. There are many communities that didn’t pass it the first time and passed it the second time around.” The next step for the towns that adopted the Community Preservation Act will be to create a bylaw for consideration at the next town meeting. That bylaw would establish a community preservation committee for the town. The committee would establish times for collecting the information necessary for projects to be voted on in the next year. Kristen Walsh may be reached at kwalsh@ledger.com.
Quincy passes
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Act factsSouth Shore towns with Community Preservation Act questions on ballot Nov. 7:
South Shore towns that have adopted the Community Preservation Act:
South Shore towns that have rejected the Community Preservation Act:
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Lipkind, 59, needed 10 signatures to bring a proposal for the Community Preservation Act to town meeting in May. He got 120 signatures just to be safe.
After it was approved at town meeting, the question was added to the Nov. 7 ballot. Lipkind and a group of six or seven others have been working on getting information about the Community Preservation Act out to residents by standing on street corners with signs and passing out leaflets.
The Community Preservation Act raises money for open space conservation, historic preservation and affordable housing through a property tax surcharge of up to 3 percent. In Stoughton, the proposed amount is 2 percent. The owner of the average Stoughton home would pay about $50 extra per year.
In the five years since the program began, the state has matched the funds collected by the towns. A full match is called for but not guaranteed, with the amount of state funding each year determined by several factors, including property valuation and levy rates, local decisions about the preservation act surcharge percentage and exemptions, and the number and kind of other communities participating.
This isn’t the first community project Lipkind has worked on. The former Hewlett-Packard employee and Air Force veteran raised more than $45,000 to put defibrillators in police cars in Stoughton and Sharon, and hopes to do the same for another town when he is done with his treatments.
When the program was created in 2001, some Stoughton residents tried to implement it, but because of incorrect wording of the question, it didn’t pass at town meeting.
Some of the projects Lipkind looks to as ones that could benefit from the tax would be preserving open space by creating parks in the town, including a soccer field on West Street, and restoration of historical buildings such as the Clapp Memorial Building, a former library, which needs a new roof.
“It’s a toss-up. A lot of people are in favor of the CPA when they hear about the state’s matching funds. What other program has matching funds, and if you don’t like it after five years, you can rescind it?” Lipkind said.
Lipkind, who lived in Boston, Dorchester and Mattapan before moving to Stoughton 30 years ago, wants to keep the town the way it’s been while his children were growing up.
“When I was feeling better, I used to go bike riding, looking at trees and open space. But now, I’m starting to hear about condominiums,” Lipkind said.
As chairman of the board of selectmen, John Kowalczyk said he felt it was up to the town to decide. Town meeting approved putting it on the ballot but didn’t take a position on whether they backed its approval.
“I don’t know if it’s going to pass or not. Mr. Lipkind and his group have not been very forthcoming with information,” Kowalczyk said. “It’s additional tax money. Mr. Lipkind and his supporters say it’s only going to cost the average homeowner $50, but they leave out that it’s an annual thing.”
Kowalczyk said he believes that the more towns that sign on for the program, the less money will available, and that soon the only money in the fund will be the money that the people are taxed each year.
Lipkind agrees that the towns that approved the CPA in the beginning years will make out the best in terms of matching funds but adds that the state says it will match 100 percent of town contributions for at least two more years.
Kristen Walsh may be reached at kwalsh@ledger.com.
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Question 4: Hull voters see preservation act as either opportunity or another tax
Patriot Ledger staff / Oct. 31, 2006
HULL - Is it an unwanted extra tax burden or a means to create a town nest egg to buy some extras?
That’s the question Hull voters will have to answer before they go to the polls in the state election next Tuesday.
Voting on Question 4 on the local ballot will determine whether Hull adopts the state Community Preservation Act.
Acceptance would allow the town to impose a 3 percent property-tax surcharge to create a fund for open-space preservation, historic preservation and creation of affordable housing. The first $100,000 of a property’s assessed value would be exempt, meaning the surcharge would apply to property valued at more than $100,000.
