August 5, 2003

While Gov. Romney was on vacation, Acting Gov. Healy signed the Municipal Relief Bill into law on July 31, 2003. An amendment to the CPA was attached to the bill. It affects cities that have passed the CPA by allowing them to pay more for land and loosening some of the public notice requirements that made it difficult to act quickly when property comes on the market. The latter affects both cities and towns. A more detailed description of the bill follows. It was sponsored by Sen. Creem of Newton and Wellesley and we expect that it will be of immediate benefit to a number of communities that have passed the CPA.

Description of Sen. Creem CPA amendment:

Section 38 of the Municipal Relief package exempts cities that have passed the CPA from certain provisions of Section 14 of M.G.L. Chapter 40. Section 14 of Chapter 40 states that a city may not acquire a "lot of land for any municipal purpose" if the purchase price "is more than 25% above the average assessed evaluation in the previous three years." This restriction has created a major obstacle for municipalities seeking to purchase real property using CPA funds in competition with other purchasers. The amendment exempts CPA cities from the Section 14 price restriction, and to ensure the integrity of the purchasing process, substitutes language from M.G.L. Chapter 30B, the Uniform Procurement Act (UPA) such that the price of any property acquired by a municipality under the CPA could not "exceed the value as determined by procedures customarily accepted by the appraising profession". We believe this is a more reasonable standard, which ensures than any property acquired under the CPA would not exceed its market value, and at the same time, not undermine the ability of municipalities to acquire land fairly on the open market.

The Section 38 of the compromise Municipal Relief bill also exempts CPA cities and towns from Section 16 of Chapter 30B of the Uniform Procurement Act (UPA). Section 16 requires all governmental bodies subject to the UPA to solicit proposals prior to acquiring or disposing of property if the purchase price exceeds $25,000. The solicitation must include not only advertisement in a local paper for a two week period but also advertising for at least 30 days in the Secretary of the Commonwealth's Central Register. Again, this latter notice requirement, like the purchase price limitation described previously, has been a major impediment for CPA communities trying to purchase property in competition with private purchasers. Given the open nature of local Community Preservation Committee proceedings as mandated by the CPA enabling statute (all public meetings noticed, all recommendations to appropriate or reserve revenues from the local Community Preservation fund must be approved by Town Meeting/City Council), the proposed exemption from the UPA should not compromise the public interest.