Per the letter below, that I received this week, from Bill O’Donnell, our Norfolk County Register of Deeds, the residents of the Town of Medfield paid $46,790 in surcharge fees at the Norfolk Registry of Deeds for recordings in 2017 to support the Massachusetts Community Preservation Act (CPA).
However, because Medfield has not yet adopted the CPA, the fees we paid were in turn paid over to other towns that have adopted the CPA.
The CPA for me is all about getting the state matching monies, so that our town monies can go further in the three categories where the CPA requires the monies to be spent:
- open spaces and recreation
- historic preservation
- affordable housing
Originally the state matching monies were 100%, but as more towns joined the CPA the match declined. In recent years the legislature has even added monies to the match to make it more attractive. Last year the state matching money was 17%.