The ballot question prompted a debate by selectmen last week.
Dennis Blackall, an advocate for accepting the act, said a key benefit would be the state’s contribution of matching funds.
The owner of an average single-family home in Hull - one assessed at about $400,000 - could expect to pay a surcharge totaling just over $80 a year, Blackall calculated.
Homeowners meeting income and age guidelines would be exempt from the surcharge, he said.
Money raised could only be spent with town meeting approval, Blackall said.
Town meeting voters last May decided to put the act on the November ballot.
Not everyone at last week’s meeting of the selectmen was in favor, however.
Regardless of what it’s called, “it’s a tax,” and said there is no guarantee of state matching funds, David Walsh of Nantasket Avenue said.
“...This dollar-for-dollar talk is not etched in stone,” he said
Furthermore, state matching funds still comes from the taxpayers, Walsh said.
State officials have said towns can expect a 100 percent match, at least for the 2007-08 fiscal year.
Selectman Joan Meschino said she hoped voters would seriously considering accepting the act.
“I think this is actually a smart opportunity for us,” Meschino said.
Another proponent of adopting the act was Judeth Van Hamm, local activist and co-chairwoman of the Weir River Estuary park committee.
“Now it’s time for all of us to pull together behind this Community Preservation Act,” Van Hamm said.
Jeanne Paquin of the planning board, also spoke in favor of acceptance.
But Selectmen Chairman John Reilly spoke against it.
“Fundamentally, I just feel it’s a bad move,” Reilly said.
He also read a letter from advisory board member and former selectman James M. Tobin in opposition to acceptance as well.
While he understands the goals of preservationists and environmentalists, Tobin opposes what he considers a new tax that circumvents Proposition 2½.
Asked about his views, Tobin said he is mainly opposed because the town, starting in fiscal 2008, may incur a deficit of more than $700,000.
“All the CPA money in the world can’t go to the budget,” he said.
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Group pushes for votes for open space act
For The Patriot Ledger / Oct. 27, 2006
Adoption of the Community Preservation Act will not result in onerous tax burdens for Quincy residents, the act’s supporters told residents last night.
The law, which allows towns to impose a property tax surcharge to pay for open space purchases, historic preservation and affordable housing creation, has been a sore-point among residents who already feel taxed-out.
Steve Perdios, of the Quincy Environmental Network, the group which spearhead the ballot drive, told residents at an informational meeting at the Squantum School that adoption of the preservation act would lead to a 1 percent tax increase. The average Quincy resident with a home value of about $365,000 could expect to see his or her taxes rise by about $26 a year, including a $100,000 exemption.
With matching grants factored in, that could mean about $2 million a year for the city.
The environmental group argued that Quincy was missing out on those state matching funds, which includes taxes already paid by Quincy residents.
“It’s our money,” said Steve Perdios, a representative of the environmental group. “I think it’s fiscally ridiculous for us to give it away to other communities.”
However, senior citizens at the meeting fretted over how the added taxes would affect residents on fixed incomes.
Perdios noted there were numerous exemptions for low-to-moderate income residents, as well as senior citizens.
“If you want an exemption, you’ll be able to go to City Hall and fill out a form,” he said.
Perdios also assured residents that the community preservation committee which would be created if the act was adopted would not become a high-cost patronage dump. The state has limited administrative costs to 5 percent of a town’s total take of CPA money.
Residents in six south of Boston communities - Quincy, Stoughton, Canton, Hull, Cohasset, and Rochester - will vote on adopting the law this election day, Nov. 7. A seventh town, Hingham, could become the first in the state to the repeal the law if voters pass a question on the ballot.
The act has been adopted by 111 cities and towns statewide.
Organizers of last night’s event expressed disappointment that so few residents showed up to the meeting, noting it was hard to compete with World Series baseball and “Grey’s Anatomy.”
