Nearly $18 Million in State Matching Funds Awarded to Cities and Towns Passing Community Preservation Act

For Immediate Release: October 16, 2002

For more information please contact:
Dorrie Pizzella, Executive Director, Community Preservation Coalition, (617) 367-6200 x340 

Boston, MA - Yesterday, the Massachusetts Department of Revenue (DOR) distributed a total of $17,854,420 to municipalities that adopted the Community Preservation Act (CPA) during 2001, its inaugural year. For a list of what each community received, click here.

"The release of these funds celebrates the great partnership between the state and communities to preserve Massachusetts' unique character and high quality of life for future generations," said Bob Durand, Secretary of Environmental Affairs, who, as a state senator, wrote the CPA legislation. "This is a great day for everyone who worked so hard for 15 years to pass this landmark law." 

CPA allows cities and towns to pass local referendum to raise and dedicate up to 3% of the property tax for local land conservation, historic preservation, and community housing initiatives. The state matches these local revenues from Registry of Deeds and Land court fees that are deposited into a statewide Community Preservation Trust Fund. State matching funds are distributed to participating municipalities every October 15th. 

DOR issued the checks ranging from $5 million to the city of Cambridge to roughly $25,000 to the town of Hampden. In all, 34 cities and towns received their checks yesterday. All eligible cities and towns that approved CPA in 2001 received a 100% match since revenues in the state trust fund were sufficient to accommodate this maximum match.

"In a stagnant economy, the Community Preservation Act has provided a vital source of revenue to communities for critical local projects that otherwise would never have happened," said Dorrie Pizzella, Executive Director of the Community Preservation Coalition. 

Since the Act was passed by the state legislature two years ago, 51 cities and towns have adopted it. The fifteen communities that have adopted the CPA in 2002 will receive their first state matching funds next October 15. It is expected that the state will once again provide a 100% match for locally raised funds next year.

Some of the CPA funded projects that will benefit from the state matching grants include:

• Bedford $1.6 million for 10-year bond to restore the old Town Hall

• Cohasset $100,000 to create two ball fields

• Hopkinton Creation of affordable housing by moving a donated home to town-owned land

• Medway $30,000 to restore historic town documents dating to 1713

• North Andover $2.4 million over five years for 35-acre Half-Mile Hill open space purchase

The Community Preservation Coalition (CPC) is an alliance of open space, affordable housing, and preservation organizations that works with municipalities to help them understand, adopt, and implement the CPA. Steering Committee members include: the Citizens Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA); Historic Massachusetts; the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance (MAHA); the Massachusetts Audubon Society; the National Trust for Historic Preservation; and the Trust for Public Land (TPL). 

For more information, visit www.communitypreservation.org