State almost doubles Community Preservation match
Additions to the Community Preservation Fund are $60,000 more than last year, thanks to a near-doubling of the state’s matching funding. The Department of Revenue recently announced that the state will match a little more than 52 percent of Harvard’s $194,000 preservation fund contribution this year, almost the previous 27 percent match. The increase comes from the legislature’s decision to deposit $25 million in the state’s Community Preservation Act trust fund from last year’s state budget surplus.
The town’s contribution, which comes from a 1.1 percent surcharge on property taxes, increased $10,000 from last year. The total new Community Preservation funding is $294,324. Money from the fund is available for affordable housing, historic preservation, open space, and recreation.
But the matching funds aren’t the only thing that has gone up. “We have more requests than we do funds, which wasn’t the case last year,” Community Preservation Commission Chairwoman Debbie Ricci told the commission.
Grant applications from five groups total $727,000. The Conservation Commission has requested $200,000 for its open space purchase reserve fund. The Municipal Affordable Housing Trust is also asking for $200,000 to defray costs associated with its purchase of the old Poor Farm property for affordable and market-rate housing.
The Council on Aging’s wish list includes five handicap-accessibility and renovation upgrades for Hildreth House. Parks and Recreation Commission would like $17,000 to restore the World War I monument and flagpole on the Common, and another $17,000 to the Historical Commission would be used to remove trees outside the perimeter of the Shaker Cemetery. The Harvard Park Association is requesting $120,000 to resurface the McCurdy track.
After the commission finishes interviews with the applicants that began this week, it will deliberate and decide which requests and what amounts to recommend to the town in warrant articles for the Annual Town Meeting in April.
Note: In the version of this article that appeared in the Nov. 22 print edition of the Press, Harvard Park Association’s request for $120,000 in CPC funds was omitted.