Quincy residents interested in learning more about the preservation act will have another chance on Monday night. Supporters of the ballot question will be holding an open house and informational meeting from 7 to 8:45 p.m. at the Thomas Crane Public Library, 40 Washington St.
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Tax surcharge law on ballot in 7 South Shore towns
The Patriot Ledger / Oct. 27, 2006
The Community Preservation Act, the property tax-raising measure aimed at saving dwindling open space, will be on the ballot in seven communities south of Boston on Nov. 7, the most in one day since the law’s enactment nearly six years ago.
In six of the seven communities - Quincy, Stoughton, Canton, Hull, Cohasset and Rochester - voters will decide whether to adopt the law, which allows communities to impose a property tax surcharge to pay for land purchases, protection of historical resources and creation of affordable housing. The act, adopted by 111 cities and towns statewide, makes matching money available from the state in communities that adopt it.
“Every time a developer comes into a neighborhood and tries to build something, people get upset because there’s no money to preserve what’s left of our open space,” said Steve Perdios, a spokesman for the group campaigning for the law in Quincy. “This is something that’s really needed. There’s an open space issue in every neighborhood, and this gives us the opportunity to buy that land.”
The Quincy Environmental Network spearheaded a petition drive this year to get the question on the ballot after other attempts failed last year. The group is trying to mount a full-fledged campaign, raising money and planning an informational forum at the Thomas Crane Public Library on Monday.
While proponents of the law have argued that it has helped save millions of dollars of land from being developed, the act has plenty of critics.
Hingham could be the first community in the state to repeal the law if a ballot question in that town passes.
Russell Reeves, who helped lead a petition drive forcing the question on the ballot, said the law has led to “irresponsible spending” that may have lived up to the letter of the act but definitely not its intent.
He listed a series of what he described as questionable purchases the town has made using Community Preservation Act money during the last several years, including spending money on an herbicide in a pond that he said “protected the back yards of a few people.”
“It’s this attitude that if you think you can spend it, then you can,” Reeves said. “It’s out of control.”
Other critics have suggested that the state matching funds might not keep flowing to cities and towns as more and more communities adopt the act.
State officials counter that communities should expect a 100 percent match of whatever they raise through at least the 2007-08 fiscal year.
Under the act, communities can increase taxes between 1 and 3 percent and adopt certain exemptions for low-income residents. Most towns opt for the lower surcharge, but voters in Hull will be asked to approve a 3 percent hike on their tax bills. For the owner of the average home in that town, the increase would mean about $80, officials said.
Quincy’s ballot question would lead to a 1 percent tax increase with an exemption for the first $100,000 of the property’s assessed value - meaning the increase would apply to the assessed value of the home minus $100,000. Advocates say that the average tax bill in Quincy would rise about $26 a year to pay for the act and could mean a total of about $2 million a year to preserve open space when matching grants are calculated.
Supporters also point out that every town already pays into the state fund used to provide matching grants.
“We’re already paying for this, so we might as well try to get something for our money,” Perdios said.
Communities that adopt the law must form a community preservation committee that reviews applications for funding.
Christopher Walker may be reached at cwalker@ledger.com.
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Selectmen tout preservation act benefits
Ballot proposal on Nov. 7 gives voters opportunity to overturn tax surcharge
The Patriot Ledger / Oct. 25, 2006
Hingham selectmen unanimously oppose a bid to scrap the Community Preservation Act on Nov. 7.
Selectmen Melissa Tully, Philip J. Edmundson and John A. Riley last night all expressed support for the act, saying the benefits of continued participation in the statewide preservation program far outweigh the drawbacks.
“(The act) is one of the best growth-management tools that we have in the town,” Tully said. ‘‘It would be foolhardy to turn down matching state funds for these kinds of projects.”
The act raises money for open space conservation, historical preservation and affordable housing through a property tax surcharge of up to 3 percent. In Hingham, the average residential property tax bill increases about $77 per year for the act.
The state matches all funds raised by participating towns, and will continue to do so through at least the 2007-08 fiscal year.
