CPA Adoption Success: Shirley Votes to Become 195th CPA Community

The towns of Danvers and Shirley both had CPA adoption on the ballot during their spring elections yesterday - and while the measure in Danvers unfortunately failed, advocates in Shirley are celebrating a huge win after a majority of voters approved of adopting the Community Preservation Act. Shirley is now the 195th municipality to adopt CPA.

As we've covered in recent weeks, the local advocates in Shirley ran an extensive campaign in support of CPA adoption, and it's clear from the final poll results that these efforts paid off in a big way. Since placing CPA on the ballot during their Fall 2022 town meeting, the Shirley CPA campaign sent out flyers and postcards with information about the CPA program, as well as educating neighbors through a campaign website and social media pages. And during yesterday's election, the campaign set up a tent near the library to remind voters about the ballot question while offering food and activities for children. When the final vote was tallied, the CPA measure passed with 74% approving adoption (505 voting YES, 180 voting NO) - this means the town will now adopt a 1% CPA surcharge with exemptions for the first $100,000 of both residential and commercial property and full exemptions available for low-income and low/moderate-income senior homeowners. Shirley's local surcharge is expected to raise approximately $85,000 annually, and the town will also be eligible for annual distributions of additional funding from the statewide CPA Trust Fund.

While it's still possible that we see some more CPA adoption activity later this year, many communities have their sights set on 2024 as the next CPA election season. Keep an eye on our CPA Upcoming Elections page to track all of the new developments.