Corrected and updated Jan. 16, 2009
The statewide popularity of the Community Preservation Act program, coupled with a reduction in the revenue on which it is based, has led to a sharp reduction in the availability of state matching funds to municipalities, including Harvard. This year, for the first time, the match won’t be anywhere near the 100 percent town officials have come to expect: instead of the $150,000 projected for Harvard in fiscal year 2009, the state will come up with only $111,122; the prospects for fiscal 2010 are even worse.
Since 2001, when Harvard adopted the state’s Community Preservation Act (CPA) program, the town has collected $912,097 through a surcharge on property taxes—now set at 1.1 percent—and has received $863,405 in matching state funds. As pressure on the Omnibus Budget increases, the program provides much-needed funding for open space and recreation, historical preservation, and affordable housing..
According to the Department of Revenue, all of the 127 communities receiving funding this year got a minimum match of 67 percent, although 71 communities that assess the maximum 3 percent surcharge on property taxes received additional funding in a second-round distribution amounting to anywhere from 68 to 100 percent. For fiscal 2010, 140 communities will participate in the program, and the match is expected to be 35 percent.
The root of the problem is simple: a growing number of communities competing for a shrinking pool of revenue from Registry of Deeds surcharge fees, the designated source of CPA matching funds. A bill, HB4820, filed last year in the Legislature to amend the CPA, would ensure a 75 percent match, but it is not clear how that change would be funded. As the law stands now, the match could go as low as 5 percent.
Harvard’s Community Preservation Committee considers an array of funding requests each year and recommends some for the Annual Town Meeting warrant. This year, the voters approved the appropriation of $20,000 to paint the doors and trim of the Hildreth House, which had also been given a new roof and other necessary improvements in previous years, all funded through the CPA. The Annual Town Meeting also appropriated $5,000 in CPA funds to fix broken sections of the stone wall on Mass. Ave. and $3,000 for two new handmade doors for the herb-drying shed in Shaker Village, as well as transfers of $150,000 to the Conservation Fund, $24,250 to a reserve fund for historical preservation projects, and $150,000 to the Municipal Affordable Housing Trust.
Editor’s note: This article has been corrected and updated. The original article incorrectly stated that since 2001 the town has collected $810,114 through its property tax surcharge and has received $752,283 in matching state funds. The correct figures, as shown above, are $912,097 and $863,405 respectively.
