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Clarksburg residents will decide at Tuesday’s election whether to pass the Community Preservation Act | North Berkshire

Posted on by L. Dreeye
Clarksburg residents will decide at Tuesday’s election whether to pass the Community Preservation Act | North Berkshire

CLARKSBURG — It’s been a while, but Clarksburg voters are one step away from joining the 196 Massachusetts communities that have passed the Community Preservation Act.

Clarksburg is one of 11 Massachusetts municipalities voting to approve the CPA, as well as five questions on the state ballot in Tuesday’s election. In Berkshire, Sheffield is also voting to adopt the CPA.

Clarksburg voters approved a $5.1 million budget and other measures including a right-to-farm ordinance.

The CPA is a state law that allows municipalities to create funds using money from local property tax surcharges to fund commonly ignored and underfunded affordable housing, historic preservation and open space projects. Funding raised locally is supplemented by state money from the Community Preservation Trust Fund.

The Clarksburg issue includes tax exemptions for low-income households and low-income elderly homeowners. Williamstown has adopted CPAs for years, but only voted on a similar exclusion measure this year.

The approval, won at Clarksburg Town Meeting earlier this year, means voters backed a 3 percent surcharge on property tax bills (assessed after excluding the first $100,000 of property value). That way, Clarksburg would be able to receive 100 percent of the state’s surcharge money, money that would be used to restore public resources such as historic buildings, housing or open space.







Voting question sign

Signs in support of ballot question six can be found on Clarksburg lawns. City voters on Tuesday will decide whether to pass the Community Preservation Act, a state law allowing municipalities to create funds for affordable housing, historic preservation and open space projects.




The resident proposed an amendment to provide exceptions so that certain parties would not be required to pay an additional fee. According to the city’s clarification on the ballot measure, the surcharge exempts “low-income residents living in their own home or low-income seniors living in their home.”

Seniors are over 60 and to qualify for low-income housing must have an annual income of less than 80 percent of the area median income. People who own properties valued at less than $100,000 will not have to pay the additional fee.

Williamstown ballot question considers tax exemption for low-income families and seniors

To determine how much the surcharge will cost, it is 3 percent of the product of the property value and the tax rate. A property valued at $230,000, which is about $8,000 above the median home price in Clarksburg, would be calculated using a value of $130,000. Multiplying that by the tax rate, which most recently was $15.35, comes out to $59.

The Community Preservation Coalition, which helps communities understand and implement the CPA, noted in an Oct. 18 article that advocates in Clarksburg “have done an excellent job of spreading the word about the CPA.”

“The campaign was able to host a CPA implementation demonstration at the Clarksburg Volunteer Fire Co. pancake breakfast, providing participants with information and handouts,” the coalition wrote. “Campaign members were also featured in interviews with local news outlets, in which they had the opportunity to discuss the mechanics of the CPA and how it could benefit the city.”

There are even signs scattered across some Clarksburg lawns urging neighbors to “Vote for Number 6.”