Thank you to guest columnist William P. O’Donnell, Norfolk County Register of Deeds, for the following information about the Community Preservation Act.

April 2025–Dear Friends of the Registry, Registry Stakeholders, and Norfolk County Residents, Spring is here, and as many of us take this opportunity to enjoy the wonderful public spaces that the communities in Norfolk County have to offer, I wanted to take a moment and share with you some history and information about the Community Preservation Act that I think you might find interesting.

The Community Preservation Act (CPA) is the result of more than two decades of work to create legislation that would provide all 351 Massachusetts cities and towns with a tool to preserve their most unique natural, community, and physical infrastructures in the face of rapid expansion and development.

The CPA allows cities and towns to establish a Community Preservation Fund to preserve open space, historic preservation, affordable housing, and outdoor recreation. Additionally, the CPA establishes a statewide Community Preservation Trust Fund, which the Department of Revenue (DOR) oversees and which contributes annually to municipalities that have ratified the CPA.

The Community Preservation Act was signed into law on September 14, 2000. Today, with the addition of Sheffield, Swampscott, Townsend and Winchester, MA in 2024 there are 200 Massachusetts communities that have adopted this act. Of the 28 communities that make up Norfolk County, 19 communities have adopted the law since it was signed back in 2000. As of December 31, 2019, fees collected for the Community Preservation Act were increased to $50.00 for most land documents recorded and $25.00 for municipal lien certificates. The Registry of Deeds, at no additional cost to the Commonwealth or local communities, collects these revenues once a land document is recorded and forwards the monies to the Massachusetts Department of Revenue on a monthly basis. The funds forwarded to the Commonwealth are then redistributed back to the communities that have adopted the Community Preservation Act.

The fees for the CPA are set by the State Legislature on land documents recorded here at the Norfolk County Registry of Deeds. The following chart provides an illustration of the funds generated by the CPA in your community based on recorded real estate filings for that community during the 2024 calendar year.

More: What does Wellesley’s Community Preservation Committee do?