What is CPA?

The Community Preservation Act ("CPA") is a state law that enables cities and towns to create a dedicated fund for important projects that can greatly impact a community's character and quality of life. Towns spend CPA funds in three core areas: open space protection, historic preservation, and affordable housing. Each of these areas must receive a minimum of 10% of the total revenue each year, but the remaining 70% can be spent or reserved for future spending in any of the three areas, or for public outdoor recreation. Money for the CPA is raised locally through a small surcharge on property taxes (in Eastham this is 3%), which is then matched by funds from the state. State funds are collected through surcharges at the Registries of Deeds on transactions in all Massachusetts municipalities. Adopting the CPA brings these funds back to local towns. Once in a town's CPA fund, these funds are controlled exclusively by local residents, for local projects. To date, Eastham has received over $3.6 million in state matching funds!!

Eastham adopted the CPA in 2005 and formed a Community Preservation Act Committee for evaluating proposals submitted by individuals, town boards, committees and community groups for use of CPA funds.

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1. What is CPA?
2. Why is it good for Eastham?
3. Who decides how the money is spent?
4. Where can I get more information about CPA?