Danvers Rejects Community Preservation Act At Annual Town Election

DANVERS, MA — A Danvers annual town election ballot question proposing a tax surcharge to qualify for state Community Preservation Act funding failed to pass a townwide vote at the annual town election on Tuesday.

With no townwide offices contested on the ballot, the ballot initiative and town meeting members were the only races that Danvers residents had in this spring's election.

The proposal to add a 1 percent tax surcharge that would qualify the town for state matching funds to fund projects such as the restoration and upkeep of open space, preserving historical documents, rehabilitation of playing fields or protection of water sources came up on the short end of the vote with 52.7 percent voting against the CPA and 46.1 percent supporting it.

The surcharge would have amounted to an $18 increase in the quarterly property taxes for single-family homeowners.

The raw vote according to unofficial results was 1,513 votes against the CPA and 1,322 for it. The 2,869 residents voting on the question represented 13.1 percent of the town's 21,883 registered voters.

In uncontested races across the ballot, Patricia Frazier was re-elected as moderator, Maureen Bernard was re-elected to a three-year term on the Select Board, Joshua Kepnes and Eric Crane were both re-elected to three-year terms on the School Committee, Lisa Silva was re-elected to a five-year term on the Housing Authority, and Irene Conte, Cory Ryan and Charles Desmond were re-elected to a three-year term on the Library Board of Trustees.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)