Preservation remains key to Nahant

NAHANT – Town Hall, the public library, town wharf, 40 Steps and numerous other properties in town have benefited from Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds.But state reimbursement for money raised locally has been declining the last few years.Town Administrator Mark Cullinan explained when the town adopted the CPA, the state was matching funds raised by the tax surcharge almost dollar for dollar.”It’s still a good deal,” Cullinan said. “We’ve got a lot of good things done using CPA money. But we need to be cognizant of the fact that we are getting less CPA money from the state each year.”Community Preservation Act Committee Chairman Jeff Musman agreed the town is still getting a bang for its buck.”Nahant is in a lot better position than most communities because we adopted at the maximum 3 percent,” he said. “In FY’09, the reimbursement dropped to approximately 77 percent, but many communities are receiving even lower rates of reimbursement.”Cullinan said the town is now receiving 62 percent reimbursement from the state.”The statewide average is 32 percent,” he said. “We’re at a higher percentage than many communities. Given the economy it may be good to start building a reserve in the CPA accounts.”The Community Preservation Act, signed into law in September 2000, allows communities the option of tacking a surcharge of up to 3 percent of the real estate tax levy for homeowners.On April 24, 2004, Nahant adopted the Act and the money generated by it goes into the town Community Preservation Fund.The CPA allows money in the fund to be spent for historic preservation, open space and affordable housing. It requires 10 percent of the money raised by the additional tax to be spent in each of those three categories and the remaining 70 percent can be spent in any of the three categories.In accordance with the act, the committee can recommend how the money should be spent, but it cannot spend any money without the approval of Town Meeting.Musman said numerous projects in town were completed that could not have been done without CPA funds or a large override.”We’ve tackled some major projects that were bonded,” he said. “So our reserves are at the lowest level we’ve had in quite a few years.”Musman pointed out money was borrowed for the Nahant Lifesaving Station project and 40 Steps.”Those bonds will be paid off this fiscal year,” Musman said. “So we’ll be able to start replenishing the account. It’s always a balance between long and short term needs.”