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On Tuesday, April 1, the Sudbury Select Board voted its position on a Citizen Petition for Annual Town Meeting that proposes to cut Sudbury’s 3% Community Preservation Act (CPA) tax surcharge in half. The surcharge provides funding for open space and recreation, historic preservation, and affordable housing. The Town also receives a State match that varies each year.
The Select Board voted 0-4-1 to oppose the Citizen Petition. Vice Chair Dan Carty abstained. Town Manager Andy Sheehan informed the board that the petitioner, Goodnow Library Trustee Jean Nam, was unable to attended Select Board meetings in February and March to present the petition. He added that the Town had not received a response from the petitioner after multiple follow ups to schedule a presentation in April.
Some members of the board were irked by that. Member Janie Dretler said “I think this is ridiculous given all the discussions we’ve had about finances as a Select Board. And the proponent has no interest in having a direct conversation with us about this. It’s a consequential thing that they’re doing. I think it’s reckless, irresponsible and I absolutely do not support this.”
Member Lisa Kouchakdjian, who was reelected to a second term the day earlier, said of the petition:
“I don’t support this idea, I think it’s a bad idea and I think it’s shortsighted.”
Member Charlie Russo pointed to all the projects that had been funded by CPA since Sudbury has joined the program. He argued that while every resident may not support every CPA-funded project, he felt there was something for everyone in the totality of projects that have been funded.
CPA funds have been used in Sudbury to restore and upgrade the tennis courts at Featherland Park, to create the Loring Parsonage museum, to fund the design and add amenities for the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail, to construct five school playgrounds, to add dugouts at Feeley Field, and for nearly two-dozen open space purchases and preservation projects. A full listing of Sudbury’s CPA-funded projects can be found here.
Member Russo acknowledged that the State match has been a lower percentage of the local surcharge in recent years, but didn’t think it was wise to turn away State money.
The State match was 100% in the first five years of the program, but the match has dropped as more communities joined the program. Today, 200 cities and towns in Massachusetts have adopted the CPA. In the last three years (2025, 2024 and 2023), Sudbury’s match has been 20.13%, 23.45% and 42.28% respectively. Since adopting the CPA in 2002, Sudbury has generated $36.9M from the surcharge and $15.9M from the State match.
The Town has been looking anywhere and everywhere for additional sources of revenue at the direction of Town Manager Andy Sheehan. That includes recent efforts to collect even marginal revenue increases by bringing various Town fees in-line with peer communities. (Articles 29 and 30) The Town’s efforts in revenue generation and budget building may have staved off an override for a while, but Sheehan has made it clear that an override may still be necessary in a future fiscal year.
While CPA funds have limits for allowable uses and are separate from the Town’s capital and operating budgets, they are part of the broader capital planning approach for the Town. CPA funding is explicitly called out as the desired funding source for capital projects that qualify in the Select Board’s financial policies. (Page 18)
