CPC prepares materials as Select Board schedules review of town participation in Community Preservation Act

At a meeting of the Southborough Community Preservation Committee, members discussed a Select Board agenda item scheduled for Aug. 19 to review the town’s participation in the Community Preservation Act and agreed to provide slides and background materials for the Select Board packet and to have committee representatives monitor the Select Board discussion. "The select board has put the CPC on its goals agenda, it has taken no position ... it would be premature for me to come and meet with the CPC prior to the select board having a position on the matter," a member of the Select Board wrote to the CPC, according to the committee chair.

Committee members said they want the Select Board and the public to see a short set of slides showing how much the CPA returns to the town and examples of CPC-funded projects. "I thought these slides ... show the average taxpayer what they actually pay for CPC," the committee chair said, urging that the slides be included in the Select Board packet.

Committee members described the Select Board’s review as potentially consequential because it could lead to a warrant article asking Town Meeting whether to change the town’s CPA participation or the local surcharge. The CPC decided not to attempt to pre-empt the Select Board’s internal deliberations; instead the committee will provide written materials and ask that those materials be included in the Select Board packet. Several committee members volunteered to attend or monitor the Select Board meeting and to be available to respond to factual questions if asked.

Committee members identified the factual points they want highlighted: the per-household cost that appears on the slides, the cumulative match and state distribution history, and examples of projects that would not likely have been completed without CPC funding. Committee members also discussed the longer-term consequence that some projects remain bonded or otherwise financed even if local participation in the CPA changed.

The CPC’s next steps are to email the Select Board chair requesting that the materials be included in the Aug. 19 packet, attach a small set of slides and photos, and identify one or two committee members to be present as observers and potential speakers. The committee did not take a formal vote instructing legal or financial staff to act; it documented the decision as a committee direction to provide information to the Select Board and to monitor that meeting.