Community Benefits
The Community Preservation Act will help us to hold onto much of what we value about Arlington: open spaces and vibrant recreational areas; a rich historical legacy; and the ability of people of diverse economic circumstances to live here as our neighbors.
How long have we discussed the state of our Senior Center, a historical structure which could benefit from Community Preservation funding?
How long have we talked about the need to increase tourism to our town and to take our rightful place alongside our neighbors to the West… only to realize that special places like the Jason Russell House, Dallin Museum, Old Schwamb Mill, Old Burying Ground and Menotomy Indian Hunter are burdened with neglect and decay?
How many times has Town Meeting gone on record supporting the protection of the Mugar property and flood-stricken East Arlington homeowners … statements of support with no real means of action?
How often have we wondered how we can meet our residents’ needs for affordable housing on our own terms… rather than those of the State?
By voting YES on Question 5 and adopting the Community Preservation Act, we can actually do something constructive — and fiscally responsible — in response to these kinds of questions.
Fiscal Transparency and Management
Arlington values fiscal transparency. And our fiscal leadership is recognized throughout the Commonwealth.
For many years, I have had the privilege of serving on the Long Range Planning Committee, where we take a multiyear view of our budgets, test assumptions, and seek consensus around broad areas of fiscal policy.
The Long Range Planning Committee’s work is vetted through regular, televised gatherings of the aforementioned Budget and Revenue Task Force, which includes members of elected and appointed boards and committees; the town’s financial management professionals; labor representatives; and our legislative delegation.
Through this process, we have succeeded in extending an initial three-year “no override” commitment to as much as seven years or more. At the same time, we have made adjustments to accommodate inflation in special education costs and an explosion in public school enrollments.
Other transparency initiatives include our award-winning Arlington Visual Budget tool and the impending roll-out of Open Checkbook, which will allow taxpayers see how every dollar of the municipal budget is spent. Additionally, the town publishes a wealth of budget and financial information that is freely available to anyone.
What does this have to do with the Community Preservation Act in Arlington?
Those who feel that the Act is somehow “murky” in the way that funds are allotted, should recognize that the commitment to fiscal transparency and cooperative decision-making in Arlington is ingrained.
The Community Preservation Act guarantees stakeholder participation and supports our culture of openness through a Community Preservation Committee (CPC), which is defined by Town Meeting. The Community Preservation Act specifies five specific stakeholders as members of the CPC.
Additionally, I have proposed Capital Planning Committee and/or Finance Committee representation to ensure tighter coordination with our overall financial blueprints. The CPC is required by law to hold annual public hearings on any spending recommendations, all of which depend upon Town Meeting for ultimate approval or rejection.
Executed well, this process — and its associated checks and balances — can help to supplement the town’s reserves by funding projects in the capital plan pipeline with Community Preservation funds, freeing up money that can be applied to our fiscal stability reserve fund. (See pages 18-21 of the 2014 report of the Board of Selectmen to Town Meeting for related preliminary analysis.)
Under the Community Preservation Act, transparency is provided not only on the spending side, but on the revenue side, too. Unlike any other part of the property tax bill, the Community Preservation Act surcharge is broken out on its own line item, so that taxpayers know exactly how much they are paying from year to year. If you would like to see an estimate now — including the impact of recommended exemptions for homeowners and businesses — you can do so using this online calculator.
Leveraging State and Federal Programs
Another area where Arlington has excelled has been in taking full advantage of state and federal programs and legislation when doing so maximizes the benefit to Town finances.
We have leveraged Massachusetts School Building Authority funds as we have undertaken our rebuild program over the past two decades. With cooperation from our bargaining units, we shifted to the state’s health insurance program, resulting in millions of dollars of savings in health care costs. And, as a result of the good work of the School Committee, Finance Committee, and others, the schools were able to eliminate kindergarten fees and increase our Chapter 70 funding.
We have availed ourselves of targeted grants, and past town leaders were successful in ensuring that Arlington was grandfathered into the Community Development Block Grant program, which provides annual — albeit dwindling — financial support for distinct program areas that our budgets typically do not fund.
