ROCKPORT - Voters who crammed into the Rockport High School gymnasium for the fall Town Meeting last night voted down a petition to lower the Community Preservation fund tax surcharge from 3 percent to 1 percent.
While supporters of the petition urged residents to approve the article so that it would move on to ballot for the spring town election, Finance Committee member June Michaels said, "No one is denying anyone the right to speak. The issue is not to give the people the right to vote. The issue is if we want to shoot ourselves in the foot," by lowering the Community Preservation tax surcharge.
Bill Parsons, one of the three authors of the petition, said he believes the tax surcharge was "chewing away at our necessities." He also said that those on fixed incomes cannot afford the extra tax.
Several other residents at Town Meeting pointed out that seniors and those on fixed incomes could be excluded from the tax surcharge by filling out a form at Town Hall.
Last week, selectmen voiced support for eight of the Town Meeting warrant's nine articles, opting not to support Article I, which called for the decrease in the surcharge.
Town Meeting last night also approved to spend Community Preservation money to restore Thacher Island's South Tower and replace the library's leaky roof, along with nine other projects recommended by the Community Preservation Committee.
The work, estimated to cost $891,950, is funded by a 3 percent real-estate tax surcharge which is coupled with 100 percent matching funds from the state. Residents voted to approve all of the projects, maintaining an unblemished track record for community preservation projects, officials noted.
Since voting to accept the Community Preservation Act surcharge five years ago, Town Meeting has never failed to approve a project recommended by the preservation committee, projects which benefit historic preservation, open space and recreational lands and affordable housing, as required by the law.
Prior to Town Meeting, Fleming had said to throw away the opportunity to receive 100 percent matching funds from the state for important projects in town was "short-sighted."
"I definitely think it should stay at 3 percent; exceptions are (already) built into the law," Fleming said last month. "The first $100,000 in property value is exempt from the tax. Any low- to moderate-income seniors or low-income residents are completely exempt from the tax, they just need to fill out a form at (Town Hall)."
Other projects gaining approval last night included repairs to the community house, Old Castle (salt shed) roof, restoration work for the Pingree Park tennis courts, Scout Hall and the Matt Waddell Memorial Park.
Upon voting to accept a Community Preservation Tax fund surcharge, a town must wait five years before trying to adjust the percentage rate down from 3 percent. Now that five years has passed, Rockport could propose to adjust the surcharge every year.
