Massachusetts
| Massachusetts |
2011 |
The Massachusetts Community Preservation Act (CPA), the landmark legislation that provides dedicated state and local funding for open space, outdoor recreation, affordable housing and historic preservation, needs a legislative update to keep annual matching funds for communities that adopt a small CPA property tax surcharge at a level high enough to maintain strong local participation. |
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Get Involved in the Statewide Campaign:
The Community Preservation Coalition, in partnership with the Conservation Campaign, is coordinating efforts to pass An Act to Sustain Community Preservation to keep annual matching funds for communities participating in the Community Preservation Act (CPA) at a level high enough to maintain strong local participation. The annual distribution that adopting communities receive from the state’s Community Preservation Trust Fund has fallen from 100 percent of locally raised funds in 2000 to 27 percent in 2010.
WHAT'S AT STAKE
The Community Preservation Act allows cities and towns to raise dedicated funds for four often neglected needs that play an important role in preserving the quality of life and character of Massachusetts communities: open space preservation, outdoor recreation, affordable housing and historic preservation.
Municipalities may vote to levy a small CPA property tax surcharge of up to 3 percent. So far, 147 of 351 cities and towns have adopted the Act. Local governments have used these funds to preserve more than 13,000 acres of open space, create more than 4,000 affordable housing units, undertake more than 2,000 historic preservation projects and develop more than 600 outdoor recreation projects.
Communities receive an annual distribution from the state’s Community Preservation Trust Fund based on the amount of funds they raise locally with their CPA surcharge. The Community Preservation Trust Fund’s monies are derived from fees on real estate transactions at the registries of deeds throughout the state. The annual distribution rate has fallen because of an increase in the number of municipalities participating in the CPA program and a decrease in real estate activity. An Act to Sustain Community Preservation would increase the minimum annual guaranteed match to 75 percent of locally collected CPA revenue.
COMMUNITY PRESERVATION COALITION website
GET INVOLVED IN THE STATEWIDE CAMPAIGN
To support the advocacy efforts of the Community Preservation Coalition, make checks payable to:
The Conservation Campaign
Attn: Gift Processing Office
101 Montgomery Street, Suite 900
San Francisco, CA 94104
memo line: CPC lobbying
Or, you can give online by clicking on the "Donate Now" button on the sidebar. Select "MA" on the pull-down menu of Restricted gift opportunities.
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