CPA Adoption Success: Amesbury Votes to Become 196th CPA Community

While there was only a single municipality with CPA adoption on the ballot this fall, the measure passed with flying colors: last night, the city of Amesbury voted to become the 196th CPA community.

The CPA adoption effort in Amesbury was widely supported by the City Council, as well as Mayor Kassandra Gove, who also won her re-election campaign last night. Voters in Amesbury reflected this enthusiasm at the polls, with the preliminary vote count being 2,206 voting YES (61%) and 1,438 voting voting NO (39%). This means the city will now adopt a 1% CPA surcharge with exemptions for the first $100,000 of residential and commercial property, as well as for low-income and low/moderate-income senior homeowners. Amesbury's local surcharge is expected to raise approximately $400,000 annually, and the city will also be eligible for annual distributions of additional funding from the statewide CPA Trust Fund.

Amesbury joins the town of Shirley as the two newest communities to have adopted the CPA program in 2023. And looking ahead to next year, many other cities and towns are considering CPA adoption efforts leading up to the 2024 Presidential Election. We will have to wait and see which municipalities move CPA forward to the ballot next year, but it's thrilling to see how CPA continues to inspire excitement and confidence in the power of local preservation efforts.