In addition to answering “Yes” or “No” on five statewide ballot questions, Somerville residents are voting on one local ballot question. Question 6 asks if the city of Somerville should “amend its acceptance of the Community Preservation Act.”
The Community Preservation Act is a Massachusetts state law that allows cities and towns to generate a fund for infrastructural improvements on open spaces, affordable housing and historic preservation. The Community Preservation Act then allows communities to raise money for these improvements through property tax surcharges, which are partially matched by the state. If enough “Yes” votes are collected by Tuesday, the Community Preservation Act’s property tax surcharge will increase from 1.5% to 3%.
Somerville adopted the Community Preservation Act through a vote in the November 2012 general election by over a 76–24 margin. Since 2014, the Community Preservation Act has raised $18.2 million for affordable housing, $9.7 million for historic preservation projects and $7.6 million for open space and recreation in Somerville. The $24 million in local Community Preservation Act revenue has generated $7 million in state-matched funds and unlocked over $315 million in other funding sources to invest in Somerville.
The Community Preservation Act currently raises approximately $3 million per year. If the surcharge is increased, that budget would become about $6 million. Some notable local initiatives the Community Preservation Act has contributed to include the expansion of Prospect Hill Park, the redesign of the West Branch Library and the upgrading of playgrounds in the Winter Hill, West Somerville, Brown, Kennedy and Healey schoolyards.
Somerville City Councilor-at-Large Jake Wilson, one of the leaders of the ballot question committee alongside State Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven, touted the surcharge expansion as a minimal economic sacrifice for a significant communal gain. A surcharge increase would raise prices by $38 per year for the average owner-occupied condo and by $93 per year for the average owner-occupied single family. Low-income homeowners and low-moderate income seniors can also apply for full exemptions from the Community Preservation Act surcharge.
“It’s about the cost of a cup of coffee a month for a single-family homeowner,” Wilson said. “With that, it will double the amount that we have in the Community Preservation Act every year for great things like affordable housing, green space, parks, playgrounds and historic preservation.”
Somerville City Councilor-at-Large Kristen Strezo acknowledged the concerns some Somerville residents may share about the tax growth, but said she considered the trade-off worth it.
“I very much understand their hesitance,” Strezo said. “I think this [will lead to less] competition for where the funds go … on the projects that will come forward for us in Somerville. … [Since it is] not that much more of an increase to our bills, I do think it is a way to really help us as a community.”
Wilson said he believes that all elected officials in Somerville favored the ballot question. He did, however, acknowledge that landlords could use fear-mongering tactics to exaggerate the financial severity of the tax boost for middle-income households.
“If you’re a landlord who wants to raise your tenants’ rent, and you’re looking for an excuse, I think there can be a very bad-faith claim that the $38 a year is just really hitting you hard,” Wilson said. “I will say, if you’re a renter and your landlord cites this for anything more than a $4-a-month rent increase, you are being had.”
Conversely, Somerville resident, self-described “public servant for the city of Somerville” and landlord Lee Anderson, who is against Question 6, expressed his concerns over the precedent a “Yes” vote could set for future tax increases.
“Question 6 is like another fee. To me, a fee is just another tax,” Anderson said. “When the fees go up, your rent goes up. When the taxes go up, your rent goes up.”
Anderson also took issue with the fact that Somerville economic policy could be decided by temporary residents, including Tufts students, who lack lifelong connections to the municipality.
“The city is really run by renters,” Anderson said. “Politically, it’s a landscape which I don’t have a problem with, but I do have a problem with them raising these fees … when there [are] multitudes of brand-new construction [projects] going on.”
Wilson, who had lobbied the Somerville administration to increase the surcharge to the state maximum of 3% last summer, also acknowledged that this ballot question was a backup plan for the city after they failed to obtain a local option for a transfer fee, a required fee on certain real estate transactions, at the state level.
“This is Plan B on the city’s part,” Wilson said. “We’d gotten some whisperings that this, [the local option], might happen this year. Unfortunately, that did not turn out to be the case. Beacon Hill did not move on that by the end of their session.”
As for infrastructural priorities, if the upcoming ballot question passes and the surcharge swells, both councilors emphasized the importance of affordable housing. Over 120 affordable housing units have been created in Somerville through Community Preservation Act funding.
“Affordable housing has always been a very important issue for me,” Strezo said. “I am the Chair of the Housing and Community Development Committee, but also have been working on a lot of policy enhancing our ability to tackle such a complicated, complex problem, not just in Somerville [and] regionally, but also throughout [Massachusetts].”
“We have a housing crisis here regionally, but especially here in Somerville,” Wilson said. “That’s what really motivated this [ballot question]: to try to figure out an alternative funding stream for us to do more on the affordable housing front in Somerville.”
Instead of extracting money from residents, however, Anderson suggested that the city fund the Community Preservation Act through private developers who are more capable of paying for new infrastructure.
“This city rakes in so much money — why are the taxes going up?” Anderson questioned. “Let these big people who are spending billions of dollars over at Assembly Row pick up some of the tab.”
Nevertheless, Wilson maintained that increased public funds can catalyze private investment.
“By investing in public funds, we can get private matches or private investment that really does some good things,” Wilson said.
Regarding the specific projects that may receive Community Preservation Act funding, Wilson recognized that some Somerville residents may have grievances over which specific one is chosen, but spotlighted the fact that reform that promotes effective municipal governance will always be a good thing.
“I’ve heard from some friends of mine that they didn’t like a particular project that got [funded by the Community Preservation Act]. And I just always make the point to them that that’s just part of being a taxpayer. You’re not going to love everything your taxes go toward, but, in general, you’re going to love a functioning government that’s able to do good stuff,” Wilson said.
