2012-12-00-CPC-rpt (Needs Assessment Report)

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Town of Lexington Community Preservation Plan Overview Introduction In March of 2006, the residents of Lexington voted to adopt the Community Preservation Act (CPA), which set a 3% surcharge on property tax bills to be supplemented by State matching funds from the Massachusetts Community Preservation Trust Fund. The Lexington Community Preservation Committee (CPC)was appointed at that time to make recommendations to Town Meeting for the use of the funds raised by the surcharge under the CPA. In its initial year, fiscal year 2007 (FY07), the surcharge brought in approximately $2.5 million dollars, which was fully matched with State funds. Since FY07, annual revenue from the local surcharge has steadily increased. It now stands at an estimated $3,493,000 available for FYI 3. However, State matching funds, which come from a surcharge on Registry of Deeds transaction fees, have fallen, a function of falling home sales in Massachusetts over the last several years. Initially at a 100% match in FY07, the percentage has dropped to 27.62% for FY 12, with a estimated 22%in FY 13. This reduction is also due in part to an increase in the number of communities which have passed the CPA, and therefore compete with Lexington for limited funds. (To date there are 148 communities with CPA by-laws.) There is now legislation before the State legislature that would ensure a mandatory 75% State match for communities. This bill, which was titled SB 90 in the 2009 Legislative session, is now in the House as HB 765 and is presently in the House Ways and Means Committee. To date the Lexington Town Meeting has appropriated over $25 million in funding for CPA projects recommended to Town Meeting in the four primary categories of Community Housing ($5.5 million); Historic Resources ($6.2 million); Open Space Preservation ($6.4 million) and Recreational Uses ($2.7 million). (The $4.3 million approved by Town Meeting for purchase of the Busa property is presently undesignated as the Selectmen have not yet delineated which portions of the parcel will be used for open space and which for other purposes.) Of the funds that have been in the Town's Community Preservation Fund(CPF), over $7.2 million have been provided from the State's supplemental matching funds and $500,000 from a State Land (Local Acquisition for Natural Diversity) Grant. The CPA statute requires that at least 10 %of the CPA funds received in each fiscal year be spent or reserved for each of the CPA's three main purposes: open space, historic resources, and community housing. CPA funds may also be also used for recreation projects or for the purchase of land devoted to recreation. CPA funds that are not expended in one year may be"banked" or carried over to subsequent years within each main designation. The remaining 70 % of CPA funds received in each fiscal year is available to be appropriated or banked, according to the Town's discretion. Up to five percent of the CPA funds raised annually may be used for administrative activities related to the work of the CPC. 1