Community Preservation Fund

A clarification by Rick Werwaiss, a member of the Chatham Town Board:

At the most recent Town Council meeting I reported on the activities of the Conservation Advisory Council in an imprecise way that could be problematic.

The CAC is finishing its work on a Community Conservation Plan and turning the document over to the Town Council for consideration of adoption.  This is a necessary first step towards the creation of a Community Preservation Fund.  That fund would be underwritten by a Real Estate Transfer Tax that will need to be approved by the Town’s residents in an affirmative referendum.  

I should have been clearer that all that the Town and the Conservation Advisory Council are doing is taking the necessary legal steps to put the issue of funding to the voters, and are not campaigning for its passage.