About 30 Community Preservation Act (CPA) committee members and other officials from the six Island towns gathered last week at the West Tisbury Public Safety Building to hear Stuart Saginor, executive director of the Community Preservation Coalition, speculate on state matching funds for the coming year and summarize proposed changes in the CPA legislation.
All six Island towns belong to the CPA and collect a three-percent surtax on real estate taxes. For towns participating at this level, locally raised dollars had been matched 100 percent by a fund made up from the $20 fees collected state-wide by the Registry of Deeds - until this year, when the match dropped to 68 percent. The double-your-money prospect had been a large part of the attraction that persuaded Vineyard voters to join the CPA.
However, according to Mr. Saginor, the act was never intended to include a permanent 100-percent match. The sponsors of the original legislation planned on a 25- to 30-percent state contribution. During the first years of the CPA (2002-2004), only a few towns had joined the CPA, and real estate activity was very high. During this period the fund matched at 100 percent and accumulated a $126 million surplus. Thanks to the surplus, from 2005 to 2007 the fund was still able to match at 100 percent, despite an increase in participation to 142 cities and towns. But in 2008, most of the surplus had been spent, the housing market took a nosedive, and the fund was able to match at only 68 percent.
Prospects for the current year
According to Mr. Saginor, the Department of Revenue is estimating that fees from the Registry of Deeds will this year allow matching funds of about 30 percent for all 142 towns in the program in the first round. A second and third round, only for the 74 towns that participate at the three-percent level, will increase the state match by varying degrees, based on factors such as median income and property values. Mr. Saginor estimates that most Island towns will get a total match of at least 35 percent, and Aquinnah may get as much as a 90-percent match. The actual figures will be announced on October 15.
Although all who spoke at the meeting last week were strong proponents of the CPA, some did indicate that they are hearing grumbles from their constituents and talk of withdrawing. There is confusion state-wide, Mr. Saginor commented, about the process for withdrawing from the CPA. Towns that join are committed for five years, but the CPA vote does not automatically expire after five years. To withdraw, a town must go through the same process it used to join the CPA: a town meeting vote and a ballot question.
In response to a comment from Tisbury CPA member Abbe Burt, Mr. Saginor reported that no Massachusetts town has ever withdrawn from the CPA. Only Hingham has gone so far as to put the question to its voters, and 72 percent voted to remain in the CPA.
Mr. Saginor commented that the CPA is especially valuable in hard times. "Where else could a town get a 30-percent return on an investment in one year's time?" he asked.
Mr. Saginor did report that two towns have reduced the level of their surtax, but three others have voted to increase their level.
The good news for the Vineyard, Mr. Saginor said, is that activity at the Registry of Deeds has recently increased state-wide, largely because many people are refinancing (a refinancing generates a $20 fee for the Registry, just as a sale would). Only three towns are now in the process of joining the CPA (which means an insignificant increase in the number of towns that share in the fund).
A guaranteed 75-percent match
Proposed legislation (SB 90) now going through the state legislature would make changes in the CPA which would significantly help the six Vineyard towns.
The most important change is that the CPA would guarantee a 75-percent match of local funds. This is less than the 100-percent match to which towns have become accustomed, but as much as three times the intent of the original legislation. To pay for a 75-percent match, the fee charged by the Registry of Deeds would be increased, probably from $20 to $38 in the first year.
A second provision would allow towns to use CPA funds to rehabilitate or restore recreational facilities. At present, the CPA specifically prohibits using funds this way unless the recreational land was acquired in the first place using CPA money. Until 2004, when the law was changed, the CPA also prohibited using funds to rehabilitate or restore historic resources unless the historic property had been purchased with CPA funds. The legislature realized in 2004 that an historic building, such as a town hall, could almost by definition not have been acquired with CPA funds. SB 90 would make the rehabilitation of recreation facilities eligible as well.
On the Vineyard, towns have been thwarted in trying to use CPA funds to fix up town playing fields, and there have been extensive debates over Veira Park in Oak Bluffs and Veterans' Park in Tisbury. In 2008, Veterans' Park, which had badly deteriorated, could not be repaired using CPA funds. However, Tisbury was able to use CPA money to install an irrigation system in Veterans' Park, on the grounds that the funds were being used to protect the park from harm. "Preservation," as opposed to "restoration," is a permitted use of CPA money. But other repairs, totaling almost half a million dollars, had to be paid for with other town money.
A third provision of SB 90 would allow municipalities which assess a surtax of less than three percent to increase their participation to three percent with other funds. This change would be available to all municipalities, but would probably be of interest only to large cities, which have difficulty persuading voters to surtax themselves for the CPA.
Mr. Saginor reports that SB 90 is a package deal. The two other changes would not be allowed if the 75-percent minimum match is not approved. SB 90 is co-sponsored by Sen. Robert O'Leary and Rep. Timothy Madden, along with 82 other state lawmakers. The same bill was favorably reported out of committee last year, but too late to make the docket for the last session. Mr. Saginor is hopeful that the committee will act more promptly this year and that the leadership will bring it up for a vote.
