CPA – real Middleboro numbers
I was about to start running some real numbers on what the average Middleboro household would pay if we adopted CPA. Fortunately, I didn’t have to. I contacted a person from Community Preservation Coalition who sent me this projection based on FY2008 tax receipts.
To remind you – CPA would allow us to have a surcharge of 1-3% on our property tax bills. This money would be matched by the state up to 100% but more likely somewhere around 70-75%. These monies can be used for open space preservation, historical preservation, affordable housing, and recreational spending. In the next legislative session, there will be a bill to increase the minimun state match from 5% to 75%. Where else can you get a 75% return on your money?
The first $100K of property value is exempt and there are low income exceptions as well. These numbers are based on FY08 tax figures, using a residential tax rate of $10.10 per thousand and and the average single family home’s assessed value of $326,403 reduced to $226,403 with the $100K exemption. The brings the average tax payment down to $2,286.67.
Here are the expected payments, matching state funds, and totals based on these numbers:
| CPA% | Avg payment | Town total | State match | Total with 75% match |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.00% | 22.87 | $198,328 | $148,746 | $347,074 |
| 1.50% | 34.30 | $297,492 | $223,119 | $520,611 |
| 2.00% | 45.73 | $396,656 | $297,492 | $694,148 |
| 3.00% | 68.60 | $594,984 | $446,238 | $1,041,222 |
CPA % – Amount of CPA surcharge
Avg payment – Average payment per house per year
Town total – Total raised by the town
State match – Amount given by the state (based on 75% match)
Total with 75% match – Total CPA funds raised by Middleboro with state matching funds
So – if Middleboro opts into CPA at the maximum amount of 3%, the average home will pay $68.60 per year or just $1.32 per week. This will raise $595K per year and bring in $446K of free state matching money for a total of just over $1M dollars per year to preserve open space, prevent unwanted development, preserve our history, and pursue affordable housing.
What a shame the residents soundly defeated it by a wide margin. Instead, the town borrowed the money for the last few purchases and missed out on others.
Does anyone know what the margin was?
Was this on a ballot or at town meeting?
It seems to me it has to be voted on in both places. No? For some reason, I’m thinking that it was voted on about the same time as Wareham — a more diverse community, but not as ‘affluent.’ Wareham voted to support it by about the same amounts the ‘boro voted to defeat it and it seems to me it was about 2 to 1.
If it was voted on at the town election in April that always has a poor turnout, that might explain why. You can ask Eileen Gates who always seems to have the answers readily available.
Voters around town have commented that this property or that should have been saved and when they’re made aware of the CPA defeat, they say they didn’t know. Communications seems to be a big problem, but with your site and nemasket are changing that.
Carver adopted the CPA with the 3% property tax increase. Best money ever spent, IMO. The State just matched our funds 100%…we got extra money to preserve our town and we didn’t even need to sell out to corrupt casino investors to do it. Instead, we invested in ourselves.