Short-Term CPA Funds Expected to be Tight in Sandwich

CCB MEDIA PHOTO

SANDWICH – Town Manager Bud Dunham recently warned the Community Preservation Committee in Sandwich that money will be hard to find for larger projects over the next few years.

Dunham said that projects funded through CPA money would need to be smaller projects and that any land purchases or larger projects over $1 million would needed to be bonded through debt.

“The two or three years around today are going to be tight,” Dunham said. “Tighter than they have been in the past, but certainly not to the extent that you can’t do projects.”

Dunham said the funding is tight because so much has been done recently on needed projects, including big land purchases, infrastructure improvements and a large affordable housing effort.

“The best [way] I can characterize it is the money that we are bringing in locally for the next couple of years is virtually equal to what our debt is for at least the next fiscal year,” he said.

CPA funds in Sandwich are supported through a 3 percent surcharge on property taxes. That percentage could be decreased down to 2 if a proposed Water Infrastructure Investment Fund is approved at town election in May.

That fund would be supported through a 2 percent surcharge on property taxes to pay for projects related to wastewater, drinking water or stormwater issues.

The WIIF would not impact the CPA funding until Fiscal Year 2021.

Dunham said more CPA funds would be available in 2020 after millions of dollars begin coming into the town through an agreement in lieu of taxes from the canal power plant.

He said the fund will be back to about $3.7 million by 2022.

Recent projects that have funded through CPA money include the Sandwich Housing Authority’s affordable housing expansion, repairs to the Shawme Dam and the new recreational area featuring a skate park and pickleball courts.

Beach replenishment projects have also been funded through the CPA.

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