WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Community Preservation Committee recently reviewed its plans of the fiscal year 2027 funding applications and again stressed the importance of submitting those requests on time.

 

The issue of tardy applications came up twice in last winter's consideration of FY26 applications, and in both instances, the committee opted not to penalize the organizations that missed the deadline.

 

But, partly due to last year's discussions, this year's CPC page on the town's revamped website includes the following note in a list titled Important Dates and Deadlines: "January 9, 2025, 5 p.m. EST. Application submission deadline (no exceptions)."

 

The CPC is a committee of nine made up of representatives from certain boards and commissions as well as "at large" appointments from the community. It sits each winter to review requests for funds raised through the Community Preservation Act surcharge on property tax bills and make recommendations to the annual town meeting, which decides whether to award each grant.

 

Another consequence of the FY26 review process is a more structured approach for assessing those applications.

 

Kenneth Kuttner, who filled the Planning Board's seat on the CPC last year, joined the meeting on Nov. 18 to walk the members through the new process.

 

The first noticeable change is that a pre-application session for potential grant seekers that used to be voluntary is now mandatory.

 

Any applicant — generally non-profits but also the town manager and the town's Affordable Housing Trust — must first submit an "eligibility review" form by Nov. 30 and attend an eligibility review meeting in mid-December.

 

As usual, the applicants will make their case in person to the CPC at a January meeting, and the committee will meet weekly until early February to decide on what recommendations, if any, it will send to town meeting.

 

How they make those decisions also will change.

 

After meetings last winter when members had to grapple with more requests for funding than funds available, Kuttner and a working group devised a procedure they say will help members prioritize applications.

 

Each of the nine members will be given a "score card" with which to rank the applications based on "merit" and "need."

 

A third-party "tabulator" (Kuttner volunteered to serve in the capacity for FY27) will then report the scores on each matrix at the CPC's second meeting in January, where those scores will help frame a conversation about prioritizing funding.

 

"Some towns will simply give people a score card, add everything up and those [applicants] with numbers above a certain number get funding and those with numbers below the number don't get funding," Kuttner said. "That's very mechanical. We decided on a process where the initial score, the scores you give on merit and need were sort of a starting point for a discussion about the needs and merits.

 

"The scores would not be the final word. That would be the beginning of a robust discussion."

 

In assessing "merit," each CPC member would review: what community needs are met by the project at hand; does the project align with either the town's comprehensive plan or Open Space and Recreation Plan (or both); how widespread the projects benefits will be; and what, if any, specific communities or groups will be served by the project.

 

In assessing need, the key question will be whether the project could be undertaken without CPA funding, if none was available.

 

"If there is a need and there is still disagreement [after the 'robust discussion'], members may revise their scores and, if necessary, have a subsequent meeting at which a second round of scores are tabulated," Kuttner said.

 

CPC Chair Philip McKnight opened the meeting by telling the committee members how much CPA funding will be available for the FY27 funding cycle.

 

The committee can anticipate recommending grants totaling up to just more than $624,000 when it meets this winter, McKnight reported.

 

That figure is derived from anticipated CPA surcharge receipts, an anticipated state "match," "carryover" from FY26 in interest and $169,649 in funds previously allocated by town meeting but unspent by the applicant before a two-year "sunset" clause included in the town meeting votes.

 

Of that $624,000, McKnight noted, at least 10 percent has to be devoted to each of three categories specified in the act: historic preservation, community housing and open space preservation. Generally speaking, Williamstown has allocated more than 10 percent of available funds to each of these categories in years past, but if not enough money is sought in one of the three categories, it must be held in reserve for future years.

 

The Community Preservation Act, passed in 2000, allows CPA funds to be spent on historic preservation, community housing, open space or outdoor recreation.

 

The bulk of a municipality's CPA funds come from a surcharge of not more than 3 percent on local property tax bills, with $100,000 of a property's value exempted. Williamstown's local surcharge was set at 2 percent when the town adopted the CPA in 2002.

 

In 2024, the town voted to allow a CPA exemption for low-income residents and moderate-income seniors. Residents must apply at Town Hall to receive those exemptions.

 

The CPC continued a conversation about whether it should ask residents to increase that surcharge to 3 percent, which would make the town eligible for a higher "match" rate from the commonwealth.

 

According to a document circulated to members at the Nov. 18 meeting, the additional 1 percent in surcharge could be leveraged to reap a significant increase in returns from the state.

 

"For example, in FY 2024, the Town's 2 percent surcharge under the Act resulted in approximate revenues of $336,000 with an approximate state match of $57,000 or 18 percent," the document reads. "If the Town had adopted a 3 percent surcharge for FY 2024, revenues under the Act would have been approximately $504,000 with an approximate state match of $191,000 or 40 percent."

 

The current property tax rate for Williamstown is $14.20 per $1,000 of valuation, meaning that a median-priced single-family home in FY26, valued at $453,500, has a tax bill of $6,440.

 

To calculate the CPA surcharge for that home, first imagine its value is $353,500 (because of the $100,00 exemption), which would make the value used for the surcharge $5,020.

 

A surcharge of 2 percent (the current rate) yields a CPA surcharge of $100.39. Raising the surcharge to 3 percent would raise the CPA payment by that home to $150.59.

 

In other words, for 10s of dollars more in payment per home, the town would receive more than a $130,000 increase in the CPA state match, assuming current matching levels continue.

 

"Certainly, by staying at 2 percent, we're leaving money on the table in terms of the state match," said CPC member Alison Bost, part of a working group that studied the surcharge question. "But there are always questions around any tax increase, and there would be questions around whether we have a stream of projects coming before the committee we'd need this money for."

 

Peter Beck, who fills the Select Board's seat on the CPC, pointed to a tough political environment in which to sell a surcharge hike to town meeting, which would need to approve the change. But he did allow for the uniqueness of the surcharge.

 

"I think, in general, from conversations with [Finance Committee] members and the Select Board and town manager, it's a very tight budget season with potentially significant tax increases coming forward," Beck said. "All the other tax increases, I'd note, don't come with tripling state grants. This would be an increase in our surcharge that comes with a potential tripling of the state money. And no other spending increase discussed comes with that."

 

Beck also noted that Williamstown, an early adopter of the CPA, used to receive a higher match for its 2 percent surcharge. As more towns and cities adopted the provisions of the act, the match dropped.

 

"Eventually, the 3 percent club is going to get bigger," he said.

 

McKnight said the Community Preservation Committee would pick up the surcharge question again in January.