CPA Adoption Update: South Hadley Back on the Ballot

July 29, 2016: After an incredibly narrow loss for CPA Adoption during their spring election, local CPA advocates in South Hadley were spurred on to try again in November with a ballot petition. After several months of gathering signatures, the campaign succeeded in having their petition signed by the required 5 percent of the town's registered voters, making South Hadley the ninth community that will be voting on CPA this fall.

In South Hadley, voters will decide on adopting a 1.5% CPA surcharge for their community, with exemptions for the first $100,000 of residential property value and the first $100,000 of commercial property value, as well as low income and low and moderate income senior homeowners. South Hadley would raise approximately $209,000 in local CPA revenues annually for recreation, historic preservation, affordable housing and open space projects. Adopting CPA will also make the town eligible to receive annual distributions of funds from the statewide Community Preservation Trust Fund, monies that are available only to communities that have adopted the Act. The annual cost to the average South Hadley homeowner would be about $35.

If South Hadley does adopt the CPA, the funds could address a number of local needs, including the construction of tennis courts, playground development and rehabilitation, improvements to hiking trails, renovation of the historic Firehouse Museum, and creating local housing facilities.