What's this on my tax bill? I'm being billed to pay for a CPA?
Not really. The letters "CPA" on the tax bill refer to the Community Preservation Act, which Amherst adopted by a town-wide vote in 2001. It is a 1% surcharge on the real estate tax on property values above $100,000. For example, my condominium's value is $128,800; at a 15.060 tax rate, the taxes are $1,939.73 and the CPA charge is $4.34. The funds collected by this surcharge, supplemented by funds collected by the state on deed transfers, can be used only for the purposes specified in the Act as passed in the state legislature: conservation, affordable housing, historic preservation and recreation.
The CPAC accepts requests from the "subject matter" committees: the Historical Commission, the Leisure Services and Supplemental Education commission, the Conservation Commission, and our affordable housing committees, the Amherst Housing Authority and the Housing Partnership / Fair Housing Committee. The CPAC has always asked those committees to be explicit about their priorities, so that they make the choices of which projects they most want funded rather than being second-guessed by the CPAC. Those of us on the CPAC have thought since the beginning that this is the best way to proceed.
The CPAC also holds a meeting at which anyone may speak about the proposals, or propose something else. That meeting is probably going to be held on February 14. If someone does propose a new project, the CPAC will probably ask the person to work with the relevant committee, given our procedure.
Later in February or in March, the CPAC will vote its recommendations to Town Meeting for how the CPA funds may be spent. Town Meeting may reject the CPAC's recommendations by declining to fund a project (you may remember the many votes about the Plum Brook athletic fields), however, under the law Town Meeting may not vote to fund something that the CPAC did not recommend.
So what's coming up? Remembering that all these requests will be modified over the coming month or so, we have seen requests for about $257,000 for affordable housing projects, and $190,000 for conservation purchases and associated costs. LSSE is asking for $10,000 to develop a program of signs so people will know what recreation area they are in, who manages it, how to reserve it, etc. The Historical Commission is asking for $115,000 to repair old cemeteries, continue conservation and restoration of old documents, etc.
Everyone is also interested in "banking" some funds for future use, both overall within the CPA mission, and specifically for the various "causes" (so the overall requests by the various committees are larger than the numbers I've given here). Everyone recognizes both that emergencies arise – as the ongoing efforts to preserve the Kimball House clearly demonstrate – and that the dollar amount available during any particular year is not enough to do major projects. Saving some money now to make possible future projects seems like a good idea.
In the meantime, the CPAC has far more request than it can honor. This is not unusual at this stage of the process. Each year the various committees do their best to bring in a list of high priorities, and then they have to go back and "sharpen their pencils" as the saying is, to see if they can cut their requests and be sure to select their top priority. It's hard work, but it is made easier by the fact that if it weren't for the Community Preservation Act and the generosity of Amherst's voters (and tax payers) in adopting the Act four years ago, we wouldn't have any funds to distribute at all.
If you are interested in conservation, affordable housing, historic preservation or the public provision of recreation facilities, I urge you to attend our meetings, particularly on February 14, and follow the process through Town Meeting.