One More on the Ballot - Shrewsbury Town Meeting Approves of CPA

Over the weekend, the town of Shrewsbury held their long-delayed "spring" town meeting - and on the warrant was an article to place the question of CPA adoption on the November ballot. Local CPA advocates have been running an impressive campaign since the beginning of the year, educating residents on the benefits that CPA would have in the community. Ultimately, the campaign's efforts were successful: town meeting passed the CPA article, and now Shrewsbury will be voting on CPA adoption at the ballot.

Voters in Shrewsbury will now decide whether or not to adopt a 1% CPA surcharge for their community, with an exemption for the first $100,000 of both residential and commercial property value, as well as exemptions for low income and low & moderate income senior homeowners. With a 1% CPA surcharge and the aforementioned exemptions, the town will raise approximately $600,000 in local CPA revenues annually for recreation, historic preservation, affordable housing, and open space projects. Adopting CPA would 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.

There are now a total of eight communities that will be voting on CPA adoption later this year - five towns and three cities. There isn't much time left for additional communities to add CPA adoption to their November ballot, but we may still see a few surprises before the end of the summer. Keep an eye on our CPA elections page for further updates.