Groveland Voters “Save CPA” During Spring Election
Over the 24-year history of the CPA program, news regarding revocation attempts has been incredibly rare—after all, the last time that a CPA community had CPA revocation on the ballot was over a decade ago. But earlier this week, residents in the town of Groveland had an opportunity to decide whether or not they wanted to keep their CPA program intact during their annual spring election. When the results came in, Groveland firmly rejected the revocation attempt with over 60% of voters choosing to keep CPA in place.
In March, a citizen petition was submitted to the Groveland Town Clerk with enough signatures to place a CPA revocation question on their spring ballot. After 20 years of participation in the program, some residents felt as though CPA didn’t provide enough benefits to the town and sought to eliminate it as a tax cut. But CPA supporters in Groveland understood that the town had a long and successful track record with CPA: Groveland first adopted the Community Preservation Act in 2004, and since then the town had raised over $8.8 million in CPA funding between its local surcharge revenue and distributions from the CPA Trust Fund. But with the future of their local program on the line, CPA advocates in Groveland quickly mobilized to fight back against the revocation attempt.
Much like CPA adoption efforts, forming a local CPA ballot question committee is a vital step in the campaign process. Mike Dempsey, longtime chair of the Groveland Community Preservation Committee, immediately responded to the revocation effort by registering with the town clerk to form a ballot question committee. With only five weeks to prepare before the spring election, Mike and several other CPA advocates in town worked to educate residents on all the benefits that CPA had brought to Groveland, as well as urge them to vote against revocation.
“Groveland Green” made extensive outreach efforts leading up to election day, including the creation of a campaign website, informational posts on social media, and email blasts to friends and family. The campaign also created postcards that were mailed out to over 700 potential voters, and a group of citizens held signs outside of town events all throughout April and May. By detailing everything that CPA had allowed Groveland to accomplish over the years, as well as promoting the available exemptions for residents concerned about rising taxes, the “Vote No” campaign made every effort to secure the future of its local CPA program.
In the end, the campaign to save CPA in Groveland prevailed: on May 6th, the ballot question to repeal CPA in Groveland failed with 791 voting NO to 493 voting YES. When asked what this vote meant for the town, Mike Dempsey had this to say:
“CPA has been a crucial tool in Groveland over the years, making our town a more desirable place to live and improving our property values – it was too important to be repealed. We are so glad that 62% of voters agreed!”
Since the CPA legislation was enacted in 2000, only four communities have ever advanced a revocation attempt to the ballot—and in each of these cases, residents voted with a strong majority to keep their CPA programs intact. With this successful campaign effort, Groveland will now continue its CPA investments in historic preservation, community housing, open space, and outdoor recreation.