Community Preservation Act workshop Dec 10th

Two Helpful Links On The Community Preservation Act... (0.00 / 0)

The first is the original legislation of the Community Preservation Act.

The second is an independent study of the CPA done at Harvard University.

Community Preservation Act Info. MGL Chapter 44B

1)Below is a link to the original State approved legislation:

http://commpres.env.state.ma.u...

Click on "CPA Enabling Statute," 12 pages, it also lists all amendments.

2)Below is a link to an independent study of the CPA done at Harvard, it gives some great insight into the pro's and con's, and gives the best understanding and usefulness of the act.

http://www.hks.harvard.edu/var...

If the Planning Board sponsors an informative meeting about the CPA with the Master Plan Implementation Committee, it might be a good idea if one of the authors of the above study were invited to attend and give a brief presentation on the history, creation, and whether or not, hypothetically, after discussing the pro's and con's, would Dedham really benefit financially if the CPA were adopted?
Would Dedham have a potential positive or negative net revenue cash flow?

It would be very helpful to the residents and all Town Meeting members to review the above two links in order to make the best informed decision as to whether or not the CPA should be adopted in Dedham.

Remember, your vote counts, if the CPA does become a Town wide ballot question, it will be another form of
Propostion 2 1/2 override, to raise real estate taxes for a particular purpose, fyi.

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by: OakdaleLifer @ Wed Dec 05, 2012 at 04:19:27 AM UTC

Scope is too broad? (0.00 / 0)

You might be overselling the value of that report for Dedham (even if it did come from Harvard.)

The Rappaport study concentrates on state-wide effects from the CPA:

These findings suggest that it may be time to revisit the Community Preservation Act, particularly the state matching fund program. We recommend that state officials consider amending the legislation to make CPA funding more equitable, to develop more transparent mechanisms to allow assessment of how revenues are spent, and accountability systems that will give them tools to ensure that state funds are used efficiently and in accordance with state goals.

Maybe you could check out pages 21 and 22, Conclusion and Policy Options, to see which of those would be helpful for a Town making decisions about the CPA. I saw none.

It's also useful to remember that the purpose of Monday night's meeting is NOT to "make the best informed decision as to whether or not the CPA should be adopted in Dedham." It's informational only. See you Monday night at 7 PM.

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by: FredCivian @ Thu Dec 06, 2012 at 02:05:43 AM UTC

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All Encompassing Independent Study... (0.00 / 0)

Similar to all large Town projects, the Town will spend thousands of dollars for studies, this is a free one done at Harvard. It is all encompassing, because the CPA is approved by the State and the tax money is collected by the Registry of Deeds fees in addition to Dedham's additional tax on real estate, those monies are funneled through Norfolk County, and then distributed to each town.

The Harvard study does a complete analysis of the entire process from the State, to the County, then to the Town level. The study lists the collection data from the transactions of the Registry of Deeds fees, and from those Towns which have and have not adopted and contributed
to their CPA fund from their additional real estate tax of 1,2, or 3%.

The recommendations made by the study on pages 21 & 22 are of the CPA itself and are very helpful to the tax payers to know the facts about the inadequacies of the CPA and how it could affect Dedham if passed.

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by: OakdaleLifer @ Fri Dec 07, 2012 at 00:01:15 AM UTC

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Which recommendations . . . (0.00 / 0)

 . . . do you think are useful for Dedham?

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by: FredCivian @ Fri Dec 07, 2012 at 13:55:01 PM UTC

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After Reading All Recommendations... (0.00 / 0)

I feel all recommendations made in the independent study will only strengthen the CPA with all updated amendments which, if adopted in Dedham, would only make it a much more transparent, accountable and more appealing to the tax payers who may vote for it.

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by: OakdaleLifer @ Sat Dec 08, 2012 at 04:16:34 AM UTC

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