More than 100 Massachusetts communities have already adopted the act, and six South Shore communities will vote next month on whether to adopt it. Hingham is the only community in the state with a ballot proposal to abandon the act.
Opponents of the act in Hingham, led by Russell Reeves, who organized a petition to put the question to a vote, say that the projects chosen to receive preservation money are favorites of the selection committee and often lack oversight.
Residents at last night’s meeting voiced support for the act, citing numerous projects that would not have received funding without it.
John Swanson, a member of the Bare Cove Park committee, which oversees the restoration of 469 acres of former Navy land, said that the park would not be in the shape it is today without the act.
“We were the recipients of a large grant from the CPA that allowed us to do restoration work that we were unable to do for more than 30 years,” Swanson said.
Kathy Reardon, a former selectman and current chairwoman of the Hingham Land Conservation Trust and the advocacy group Friends of Hingham CPA, said that the vote by the selectmen was important.
“Given the fact that there’s a large electorate because of the gubernatorial election, it is important to have leadership and accurate information about this issue,” Reardon said.
Reardon said that while she understands that all issues of taxation will have opponents, it is important to recognize the importance of state funds to the community.
“At this point, the funds enable us to do projects that we otherwise wouldn’t be able to do because of infrastructure restrictions,” she said.
Cory Hopkins may be reached at chopkins@ledger.com.
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Selectman cries fraud: Says e-mail against preservation tax not hers
The Patriot Ledger / Oct. 21, 2006
After e-mails were sent in her name reporting false information, Hingham Selectman Melissa Tully and her supporters were of doing it as a publicity stunt. Tully denied it and said she had asked the police to investigate.
Tully e-mailed several of her friends urging them to vote no on the ballot question that would eliminate the Community Preservation surcharge in the town, and asked them to forward her message to more people.
Tully was then notified by friends that a second e-mail had been sent to the group, from an account name that identified itself as Tully, but coming from a Yahoo rather than a Comcast address.
The second e-mail, which had a subject line titled “Correction,” was set up in the same way as the original, but said Tully had changed her mind and was now urging her friends to vote in favor of eliminating the tax.
“There are several criminal acts involved in this, including identity theft, in using my name, intentionally using a moniker that looks exactly like mine and pretending to be me, and the other is election tampering,” Tully said.
Russell Reeves, a proponent of eliminating the tax, said he received a phone call from a woman who admitted creating the new e-mail account with Tully’s name and sending the e-mail, but added that he thinks she did it after it was suggested by Tully.
“I think Melissa Tully ordered it, I think she was up to her eyeballs in this situation,” Reeves said. “The person who sent the e-mail called me and apologized because they thought it would be funny. I think it's hilarious. and very creative.”
Tully denied having any knowledge or involvement with the second e-mail or the people who sent it. She said that after being informed of the false e-mail, she sent a second letter to inform her friends that they had received a false statement, it was not from her and she was still strongly in favor of the preservation act.
“Anyone who knows me knows I would never do anything like that,” Tully said. “If Mr. Reeves has some information about this, he should go to the Hingham Police Department because they are investigating the situation.
As a member of the group Friends of Hingham's CPA, who has been publicly supportive of the tax, Tully said she was acting as private citizen in sending the original e-mail, and not as a selectman. She said she did not use any town resident lists, town computers or any information other than her personal contact lists and resources.
The police had no comment other than to say they are in the early stages of an investigation.
Kristen Walsh may be reached at kwalsh@ledger.com.
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Common
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Tax
surcharge
The Patriot Ledger / Oct. 18, 2006
The Community Preservation Act, the property tax-raising measure aimed at saving dwindling open space, will be on the ballot in seven communities south of Boston on Election Day next month, the most in one day since the law’s enactment nearly six years ago.
In six of the seven communities - Quincy, Stoughton, Canton, Hull, Cohasset and Rochester - voters will decide whether to adopt the law, which allows communities to impose a property-tax surcharge to pay for land purchases, protection of historical resources and creation of affordable housing. The act, adopted by 111 cities and towns statewide, makes matching money available from the state in communities that adopt it.
