4/7/2009 COMMUNITY PRESERVATION ACT COMMITTEE Minutes

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7 Com unity.Preservation Committee Minutes April 7, 2009 Deborah Darni--Preservation of Vital Records: (continued) Photographs of original and histor*c documents that have been damaged and decomposed over time were included in the project application. Some of the paper ephemera and boobs.date back to the early 1800's. The inks are rapidly fading. Some records contain information that is now partially indecipherable. Preserving these historic documents will allover members of the public to access personal information about their ancestors. The information is presently unavailable to therm as a result of the condition and disrepair of the documents. Ms. Tani indicated the documentation is presently stored in the vault'n her office. The project as outlined includes some of the Assessor's ober records. In the future, Ms. Rami sued she would like to incrementally protect the books at the Town Archives. Review of Financials: It was reported in the March 2009 Community Preservation Coalition newsletter the Massachusetts Department of Revenue (DOR) estimated last fall that the October 2009 f rt round trust fund match percentage Will be approximately 35% (based on the Act's distribution formula, communities assessing the maximum % CPA surcharge would receive more). a The estimate is based upon the $27 million in revenue the CPA Trust Fund will tale in from fees charged at the state Registries of Deeds this year,the same amount collected last year. However, it may be a challenge to reach $27 million in deed fees revenue. Total collections from September to January arnount to $9.1 o million. Last year's total to date was $11.09 million. DOR is now advising communities preparing their 2010 CPA annual budgets to use a 29%figure when estimating their October 15, 2009 round one payment from the statewide CPA Trust Fund, The debt payment veed by the Town Accountant for PY20 10 is $1,035,466. Receipts from the % surcharge are estimated at$800,000. The CPA projected reimbursement at 29%is approximately$232,000. The sum of the two equals the debt payment.