Sunday, November 18, 2018

"It’s obvious that there needs to be an adjustment made”

From the Milford Daily News, articles of interest for Franklin:
"As cities and towns participating in a program that provides state funds to support affordable housing and open space preservation watch the state’s contribution dwindle, Community Preservation Act (CPA) advocates have fresh hope that Gov. Charlie Baker supports a fix. 
Almost two decades since the passage of the Community Preservation Act, about half of the communities in Massachusetts have opted into the program. The communities in the program have agreed to impose a surcharge on local property taxes with the promise of a state match to preserve open space, renovate historic buildings and parks and to build new playgrounds and athletic fields. 
The state matching funds are derived from a $20 fee assessed on certain real estate transactions through registries of deeds. The fee structure and match rate formula have not been changed since the CPA went into law in 2000 and as more communities adopt the CPA, each town’s share of the pie becomes smaller. 
When Gov. Paul Cellucci signed the CPA into law in 2000, the idea was to have the state match 100 percent of what each municipality raised by its property tax surcharge. That happened for the first six years, but the partnership has become more one-sided in the last decade-plus."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
https://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20181117/baker-open-to-fee-hike-to-boost-cpa-match

The Community Preservation Act was before the Franklin voters in Nov 2007 and failed to pass.
Ballot Question 1 
Yes - 1528            No - 2174
The Community Preservation Act did not pass.
- See more at: http://steves2cents.blogspot.com/2007/11/franklin-community-preservation-act.html#sthash.Wo1X7DV6.dpuf (Note - this was from the period just before Franklin Matters became its own web page)

The Veterans Walkway at night in the snow
The Veterans Walkway at night in the snow

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