“Every time a developer comes into a neighborhood and tries to build something, people get upset because there’s no money to preserve what’s left of our open space,” said Steve Perdios, a spokesman for the group campaigning for the law in Quincy. “This is something that’s really needed-. There’s an open space issue in every neighborhood, and this gives us the opportunity to buy that land.”
The Quincy Environmental Network spearheaded a petition drive this year to get the question on the ballot after other attempts failed last year. The group is trying to mount a full-fledged campaign, raising money and planning an informational forum at the Thomas Crane Public Library on Oct. 30.
While proponents of the law have argued that it has helped save millions of dollars of land from being developed, the act has plenty of critics.
Hingham could be the first community in the state to repeal the law if a ballot question in that town passes.
Russell Reeves, who helped lead a petition drive forcing the question on the ballot, said the law has led to “irresponsible spending” that may have lived up to the letter of the act but definitely not its intent.
He listed a series of what he described as questionable purchases the town has made using Community Preservation Act money during the last several years, including spending money on an herbicide in a pond that he said “protected the back yards of a few people.”
“It’s this attitude that if you think you can spend it, then you can,” Reeves said. “It’s out of control.”
Other critics have suggested that the state matching funds might not keep flowing to cities and towns as more and more communities adopt the act.
State officials counter that communities should expect a 100 percent match of whatever they raise through at least the 2007-08 fiscal year.
Under the act, communities can increase taxes between 1 and 3 percent and adopt certain exemptions for low-income residents. Most towns opt for the lower surcharge, but voters in Hull will be asked to approve a 3 percent hike on their tax bills. For the owner of the average home in that town, the increase would mean about $80, officials said.
Quincy’s ballot question would lead to a 1 percent tax increase with an exemption for the first $100,000 of the property’s assessed value - meaning the increase would apply to the assessed value of the home minus $100,000. Advocates say that the average tax bill in Quincy would rise about $26 a year to pay for the act and could mean a total of about $2 million a year to preserve open space when matching grants are calculated.
Supporters also point out that every town already pays into the state fund used to provide matching grants.
“We’re already paying for this, so we might as well try to get something for our money,” Perdios said.
Communities that adopt the law must form a community preservation committee that reviews applications for funding.
Christopher Walker may be reached at cwalker@ledger.com.
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Preservation Act is defended
The Patriot Ledger / Oct. 18, 2006
-The Hingham Advisory Committee has recommended that the town’s voters retain the Community Preservation Act and its property-tax surcharge.
After a forum held for discussion of the topic, the committee voted 11-1 last night against a Nov. 7 ballot question that proposed abolishing the surcharge.
“We didn’t come into this meeting with the intent to call a vote,” advisory committee Chairwoman Linda Port said. “I wanted it to be a forum to open up conversation.”
The forum was boycotted by proponents of the ballot question after Russell Reeves, a leader in the drive to get the question on the ballot, sent a letter objecting to the committee’s voicing an opinion on the matter.
Committee member William Reardon addressed the situation at the start of the meeting, saying Town Counsel James Toomey assured the committee that it has every right to meet, debate, potentially vote and advocate on an issue that has major financial consequences for the town.
In response to Reeves’ allegations that several committee members have a conflict of interest, Reardon said that although some committee members, including himself, have been involved with the Community Preservation Act, they have no financial stake in the outcome of the vote, so they should not be prevented from being involved in the discussion.
Reardon also discussed some of the allegations Reeves has made about the town’s handling of the Community Preservation Act, including lack of effective oversight and projects being aimed at friends and family of the group that pushed the town to adopt the act.
“The advisory committee, board of selectmen and the voters at town meeting all do oversight on the projects,” Reardon said. “None of the projects would go through without approval from the voters. There’s almost no one in town who hasn’t been affected in some way by the projects that have been done.”
