How CPA funds get spent

The following article provides some basic information about how CPA funds are allocated to support CPA projects within a community.

Towns that have adopted the Community Preservation Act have agreed to collect a surcharge of up to 3% on property taxes for the purpose of funding projects that help preserve the town's open space and history, and provide affordable housing. Since the CPA was passed in 2001, the state has provided 100% matching of local funds from fees that collected by the Massachusetts Registry of Deeds.

The CPA requires that towns have a Community Preservation Committee. The CPC studies the town's needs for open space and recreation, historic preservation and community housing, consults with relevant boards and commissions, reviews applications for CPA funding, and recommends expenditures to the Town Meeting for CPA purposes, and keeps appropriate records. The bylaw that established Dunstable's CPC was adopted in September, 2006.

Each year, out of the total CPA revenues (the local surcharge collected on property taxes plus matching funds from the state) the town must spend or reserve:

• 10% for Open Space
• 10% for Historic Preservation
• 10% for Community (Affordable) Housing

The remaining 70% is available to be spent on any of those three categories or recreation. However, the town is not required to allocate the funds until it has a specific need to do so. CPA funds can be carried over from year to year.

Any member of the community can apply to the CPC for funding on projects that meet CPA criteria. Projects must fit into one or more of the categories (open space, historical preservation, affordable housing, or recreation) that the CPA is intended to support. Typically, CPA funds are used for:

• Acquisition, creation and preservation of open space. Open space includes land to protect existing and future well fields, aquifers and recharge areas, watershed land, agricultural land, grasslands, fields, forests, fresh and salt water marshes and other wetlands, frontage along the ocean and other water bodies, beaches, dunes and other coastal lands, scenic vistas, wildlife/nature preserves and land for recreational use. Land for recreational use here includes land for active or passive recreation e.g. community gardens, trails, parks, playgrounds, and athletic fields - but not stadiums, race tracks for animals, gymnasiums or similar structures.
• Acquisition and preservation of historic resources. This includes structures, vessels and landscapes eligible for listing on the state register of historic places or determined by the local historic preservation commission to be significant to local history, archeology, architecture or culture.
• Creation, preservation and support of community housing. Affordable community housing includes low and moderate income housing for individuals and families, and includes senior housing.

Information regarding projects that have previously been approved for CPA funding can be found by searching the Community Preservation Coalition's CPA project database.

The Community Preservation Committee reviews all applications and decides which projects to recommend to the town for funding. Projects are more likely to be selected if they fit into more than one CPA category, have a high cost/benefit value, support community planning goals, and leverage other public or private funds. All spending recommendations made by the CPC must be approved by a vote at a Town Meeting.

Some projects may require borrowing to obtain the level of funding needed to support the project. Borrowing is permitted under the CPA. However a town can only borrow against the local funds collected through its CPA surcharge, not the state match. The use of CPA funds to pay the debt service on a bond must be approved by a two-thirds affirmative vote at a town meeting.

The CPC administers the funds that are allocated for CPA purposes. They are also responsible for monitoring the use of CPA funds by approved projects. Once funds are allocated to a particular project, they cannot be supplanted by another project.

NOTE - This information was taken from a slide presentation delivered to the Dunstable CPC by Stuart Saginor of the Community Preservation Coalition and from the Coalition's website (www.CommunityPreservation.org.) If you plan to apply for CPA funding, you should view the whole slide presentation and visit the Coalition's website to learn more about CPA, access the database of projects that have been funded to date by CPA, and read the guidelines published by the Department of Revenue as the regulatory agency responsible for CPA.