A Swampscott Push To Join MA Community Preservation Act

SWAMPSCOTT, MA — Swampscott Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald introduced a renewed push for the town to join the state's Community Preservation Act program that provides state-matching funds for projects including open space, historical preservation and affordable housing in exchange for a local property tax surcharge.

Calling Swampscott's non-adoption of the CPA program that includes 195 of the 351 Massachusetts cities and towns "one of the glaring lapses in our fiduciary responsibility" Fitzgerald detailed what he said was the need to participate in the program that he said has distributed $3.15 billion in matching funds since its inception in 2000.

"We're a community that leads on so many levels but we're dragging the rear of the Commonwealth here," he told the Select Board on Wednesday night. "We're literally a lagging community. To me, that's no place for Swampscott. People look to Swampscott as a community that supports ideals and best practices, and 195 other cities and communities have signed up, and we're in a race to the bottom.

"That's not where we want to be."

Beverly, Peabody and Salem are among the North Shore communities that were early CPA adopters and have used the matching funds to restore historic sites and documents, enhance recreational sites and support public housing initiatives.

Danvers voters, however, shot down a proposal to join the CPA this past spring with 52.7 percent of voters objecting to a 1 percent property surcharge to become eligible for the CPA trust fund matching funds.

The surcharge would have amounted to an $18 increase in the quarterly property taxes — about $72 per year — for single-family homeowners.

Fitzgerald said a 1.5 percent surcharge in Swampscott would amount to $45 per year for a home valued at $380,000 per year. As of last year's tax levy assessment, the median single-family home in Swampscott was valued at $595,000.

"For me, this is a small amount of investment that we can leverage these three buckets (open and recreational space, affordable housing, historic preservation) that we so desperately need funding for," he said.

Fitzgerald noted that currently Swampscott is forgoing those funds that could help support projects like the Hawthorne property transformation, Archer Road open space purchase and veterans affordable housing development on Pine Street.

"We've got to get busy on some of these projects," he said. "Without these funds, it will be all the more challenging."

Fitzgerald proposed the outline of a town meeting warrant that would support joining the CPAn ahead of a potential townwide adoption vote. A town CPA committee would then be set up to collect public input and proposals for funding and then present recommendations to the town administrator and Select Board for approval annually.

"I believe we need this more than just about anything if we're going to continue to do extraordinary things," he said.

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