Good evening everyone.

It is 631 on Wednesday, June 24th, calling Committee on Finance to Order.

Note this meeting is being live streamed and recorded.

The City Council Committee meetings can be viewed on the City New Brefort's homepage under quick links, then meetings.

In attendance, we have Council of Ward 2, Scott Pemberton, Councilor Ward 1, Leo Shouquette, Council President and 6 City Council Ryan Pereira, Counter at Lodge, James Roy, Councilor Ward 3, Sean Oliver, and myself, Joseph Lopes, Chairman of Finance, and the Ward 5 City Councillor.

We do have one letter to be read into the record.

This letters from Councillor Baptiste.

I am writing to inform you that I've been able to attend tonight's committee meeting due to a family commitment.

Please read this letter into the record to make my colleagues in the public aware of the reason for my absence.

Made by Council Oliver, second by Council Pemberton.

All those in favor, opposed, the ayes have it.

We have one item in front of us.

Um first Vice President, Councilor at Large, Shane Burgo is also in attendance.

The podium is yours.

If one of you would Jan, would you like to give an overview of the uh good evening?

So we are here again to talk about the budget for the community preservation committee.

I think you've all received it, so we're presenting a budget of 1 million 999, 887.

And it's based on surcharge revenue of one that 1,743, 165.

A match of a proposed match, we don't know what it will be exactly, but 256, 72.

And we also have all the expenses.

I can read those.

Program administration, which is five percent, 99,995.

Open space and recreation reserve, 199,989,000.

Community housing reserve, one ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and eighty-nine dollars, and budgeted reserve of one million two hundred and ninety-nine thousand nine hundred twenty-five dollars.

So I guess if you have any questions.

Are we getting more money?

Is it been fairly stagnant?

It's it depends.

It's based on the transfer taxes that happen within the st uh state.

So as we if real estate sells less, there's at least less real estate sold, we'll get less of a match.

I see.

I think the high was twenty-three.

Okay.

Yeah, it it's just i it's too bad there wasn't another way to try and infuse some more funds into this because uh, you know, the contributions the taxpayers of this city have made towards community preservation is is uh amazing for the the preservation projects that we work on.

And I can only imagine if we had a little bit more support from our state uh uh partners how much more we could do with that those funds and funds that directly go into this community, right?

Like that's this very little in between from uh uh appropriation when we see you guys and it goes directly into the the city.

With that being said, the spread across the board in with our neighboring communities that have a that have um the community preservation act and in their community enacted in their communities.

Is it divvyed a amongst all the towns equally?

Is it based up is it a percentage of what we bring in?

How is it how do we know which how much we're gonna get from the state?

Like I know it's a a pot that we get divided up, but how does it get divided up?

I think it's just yeah, but I mean I would imagine it's mostly just percentage.

Uh right now there are 201 communities that get community preservation commission money, and every year more communities come on board.

So it's going to change every year.

There's 351 communities in new in uh the state of Massachusetts.

Right now, that's like 200 out of the 351.

Yeah.

Um to expand upon that.

So some communities are at 1%, one or one and a half, like we are, some are upwards of three percent.

So that changes um the calculation because the the higher calculations get a second allotment.

Um to answer your question on the um how they determine the state matches based on the the previous year's fiscal year's local revenue.

So whatever we've um received uh or calculated and received on the surcharge, that 15.5 percent that we're receiving for fiscal year 26, they take last year's revenue times 15.

I think it's 15.5, sorry.

And then that's where you come up with the 256 uh 722.

So it and it depends on each community, like I said, depending on what their surcharge percentages.

Okay.

Yeah, that's something to monitor, especially to your point if more communities continue to join and and and need to to come out of this fund, we're we're not gonna have uh the money will get smaller because the percentage of uh of pot that's not growing, you know, will will will equate less dollars.

So I guess I would say that it took 14 years for us to do this.

Yeah.

And that before the 14 years we got nothing.

Right.

