A surcharge collected from property taxpayers in one western Massachusetts city could pay for projects this year that increase the number of owner-occupied houses.
One goal of the new Community Preservation Committee in Springfield is to fund proposals that will provide first-time homebuyer incentives, according to committee chairman Bob McCarroll.
"There are a variety of vacant deteriorated houses that blight our neighborhoods and rather than demolish them we would like to see some proposals that will acquire and renovate them and then sell them to income-eligible owner-occupants," McCarroll said.
The committee has announced it will start accepting preliminary applications in late March and hopes to have its first projects greenlighted this fall.
Springfield voters adopted the Community Preservation Act in 2017 which put a 1.5 percent surcharge on property tax bills.
The CPA budget for this year is $705,000.
