Many Communities Will Now Be Voting on CPA in November after Town Meeting & City Council Decisions

16 Communities Voting on CPASept. 9, 2016: After a record amount of activity this year, sixteen municipalities have placed CPA on the November 2016 ballot. Over the last several months, the towns of Rockland, Hull, Norwood, Danvers, South Hadley, Billerica, Wrentham, and East Bridgewater, as well as the cities of Boston, Chelsea, Holyoke, Springfield, Pittsfield, Amesbury, Palmer, and Watertown, have all placed CPA adoption on their respective ballots for later this year.

On May 2nd, Rockland became the first community to place CPA on the November ballot at Town Meeting with a large amount of support for the warrant. Hull followed suit on the second night of their annual Town Meeting on May 3rd. Both towns will vote to adopt with a 1.5% surcharge and exemptions for low-income homeowners and low-income & moderate-income senior homeowners. Additionally, Rockland would also exempt the first $100,000 of residential property value and the first $100,000 of commercial property value.

Norwood's town meeting was held on May 9th, where voters debated for nearly two hours before ultimately voting 81% in favor of placing CPA on the ballot for November. Norwood will be voting to adopt CPA with a 1% surcharge and exemptions for low-income homeowners and low-income & moderate-income senior homeowners, as well as exemptions for the first $100,000 of residential property value and the first $100,000 of commercial property value.

After Mayor Walsh's public endorsement of CPA adoption for Boston on April 27th, Boston City Council met on May 11th and made the decision include CPA adoption as a ballot measure after a 12-1 vote in favor of CPA. Boston voters will vote to adopt CPA with a 1% surcharge with exemptions for low-income homeowners and low-income & moderate-income senior homeowners, as well as exemptions for the first $100,000 of residential property value and the first $100,000 of commercial property value.

On May 16th, Danvers also voted to place CPA on the November ballot at Town Meeting. Residents will vote to adopt with a 1.5% surcharge and exemptions for low-income homeowners and low-income & moderate-income senior homeowners, as well as exemptions for the first $100,000 of residential property value and the first $100,000 of commercial property value.

Chelsea City Council unanimously voted on May 23rd to include CPA adoption as a ballot measure. Chelsea residents will vote to adopt CPA with a 1.5% surcharge with exemptions for low-income homeowners and low-income & moderate-income senior homeowners, as well as exemptions for the first $100,000 of residential property value and the first $100,000 of commercial property value.

On June 21st, Holyoke City Council voted 11-3 in favor of including CPA adoption on the November ballot. Holyoke residents will vote to adopt CPA with a 1.5% surcharge with exemptions for low-income homeowners and low-income & moderate-income senior homeowners, as well as exemptions for the first $100,000 of residential property value and the first $100,000 of commercial property value.

After their advisory committee recommended placing CPA on the ballot, Springfield City Council took a formal vote on July 18th. After an 11-1 vote in favor of including the question of CPA on the ballot, Springfield residents will now be voting to adopt CPA with a 1.5% surcharge with exemptions for low-income homeowners and low-income & moderate-income senior homeowners, as well as exemptions for the first $100,000 of residential property value and the first $100,000 of commercial property value.

South Hadley will be attempting CPA adoption for a second time this year 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, and 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. 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.

Pittsfield became the fifth city to include CPA adoption as a ballot measure after their City Council made a unanimous vote on August 9th. Pittsfield residents will vote to adopt CPA with a 1% surcharge with exemptions for low-income homeowners and low-income & moderate-income senior homeowners, as well as exemptions for the first $100,000 of residential property value and the first $100,000 of commercial property value.

Local CPA advocates in Billerica celebrated on August 15th after successfully gathering enough signatures from the town's registered voters to place the question of CPA adoption on their November ballot. In Billerica, voters will decide on adopting a 1% 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.

At the end of August, three additional communities each submitted successful ballot petitions with signatures from 5% of each community's registered voters:

In Amesbury, voters will decide on adopting a 1% 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.

Watertown residents will be voting on a 2% CPA surcharge for their community with the exemption for low income and low and moderate income senior homeowners.

And thirdly, Wrentham voters will decide on adopting a 1% CPA surcharge for their community with the exemption for the first $100,000 of residential property value.

Leading up to the final deadline, the two final communities successfully added CPA adoption to their ballots, bringing the total to sixteen.

On September 6th, the Town Council in Palmer voted in favor of including CPA adoption on the November ballot. Voters in the town will decide on adopting a 1.5% CPA surcharge with the exemption of the first $100,000 of residential property value.

Finally, local advocates in East Bridgewater received confirmation on September 7th that they had succeeded in gathering the required signatures from 5 percent of their community's registered voters. Voters will decide on adopting a 1.5% CPA surcharge with the exemption of the first $100,000 of residential property value as well as low income and low and moderate income senior homeowners.

For additional information on these upcoming ballot questions, as well as links to local CPA campaign websites, visit our Upcoming Elections page.