Because we didn't have it on our books and therefore we weren't getting a match.

So even if we're not getting much of a match from the state, I look at the benefit to the overall to our community.

Just for us to be able to have the money to use because we were getting zero before.

Yeah.

And to add to that, the community preservation coalition, which is made up of uh various organizations that were the proactive leaders of passing the legislation back in 2000.

They try to work every year with the state legislature to get access free cash and put an infusion in.

Um and also to increase the match.

They're always trying to look for creative ways in which to increase the state match, because as Jan said, we now have 201 communities, one of which was Boston.

When Boston joined and received CPA match, that skewed the formula.

Um but even some of the smaller communities like a Cambridge or a Wellesley, you know, their their income tax, you know, their property taxes or that they collect is that much higher, you do the percentage.

So um the community preservation coalition has done a really good job of advocating for CPA to make sure that it remains solvent and to provide communities with like us with um lobbying efforts that we don't you know have to do.

Um and also with uh technical assistance.

Yeah.

Okay.

Very good.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Thank you, Council Barbara.

Next we we have Councilor Carney has joined us, Councillor at Large, Councillor Carney, uh Councilor of all, Council Oliver, the podium, the questions are yours.

Thank you.

Uh thank you, ladies, for being here today.

Uh I my my question is simple.

What have we done?

What are we doing, and what are we going to continue to do to attract new projects or new people to take part in the well we just offered our last meeting we went over the community preservation committee plan, so the public was invited to that to learn to even talk to us about what projects they have in mind.

So none of the pri we don't come up with the projects.

It has to come from the community.

Correct.

In September, we have a workshop where people are invited to come, talk about their projects.

Jessica does a great job of talking to each group individually to help them figure out how to flesh out an application.

It is a two-step application process.

It there's the eligibility process because we have to figure out is the project eligible, and then there's a longer term application that's due in November.

And then there's a longer term application that's due in November.

So we're not going around looking for projects.

That's on citizens of New Bedford.

Okay, and I I understand that, but aside from the workshop, are we doing anything else to promote that?

People can contact so a greater people can contact.

So it's still a cumbent upon people to know that this exists.

I would say yes, but there's been a lot of information put into the community about it for the last 10 years.

Okay.

We've had 166 projects since 2016, where we've awarded 16 million dollars, 921, 854.

And there were a lot of leveraging.

So people come in, say they come in for a 100,000 dollars, but their project is 250, they have to get that 150 from someplace else.

So the leverage has been 12 million 917 and 917,570 dollars.

So it's a total of over 28 million dollars.

Right.

I my only concern is and I and I get that, and I know that the it's a comment upon the people who are seeking these funds to know about it.

Um and I know that there's no you know, there's no money allocated to help promote it.

I just was interested in what the city is doing aside from just posting it on a website or something like that because my I it's great that we're doing 166 different projects, but in the last couple of years, as as this council has seen a lot of the same entities continue to come back because they know the well is there.

No, but they also have large projects.

But this is where we ask for help from the city council.

I mean, you have the pulse of your constituents.

You go and have neighborhood meetings with them.

You have the opportunity to talk about community preservation to your constituents directly and then direct them to the meeting in September.

Yep.

Yeah, I was gonna add that uh several city counselors that I follow on Facebook have um reposted when the press release goes out.

And I I understand your point, counselor, that you know it is incumbent on the community to understand.

Um I think at this point the community has somewhat of an awareness, especially those that are in the nonprofit sector.

I'm hearing from various nonprofit entities.

Um I have, and I'll do this again because there's several new faces here in the chamber.

I've offered to go to any neighborhood meeting that you may have to speak to people just to say, hey, this is what CPA is, this is how you could be eligible.

I'm I'm very, very happy to do that.

Um it's not something that we have the resources to do on you know individually.

Um, but uh you know, I'm happy to to provide that service and you know to reach out to your constituents because it may not be the person in the chair, but they may know somebody who is running a nonprofit that's living living working in a historic building, that needs that those um those resources to you know to preserve and rehabilitate their building.

