Canton’s CPA fund receives record state match

The Infantryman statue in front of Memorial Hall was restored using CPA funds. (File photo)

The town of Canton will have additional Community Preservation Act monies to work with in the coming fiscal year thanks to a record-high match from the statewide CPA trust fund.

Canton’s Community Preservation Committee, which is responsible for administering the program locally and recommending projects for funding, relayed the good news in a press release issued earlier this week.

“The CCPC is pleased to report that the distribution from the state in November of this year was the highest dollar amount received to date — a very welcome $181,402,” the committee announced. “This was the third straight year that Canton’s distribution from the CPA trust fund increased (from a low of just under $95,000 in November 2017).”

Adopted in Canton by a ballot initiative in 2012, the CPA is an optional state statute that enables participating cities and towns to set aside funds for the preservation of open space, outdoor recreation, historical resources, and community housing. Previous CPA grants have been used to fund dozens of projects — everything from the restoration of the historic “Little Red House” at Pequitside Farm to the purchase of parkland at the Revere Heritage Site to the completion of needed maintenance work at the town’s public housing complexes.

Funding for CPA projects is generated annually from two sources: a surcharge on property tax bills — 1 percent in Canton’s case — plus a yearly distribution from the statewide CPA trust, which derives its funding from surcharges placed on real estate transactions at the state’s registries of deeds.

While originally conceived as a 100 percent match of funds raised locally, CPA trust fund disbursements had been declining for several years — falling below 50 percent by 2009 before bottoming out at 17 percent in 2017. Infusions of cash from state budget surpluses helped boost the percentages in 2018 and 2019, and a permanent increase was added last year by the legislature through an adjustment in registry fees (from $20 to $50 for most transactions).

The CCPC said the new funding source was made possible thanks to the “tireless work” of both the nonprofit Community Preservation Coalition as well as “longtime champions of CPA” on Beacon Hill. “This adjustment is expected to generate an additional $36 million annually to be distributed to the 186 CPA communities throughout the commonwealth,” noted the committee.

Despite the permanent fee increases, initial expectations for this year’s disbursement were tempered as the state Division of Local Services announced a projected match of only 11.2 percent in May, citing the uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 and its potential impact on registry transactions. But those concerns were allayed as registry business continued throughout the pandemic and state collections came in on target, producing a final state match of 28.6 percent.

For Canton, that translated into a year-over-year increase of $35,000 for the state match alone, giving the town a total of $815,087 in new revenues heading into FY22.

“The higher than expected match,” according to the CCPC, “is especially welcome this year in light of the fact that the committee received a total of nine applications for CPA funding (totaling more than $900,000) by the filing deadline on November 20.”

Among the project proposals currently under consideration are design and engineering work for the rehabilitation of the exterior of Town Hall ($283,000); a full replacement of the Luce School playground ($270,000); establishment of a municipal housing trust to create and preserve affordable housing within the town ($100,000); and replacement of exterior metal stairs at the Hagan Court housing complex ($100,000).

Other proposals for FY22 include a conceptual design study for reestablishing the Canton portion of the historic Warner Trail, which currently travels from northeast Rhode Island to Sharon ($50,000); rehabilitation of the baseball diamond at Canton High’s Gibson Field ($34,000); supplemental funding for the town’s Conservation Land Fund to protect key land and water resources ($25,000); restoration of an 1829 Hunneman Hand Tub — a rare early fire pumper previously owned by the Ponkapoag volunteer fire company and made with Revere copper ($46,000); and a design grant to support the conservation of the Henry Hooper Bell and development of a memorial to the factory workers that served at the Revere and Son copper mill ($5,000).

The CCPC began hearing from project proponents on December 7 and hopes to wrap up presentations at a subsequent meeting this month. The committee will then reconvene in January to consider and vote on which projects to recommend to annual town meeting.

For more information about the Community Preservation Act or the projects being considered for funding in FY22, contact the CCPC office by email at ccpc@town.canton.ma.us or call 339-502-5729.

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