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Massachusetts
Plan to Use Community Preservation Funds for Smart Growth Housing Upsets Massachusetts Officials
Republican Governor Mitt Romney's 2006 FY budget proposal to transfer $10 million from the $100-million Community Preservation Trust (CPT) to the Smart Growth Housing Trust Fund exasperates many state lawmakers and town officials, especially those who were able to push through an up to three percent property tax surcharge for affordable housing, historic preservation and open space in their communities to qualify them for CPT matching funds.
''It's not fair to pit two successful programs against each other,'' said state Democratic Representative James Eldridge. ''Let's find a way to fund them both.''
State CPT matching money comes from a flat $20 fee on all property sales, reports MetroWest Daily News writer Michael Kunzelman, quoting Department of Housing and Community Development spokesman Phil Hailer, who said that since the fee has brought in twice the projected amount, while CPT adoption has been ''slower than expected,'' the surplus can help housing more through the Smart Growth fund.
But Citizens' Housing and Planning Association executive director Aaron Gornstein said municipalities that adopted the CPA ''are expecting this matching money from the state,'' and Sudbury Town Manager Maureen Valente pointed out that the governor's proposal sets a dangerous precedent.
Noting that last year a group of mayors wanted to divert $30 million from the CPT fund to cities outside the program but failed in the legislature, the writer quotes Senate Natural Resources Committee Democratic Chairwoman Pamela Resor, who hinted another tough fight against raiding the fund. -- MetroWest Daily News
1/28/2005
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