New Law to Extend CPF Signed by Governor Cuomo

A local law that would extend the Community Preservation Fund (CPF) from 2030 to 2050 and would authorize the five East End Towns to use a percentage of the annual revenues for water quality protection was recently signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo.

“This new law will provide for another twenty years of priority land acquisitions in addition to presenting a local mechanism to address the East End’s water quality crisis and further protect the resources with which our economy is so heavily reliant on,” Assemblyman Fred Thiele said.

The Peconic Bay Community Preservation Fund, which was created in 1999, has protected more than 10,000 acres of land with more than $1 billion dollars generated through a 2 percent real estate transfer tax.

Recently, the legacy of existing development and land uses have increased nitrogen loadings to the East End’s waters, according to a press release from Assemblyman Thiele’s office.

Under the new State law, eligible water quality improvement projects would include:

• wastewater treatment improvement projects
• non-point source abatement and control program projects
• aquatic habitat restoration projects
• pollution prevention projects
• the operation of the Peconic Bay National Estuary Program

This new effort is estimated to generate $2.7 billion in revenues between 2016 and 2050 for the CPF with $1.5 billion generated between 2031 and 2050, according to the release.

There would be a minimum of $963 million in new additional money for land preservation generated between 2031 and 2050 and a maximum of $540 million that could be generated for water quality projects from 2016 until 2050.

Towns would continue to possess full home rule power to determine their spending priorities, but could choose to spend up to 20 percent of their revenue on water quality projects.

The next step is for each of the five East End towns to create and and approve a plan for water quality protection projects and adopt their own local law.

Voters must know exactly how each Town would spend the additional CPF funds if the voters were to approve the program.

“Prior to this new law, the CPF was a mechanism that enabled us to preserve important lands, and now, I am hopeful it will have the same success protecting our water,” Senator Ken Lavalle said.