Isn’t CPA just a “slush fund” or “pot of gold” for a small committee to spend as they please?

No! While the CPA is a separate fund, the uses for the fund are strictly limited to the categories as delineated by the Community Preservation Act. With the small 1% surcharge (about $170 per year for the average Sherborn household in 2024) the CPA would raise annually an amount of money that the town has historically spent anyways within the categories supported by CPA: open space/recreation, historical preservation, and affordable housing. The great advantage of CPA is that the state contributes matching funds towards these projects, which could result in a savings of 53% compared to funding via borrowing and debt service. For more of the fiscal analysis please see the Details Page or watch the video presentation on the Home Page.

Additionally, every project proposed for CPA funding must stand on its own as a Warrant Article at a Sherborn Town Meeting. Like every other Warrant Article, they must be reviewed by the Select Board and go through the Advisory Public Hearing, where the Advisory Committee will take public comments and take a vote. Advisory would then make a recommendation to the town on each CPA project and publish their analysis in the Advisory Report that is mailed to every Sherborn household before Town Meeting. Then, each project must be voted on and approved at Town Meeting itself. Town residents/voters maintain full control over how CPA funds are spent!

Sherborn Town Meeting has voted down CPA twice in the past, why are we doing this again?

Times change, and the town’s fiscal situation has changed as well. While Town Meeting voted down CPA twice in prior decades, current residents voted to approve CPA at the April 2024 Annual Town Meeting. Sherborn is unique in many ways, but one of the ways is that there is minimal commercial and industrial real estate, meaning the vast majority of the town budget is paid for by residential taxes. Given the high rate of inflation in recent years, coupled with Proposition 2½ which caps the tax levy limit to a 2.5% increase (and is not indexed to inflation), the town will be flirting with that levy limit in coming years according to an Advisory Committee analysis.

Other municipalities with larger commercial/industrial bases can take advantage of additional revenue streams (business permits, liquor licenses, meals taxes, room occupancy taxes, parking fees/fines, recreational marijuana taxes, etc.), these are largely not an option in Sherborn. The state matching funds from the CPA Trust is one of the few available revenue streams that we can easily take advantage of.

Why should residents agree to pay up front for future projects?

The main reason is because those projects will ultimately cost less to fund via CPA rather than borrowing, both by taking advantage of state matching funds and by avoiding interest paid on long term bonds (see the Details Page for more information). As an analogy, imagine you are budgeting for your household and you set up a savings account for a specific purpose, like buying a car. True, while you are putting money in the account, you don’t know which specific car you will buy, but you know that it will be spent on a car someday. Furthermore, for every $100 you put in the account, your parents will put an additional $30-40 into the account for free. It would be pretty silly not to save up for a car like this, and instead to take a loan with a 4-6% interest rate at the time of car purchase, wouldn’t it?

Furthermore, it’s not like potential projects to be funded by CPA are a great unknown. Just looking at the town’s 5 year capital plan, there are more than enough CPA-eligible projects to use up all the funds that we’d anticipate raising over the next 5 years. These are projects that the town would very likely be approving at Town Meeting with or without CPA, and it would be quite shortsighted not to accept the state’s help with funding them. See the Projects Page for examples of projects that could use CPA funds in coming years.

Do all the CPA funds have to be used the same year that they are raised?

No, the CPA funds can be held until the town approves projects it feels are an appropriate use of the funds. Many towns will use the strategy of identifying a major project that is desirable — perhaps restoration of a historic building, construction of community housing, or major renovation of a recreational facility — then saving up CPA funds for several years before commencing the project.

Can we change or repeal our adoption of CPA in the future?

Yes, although if Ballot Question 6 passes this November, the 1% CPA surcharge will be in effect for at least 5 years. After 5 years, the town can vote to repeal CPA. It should be noted that in the 25 years that CPA has existed (with 196 communities adopting it thus far), not one community has voted to repeal CPA. In fact, many have subsequently voted to increase the surcharge percentage as the communities realized what a great boon it has been for their towns.

If I have restricted income, do I still have to pay?

The CPA adoption as being voted on Ballot Question 6 includes all available exemptions for low income residents and moderate income senior residents. Low income is defined as 80% of the area median income, while moderate income is defined as 100% of the area median income, and senior residents are defined as age 60 and up. Eligible residents would apply for an exemption through the Town Assessor’s Office. For more information regarding the income-based exemptions, please see the Details Page.