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Court Sides with Holyoke Mayor in CPA Ballot Question Dispute

Posted on: October 11, 2023 - 2:59pm

Earlier this year, Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia vetoed a city council order that would have placed the question of a CPA surcharge reduction on the city’s November 2023 ballot. In response to this decision, four city councilors sought to legally challenge the mayor’s veto—however, a Hampden Superior Court judge ultimately denied the attempt at the end of September.

The dispute began back in April when the Holyoke City Council narrowly voted to reduce the city’s CPA surcharge from 1.5% to 1%, with proponents of the effort citing rising financial stressors for property owners as the main motivation behind the reduction. The surcharge reduction would have then required passage of a ballot question at the next regularly scheduled election—but before that could happen, Mayor Garcia vetoed the city council order over a disagreement on the timing of the vote. The mayor argued that rather than having voters weigh in during a local election, the city should instead wait until the November 2024 presidential election, as the higher turnout of voters would better reflect how residents felt about the change to the city’s CPA program.

“Election records show three to four times as many Holyokers participate in a presidential rather than a municipal election,” the mayor reasoned in a letter accompanying the veto order.

Four city councilors (Linda Vacon, Wilmer Puello, Kevin Jourdain and David Bartley) disputed the mayor’s authority on the matter, and sought to reestablish the CPA surcharge reduction as a 2023 ballot question. However, Superior Court Justice Jane Mulqueen issued a quick decision on the matter, ultimately aligning with Mayor Garcia and denying the injunction request. According to the written decision, Justice Mulqueen determined that the City Council’s role in amending the city’s CPA program does not preempt or override Holyoke’s city charter, which allows the Mayor to veto the Council’s action.

Holyoke adopted the CPA program in 2016 with a 1.5% surcharge. Other CPA communities across the state have made attempts to change their local surcharge and exemptions in the past - for more information regarding these measures, you can visit the CPA Databank page.

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