What does this have to do with the Community Preservation Act?
One of the most attractive aspects of the Community Preservation Act is that it unlocks state contributions to participating communities. These are funded by recording fees at the Registry of Deeds, as well as legislative appropriation. And — while the distribution rate does fluctuate — last year’s base distribution amounted to approximately one dollar of state assistance for every $2 of locally contributed funds.
Like the CDBG program, the Community Preservation Act defines specific program areas that are valuable to our town, but for which there is rarely — if ever — capacity in municipal budgets. Community preservation funds can leverage private contributions and financing, increasing their effectiveness beyond state distributions and local taxpayer support.
Fears and Concerns
I have heard the concerns raised by some opponents of Question 5 about the potential negative impact on high school rebuild efforts or the funding of ongoing operational expenses of the schools and general government.
These echo the types of concerns that were raised by some in neighboring Lexington when the Community Preservation Act was adopted there in 2005. And yet, when a potential scaling back of the program was discussed in 2011, that town’s Capital Expenditures Committee reported to Town Meeting: “With 20:20 hindsight, the present committee, 4 of the 5 members still being the same as 6 years ago, will be the first to admit that we were wrong.” They stated that previous fears of “crowding out” future needs were not validated by subsequent events.
Specifically, on the issue of rebuilding Arlington High School, I want to commend our own Capital Planning Committee. I urge you in particular to read pages 9 and 10 of the committee’s last report to Town Meeting, which illustrates our declining debt burden as we pay off our previous school rebuild projects and which shows an “implied debt capacity” of approximately $3 million per year under reasonable assumptions.
The report states, “With coordination by the School Department, MSBA and the Town, and the support of the voters, we have the potential to fund a renewed high school facility without substantially increasing exempt taxes beyond FY2015 levels.” The picture is not as bleak as has sometimes been portrayed in recent weeks.
At the end of the day, these fears rest not on a financial judgment, rather on a political judgment.
Since 2008, I have personally faced the voters of Arlington three times in townwide elections, meeting and talking with hundreds of people. I have great faith that our voters will carefully consider the separate and distinct choices before them over the next half decade and will not artificially conflate them.
A Threat to Our Schools?
The Community Preservation Act is a tool for local communities to use to their own unique advantage.
I have discussed the ways in which I feel it can serve as a fiscal tool, consistent with our values of transparency, accountability and local control.
The act also opens up the possibility of supporting some discrete priorities for Arlington: open space and outdoor recreation, affordable housing, historic preservation.
While some opponents of Question 5 have sought to play these programs and project areas against educational needs, it is notable that so many of the hundreds of public supporters of the Community Preservation Act are longtime school activists and parents of school-aged children.
How can this be?
Because the Community Preservation Act benefits our entire town, including our public school families.
Our students benefit from access to modern recreational spaces, many of which are — in practice, if not in fact — integral to our school facilities.
Students whose families face housing challenges and economic hardship are likely to be challenged in their learning.
And our students’ instruction in science and history is enhanced by close proximity to local historical sites and natural spaces.
Our schools are not islands. They are part of the greater community which will be strengthened by the adoption of the Community Preservation Act.
In an age when we all bristle at unfunded mandates, the Community Preservation Act is funded and voluntary.
It will bring new state revenue to Arlington, while retaining local control of spending.
The decision on adoption rests with the voters. Decisions on how to use Community Preservation funds rests with our elected representatives in Town Meeting.
Conclusion
The Community Preservation Act represents a modest proposal, which is flexible, opens up new funding for our town, and maintains local control.
I urge you to visit www.arlingtoncpa.org/ to explore the real benefits and costs to each Arlington taxpayer.
Just as it would be wrong to claim that adoption of the Community Preservation Act is a magic bullet for our town, it is equally wrong to hyperbolically exaggerate its limitations.
The Community Preservation Act presents voters with a choice. And, should we adopt the act and change our minds in five years, we can make another choice.
I respectfully ask that you Vote YES on Question 5 on Nov. 4.
This statement was published Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014.
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