Valerie Talmage, a member of the Community Preservation Committee, discussed some of the projects the town has paid for through the surcharge plus matching state money.
The one committee member to vote in favor of abolishing the tax was Jerry Sellen, who said there are problems with the way the projects are decided upon and the way the categories of projects are grouped.
The three project categories for the program are open space, which includes recreation projects; historic preservation; and affordable housing. Each must get at least 10 percent of the money available.
“It provides a forum for things that would never be approved without the Community Preservation Act,” said Sellen. “It’s tax dollars, and it tends to lend itself to spending money just because it’s there.”
Another committee member, Luis Alvarado, said he agreed with 80 percent of the projects that have been funded by the program since its adoption in 2002.
“Until such time as we don’t have the matching components from the state, why wouldn’t you want to do it?” Alvarado said.
Committee member Irma Lauter said she favors the act because it allows for projects to be done that wouldn’t necessarily otherwise be funded by the town.
“With projects in the town that are needed, like the school renovation, this allows for things that would fall under the category of ‘nice to do’ to actually be funded,” Lauter said.
The size of the surcharge a homeowner pays is determined by the property’s assessment minus a $100,000 exemption. The owner of the “average” Hingham home, one assessed at $655,000, pays about $77.
Kristen Walsh may be reached at kwalsh@ledger.com.
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Tax foes plan to boycott town forum
Leader of drive to end surcharge
calls conditions unfair
The Patriot Ledger / Oct. 16, 2006
Several Hingham residents who favor abolishing the Community Preservation Act have declined an invitation by the advisory committee to participate in a forum.
The Community Preservation Act, enacted by the Legislature in 2000 and later adopted by Hingham, allows cities and towns to impose a property tax surcharge to be used for land and historical preservation and the creation of affordable housing.
With a question on the ballot in the November election, voters will decide if they want to keep the tax. If they vote to eliminate the tax, Hingham will be the first of the 110 Massachusetts communities that have adopted it to overturn it.
The advisory committee will meet tomorrow to get input from supporters and opponents of the tax, but some opponents say they feel uncomfortable with the meeting’s atmosphere.
Russell Reeves, a leader in the drive to get enough signatures on a petition to put the question on the ballot, disagreed with the restrictions on the meeting, which he said will have only enough space for 40 or 50 people.
“It was supposed to get a dialogue going on the question, and if you’re going to have a dialogue on a question, why not open it up?” Reeves said. “They could use cable TV and have a neutral person to sit and discuss the issues.”
Linda Port, chairwoman of the advisory committee, said she supports having a larger debate or forum but doesn’t want to cancel the meeting because it has already been scheduled.
“It’s a huge financial issue for the town,” Port said. “I don’t think the question should be discussed behind closed doors, with each side gathering supporters without a public forum.”
Reeves said Port and committee member William Reardon have ties to the Community Preservation Act that would influence the information they present at the forum.
Reeves said Port is a member of the Old Ship Church in Hingham, which received money from the tax, and Reardon’s wife is the chairwoman of a group that supports the act.
Reardon said he has approached Reeves about the meeting and said the committee has a duty to present information to the town.
“I'm sorry that he and his group are not coming,” Reardon said. “We fully intended for the advisory committee to be a proxy for the townspeople. We’re a diverse group of people. We don’t always agree. We were hoping to have good, balanced presentation on both sides, so that it would be an opportunity for voters to have a better understanding about what this vote is all about and why they should vote one way or another.”
Reeves said he asked Port to take the topic off the agenda for tomorrow’s meeting and reschedule it for a time when more people could be involved.
“I’m not looking to hold a vote. I’m just trying to get the discussion on the topic out there,” Port said. “The townspeople are going to vote on this in November, and I just want people to know the implications of their vote.”
Kristen Walsh may be reached at kwalsh@ledger.com.
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Preservation question awaits voters
The Patriot Ledger / Oct. 4, 2006
PEMBROKE - Creating a fund for preservation of the town’s historical buildings and open space and creation of affordable housing would cost the typical homeowner $29 a year.
