Fallout from the Island Affordable Housing Fund’s recent shortfall in payments for the Island’s rental assistance program emerged at the Edgartown selectmen’s meeting Monday. The board approved a request from the Edgartown Housing Trust to transfer up to $10,000 of Community Preservation Act (CPA) money to assist tenants and landlords in Edgartown who are part of the affordable housing program for rental conversion.

The Massachusetts Community Preservation Act has been around for a short eight years, but in that relatively short span Island towns have come to depend on funding raised through the program to preserve open space, renovate and improve public parks and create affordable housing.

The act allows towns to assess a three per cent surcharge on property tax bills, which is then matched by the state through a county deeds tax paid on real estate transfers. In the early years of the program, the state matched the local portion 100 per cent.

It is a violation of the Massachusetts Ethics Law for a member of a town community preservation committee who also sits on a private nonprofit board to participate in a decision that grants Community Preservation Act funds to the nonprofit.

This is the opinion of Edgartown town counsel Ronald H. Rappaport, who was recently asked by the town administrator to research the question.

In just over seven years, funds generated through the Massachusetts Community Preservation Act on the Vineyard have been used for a wide variety of projects — including the renovation of historic lighthouses and bandstands, the creation of affordable housing and the renovation and improvement of public parks.

As community preservation committees across the Island prepare their recommendations for the coming fiscal year, they report growing interest by Vineyarders in the possibilities offered by Community Preservation Act funding.

More than $3 million in requests are under consideration by preservation committees on the Island.

Town officials who oversee CPA funds have seen a surge in activity and applications.

The Oak Bluffs Community Preservation Committee (CPC) is pleased to announce that application forms are now available to request funding for projects for historic preservation, affordable housing and open space/recreation for the fiscal year that begins in July 2008.

Requests for proposals are being accepted through Oct. 5, 2007.