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Date: 2/28/2023
EASTHAMPTON — The Community Preservation Act Committee (CPAC) met Feb. 16 to agree on a budget to send to the mayor’s office for approval. Committee Chair Daniel Rist may have also stumbled onto funds from an unexpected source: the past.
“Bottom line is, we have this much in the bank: $1,740,615,” Rist told Jamie Webb, assistant town planner. “Is that correct?”
Adjusted for all factors, the budget going to the mayor will be $1.719 million, reflecting a small increase in revenue. Financing for the program comes from two sources, local and state. A 3 percent surcharge is added to the local real estate tax rate, the highest allowed under the program. That money goes into an account, the balance then matched by the commonwealth. The money may be used to finance open space, recreational and historical needs, and affordable housing.
Rist grew curious about balances remaining in the accounts of old projects, accounts as much as 17 years old.
“It seems there’s something open from 2006,” Rist said. He noted about an account open since 2008, “That thousand dollars left, we should recover that. Who do I talk to about that?”
Webb told Rist that accounts, no matter how old, routinely stay open if they have a balance. The balance is carried forward from year to year. Rist wondered why the monies hadn’t been spent. If the numbers remained after a project was finished and all the bills paid, why couldn’t that money be freed up and spent now?
Committee member Jessica Allan noted that committees have been known to spend leftover money on another project, though it’s discouraged. Earlier, Rist reported to committee members that almost $21,000 was recovered from the closure of the account for the “rental assistance program”. Webb said that prior to 2015 the town did not have grant agreements. It might therefore be difficult to free those balances.
Rist piqued Allan’s curiosity.
“It would be interesting to go back to some of those old projects and find out what the original intent of the funds was for and see if those pieces are done,” Allan said. “If they’re going to start using it for stuff that’s not in the original intent then it should be coming back. That money should be returned, and it should be coming back for different projects.”
One project those monies may not go for is the clock tower. Rist asked Webb to remove the clock tower from the agenda. An application needs to come from the city.
“It has to come back to us with an appropriation request, and that’ll come from the mayor’s office because now the city owns the clock,” Rist said. “The mayor will submit that request whenever it’s ready.”
Rist turned his attention to the CitySpace project. Allan again rose to the bait.
“I’m just trying to remember,” Allan said. “Old Town Hall, wasn’t there a question about accounts and how much was actually in there?”
Discussion revealed that transfers were made between town accounts, often a necessary step in the CPA awards process. Apparently, software used by town accountants developed a glitch, a delay in the appearance of transferred funds on user screens. A recent delay in funding for the CitySpace second floor project went to the correct account, but the transfer did not show up on screens.
“It was resolved just recently,” Rist said. “Today, it was sent to counsel. It’s $1.25 million, it’s in the Old Town Hall reserve.”
Rist explained the monies were transferred into a construction account for the Old Town Hall project. It may have been the biggest news of the meeting.
Allan asked, “So there is actually $1.25 million then, for them to use for construction?”
Yes, Rist said, the transfer had been made.