That’s the assessment from the chief proponent of adopting the state Community Preservation Act, a proposal that will appear on the Nov. 7 election ballot.
At town meeting this spring, voters decided to put the question to a town-wide vote. If the proposal passes, most property owners will see a 1 percent surcharge on their property-tax bills.
Proponent Mark Ames said the surcharge would generate about $160,000 a year. The state has consistently provided matching dollars to towns where the Community Preservation Act is in place, so Pembroke’s preservation budget could stand at roughly $320,000 at this time next year, he said.
“You can see how the kitty can grow,” Ames said.
“Pembroke missed the (Community Preservation Act) train initially, but the train hasn’t quite left the station,” he said.
The act was passed by the Legislature in 2000. Since then, 111 cities and towns have adopted it. They include Braintree, Bridgewater, Carver, Cohasset, Duxbury, Hanover, Hingham, Kingston, Marshfield, Norwell, Plymouth, Randolph, Scituate, Sharon and Weymouth.
In Hingham, millions from the tax surcharge have been put toward real-estate purchases to halt development and protect historical assets such as Hingham Cemetery, Old Ship Church and a town fire station, proponents say.
But as Pembroke voters consider adopting the measure, Hingham voters are about to be asked to rescind their approval. About 1,200 residents have signed a petition to put the abolition question to a vote.
Management of the surcharge money ultimately rests with town meeting. Ames said a nine-member committee representing a variety of town boards and commissions --would make annual recommendations on how the Pembroke money should be spent.
Possible uses include dredging Furnace Pond - a project that could cost millions - and renovation of the community center, but Ames said town groups’ collective wish list is huge.
Residents who qualify for low-income housing and senior citizens with moderate or low incomes would not have to pay the surcharge.
Voters in Canton, Hull, Stoughton, and Quincy also will decide whether to adopt the measure next month.
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Group raising money to back tax hike
The Patriot Ledger / Sept. 28, 2006
Backers of the Community Preservation Act in Quincy are beginning to raise cash to mount a full-fledged campaign to convince voters to approve a property tax hike that pays for preserving open space.
The Quincy Environmental Network, the group spearheading support of the measure, sent a letter this week to members and supporters asking for cash donations or volunteers for the campaign.
The letter states that the group will be mounting a “full-blown” campaign leading up to the Nov. 7 election, including meeting with neighborhood groups, handing out information, and buying advertising space in local newspapers.
The Community Preservation act, passed by 111 cities and towns statewide, allows communities to impose a property tax surcharge, with the state matching the amount raised locally. That money, which advocates estimate could mean up to $2 million annually for Quincy, would be placed in a fund that could only be spent for specific purposes: to preserve open space and historic resources, and to create affordable housing.
“Please give in any way you can to help us pass this ballot initiative,” QEN spokesman Steve Perdios wrote in the letter. “This is simply the most important thing we can do for the future of our city.”
The environmental network will have to file as a separate campaign committee if it wants to spend money specifically to influence an election. City Clerk Joseph Shea said he would write the group a letter outlining campaign finance rules, which includes reporting all money collected and spent on the election.
The measure is on the ballot in Quincy this year thanks to a petition drive led by the environmental network, which collected more than 2,750 signatures of local voters to guarantee the act a spot on the ballot.
Under the act, communities can increase taxes between 1 and 3 percent and adopt certain exemptions for low-income residents.
The proposal in Quincy calls for a 1 percent tax increase with an exemption for the first $100,000 of the property's assessed value, meaning the increase would apply to the assessed value of the home minus $100,000. Supporters say the measure will mean a $26 increase on the property tax bill of the average homeowner in Quincy.
Towns that adopt the law must form a community preservation committee that reviews applications for funding and makes recommendations to town meeting. In Quincy, the city council would have to approve the spending but would not be able to put forth any proposals of its own.
Christopher Walker may be reached at cwalker@ledger.com.
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