Seven more communities adopt CPA
During a three-week period in April, seven communities joined the growing list of municipalities whose voters have adopted the provisions of the Community Preservation Act.
Voters in Bourne, Edgartown, Fairhaven, Oak Bluffs, Randolph, Tisbury and West Tisbury approved the CPA. This brought the total to 82 communities accepting the CPA in Massachusetts, including all six Martha’s Vineyard communities. Other communities will be voting on CPA later in the spring.
The CPA, which went into effect in December 2000, allows cities and towns to ask voters to institute a property tax surcharge of up to 3 percent to fund open space acquisition as well as affordable housing and historic preservation projects. A local Community Preservation Commission decides how to distribute CPA funds locally.
Cities and towns that adopt the CPA receive matching funds from a state fund established by new fees on property transactions. The matching grants would range from 5 percent to 100 percent of the amount raised locally by the property tax surcharge. To date, all communities have received a 100 percent match in each of the three distribution rounds (in 2002, 2003 and 2004). The next state match distribution is scheduled for October 2005.
• MMA listing of all CPA votes since law was enacted