And to add to Jan's point about the projects, we aren't receiving a lot of money.

I mean, it's a lot of money because it's you know 1.8 this year, it is a lot of money.

Um, however, it's not the same as a Boston or a Wellesley or Cambridge.

So, and the capacity of a lot of the projects that are coming before us, they don't have the capacity to take a large sum of money and execute it in a year or two.

So, what you're seeing because you're seeing a lot of the same entities come back to the well, as you put it, are because either they're doing it in phases, which we've advised them to because they just don't have the capacity within organization because they're volunteer organ-based organizations, or we don't want to tie up funds because they're so limited, and we always have two to three dozen applications.

The CPC parses it out in phased funding.

It says, do this phase, come back next year, get a little bit more, get a little bit more.

And it keeps their projects going, and they can also look for other funding sources.

So it's it's two reasons why you see these projects is one because they don't have their capacity internally, but also because the CPC isn't going to say, here's a million dollars.

That well, that's all we have, folks, is going to this project, and it's going to take them six years to spend it.

So what they've done is try to make sure that they are moving as many projects forward as possible and continuing to support them so that they can move forward and they can build capacity and to make their projects more attractive and to attract uh leveraged funding.

Because if they see if other funders see that the city is putting in and they view CPA money as city money, um, then they're more likely to support these projects because they see, oh well, the city is supporting it.

Let's let's put some money in.

And in fact, this housing projects now, if they go to the state for housing funding, one of the questions on the application is have you applied for CPA funding and have you received it?

So that's why you'll see some housing projects that come in where you may think it's a little early in their process, but it's to prove to the state that they are seeing um city support for their project so that they can be successful at the state application level.

No, I and I and I understand that, and I and I I totally get the coming back.

It's just you know speaking with some folks, it's you know, they they they get discouraged because they stay oh, I don't think and it's on them and it's uh that they should always just apply and see if you can get it.

But when they start seeing the same folks coming for more money and seeing that it's a phase project, and it's not an this isn't really an indictment on on on I I think you guys do great work.

You definitely you know go above and beyond what you have to do.

And most of my line of questioning is just for the general public purpose that may be watching tonight or will see this at a later time where hey, okay, I have to know that I have to go and seek out these funds because we the the fact is we we don't have the resources to you know take out a billboard or something and say, you know, right?

So I come I completely understand that.

And this is just another way to kind of get that information out there.

No, I appreciate that.

Yep.

I was just going to say that actually in the time that we've been funding, we've been able to put I don't know how many playgrounds in.

This past year we a uh school came in for a playground and it was the last school in the city that did not have one.

So that was a new application that came before us.

We've had new applicants every year, just like we've had people come back and come, you know, seemingly come back regularly for it.

But also their projects are large, like they might be a ten million dollar project.

We we would never tie up a million dollars for our project.

So I and I understand that.

And like I said, the the school is a good example, but yet another entity that knows that this trancha money exists.

So that that's all is just trying to make the general public aware that it's that time of year again type of thing, and then if they take apart into the in the workshops that you guys have.

Well, I would say if anybody is listening that they and they want to come forward, they need to check a few things before they do, which is they need to look at the application to see what they want to apply for, whether it's open space or recreation, whether it's historic resources, they need to make sure that the resources listed on the State Register of Historic Places, so they would have to go to the Historical Commission.

If it's community housing, usually that's developers and like Jessica said, we're usually the first stop for people who are doing that.

And where would they get that information out?

Our website?

They could get on the community preservation commission wits website.

Okay.

Or they can call Jessica and ask her.

Okay.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you, Council Oliver.

Anyone also on the first?

Seeing anyone on their second.

Seeing no further discussion.

Motion representable city council for approval.

Made by Council Forever, second by Council Oliver.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed.

The ayes have it.

Made by Council Oliver, second by Council Prairie.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed.

We are adjourned at 6 47 PM.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council.

Thank you.