Local News

Cities considering conservation act

By John Laidler

August 23, 2012

4 minutes to read

Somerville voters this fall will consider whether the city should become one of the few large urban communities to accept a property tax surcharge to fund preservation projects.

By an 8-0 vote with three members absent, the Board of Aldermen last week approved a request by Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone to place a proposal to adopt the Community Preservation Act on the Nov. 6 state election ballot.

In Salem, meanwhile, the City Council will hold a special meeting Thursday to consider placing a CPA question on the city’s November ballot. In Beverly, aldermen in June decided to put it to a citywide vote.

The local activity comes after a legislative overhaul of the 12-year-old law that was undertaken in part to make it more attractive to cities.

Urban communities have been slower than more affluent suburban towns to embrace the CPA, which allows municipalities to impose a property tax surcharge of up to 3 percent — currently matched at 22 percent by state funds — to support affordable housing, open space, historic preservation, and recreation projects.

The recent overhaul of the law includes changes to make it easier for communities to use CPA money for recreation projects, and to tap other revenues for their preservation fund as long as they have adopted at least a 1 percent surcharge.

Currently, 148 communities have adopted the CPA, including 20 in this region; three of those — Gloucester, Newburyport, and Peabody — are cities.

The Somerville proposal calls for a 1.5 percent surcharge, while those in Salem and Beverly are for 1 percent. All three include exemptions on the first $100,000 of the value of residential properties and for those qualifying for low-income housing or low- to moderate-income senior housing. The Somerville plan also exempts the first $100,000 of value for commercial properties.

In Somerville, Curtatone said adoption of the CPA “was always something attractive to me.’’ But he said his interest was heightened by the recent revisions to the law, which Curtatone and other members of the Metropolitan Mayors Coalition have strongly backed.

“We are one of the most densely populated cities in New England, so the opportunity to create new open space doesn’t really exist,’’ Curtatone said. “What’s attractive about the amendments are that they now allow us to use the Community Preservation Act to renovate parks and open space. We have an aggressive recreation plan in the city and this will greatly enhance those efforts.’’

Curtatone added
the CPA would make it easier for the city to achieve the goals it established in its recently adopted 20-year SomerVision plan.

“That plan talks about open space, recreation, historic preservation, and affordable housing,’’ he said, noting that adoption of the CPA is a recommendation of the plan.

Alderman at Large Jack Connolly supports
the law.

“It fits into the overall planning for the next 20 years,’’ he said. “There isn’t a lot of open space in our community and we are only 4.1 square miles. This just gives us a little more flexibility to preserve the city’s existing natural and historic assets.’’

Somerville officials estimate the surcharge would generate $1.1 million in fiscal 2014, and add about $33 a year to the tax bill of an average single-family, owner-occupied home valued at $405,000. Somerville has a 30 percent tax exemption for owner-occupied homes.

Local CPA revenues are matched by a state trust fund generated from fees at registries of deeds. Until fiscal 2007, that match was 100 percent, but the base distribution level has since fallen to 22 percent. Legislators added $25 million to the state’s share next year, to be drawn from year-end surplus funds.

Salem Councilor at Large Thomas H. Furey, who proposed the surcharge in his city, said it would generate $700,000 to $1 million in annual local revenues “to help preserve and protect things we can’t do now because the city budget is so constrained.’’ According to Furey, a 1 percent surcharge would add about $36 to the tax bill of an average single-family home in Salem valued at about $300,000.

In 2007, Salem voters rejected adopting the CPA with a 1 percent surcharge. Furey said with the turnout expected at polls in November because of state and presidential elections, this is a prime time to again put the matter before voters.

Michael D. Allen, the owner of the Red Lion Smoke Shop in Salem and a former School Committee member, actively opposed the CPA the last time and said he will do so again this year. “I don’t believe the city of Salem has a revenue problem as much as it has a spending problem,’’ he said. “I don’t think we should be increasing revenues; these are all things we could do out of the general fund.

“A great part of the appeal five years ago was that we were going to get complete matching funds from the state. Now we are getting a mere pittance in matching funds. Basically, it would almost be like a straight tax increase.’’

City Council president Joan Lovely is evaluating whether to back the current plan given the drop in state matching funds. She said she wants to “listen to both sides of the debate.’’

The Beverly proposal would generate about $750,000 in annual local revenue and add about $41 to the annual tax bill of an average single-family home valued at $420,000, according to Robert Buchsbaum, a member of a group advocating for passage.

He said the group, Community Preservation Beverly, has been reaching out to voters at events such as the weekly farmers’ market. The group’s message is summarized by the slogan “Give a little, save a lot.’’

“It’s a small contribution from individual households, but in exchange you get the opportunity to do open space protection, to enhance recreational facilities, and to do affordable housing, and historic preservation,’’ Buschbaum said. “It would also enable us to get state matching funds for these worthwhile projects.’’