The Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates approved a home-rule petition that would allow towns to collect fees on high-value real estate transactions.
According to Christine Legere of the Provincetown Independent, that money would be used to improve affordable housing options in participating towns.
CAI's Gilda Geist spoke with Christine recently to learn more.
Gilda Geist What would this fee program look like if it actually became law?
Christine Legere There's a lot of flexibility in it. Towns can opt in by passing the provisions at their town meetings, followed by ballot votes. The transfer fee can be set anywhere from half a percent or as high as four percent. The fee would apply only to amounts that are above an exemption threshold that can't be any lower than $1million. Towns can then increase that threshold if they feel it's too low. The assembly voted to include an exemption that had been suggested by delegate James Killion that exempts from the transfer fee owners who are 62 years old or older and have lived on their properties for at least 10 years. Delegate Killion had argued that many people count on the sale of their homes for money that's going to get them through the rest of their lives. Towns that opt in receive 90 percent of the proceeds that go into respective affordable housing trust funds in each of the towns that have opted in. A community then can decide how to use it. It can be money to put deed restrictions on properties, land acquisition for year-round housing, financial assistance for qualified home buyers. That remaining 10 percent goes into a regional fund.
GG Who was in favor of the fee program and why?
CL The Outer Cape stood out as strongly in favor. All four towns were in favor of it and had, in fact, already written home-rule petitions individually approved by the town meetings that are pending up at the state legislature. Also, Falmouth and Chatham have home rule petitions. So six of the towns have them up right now pending before the state legislature. I think the frustration's been that some of these towns have had those petitions up there through several years in legislative sessions and they haven't gone anywhere. They get put into study committee. So they're hoping that there'll be more clout going up as the region. The legislative delegation was very strongly in favor of a county effort, with them saying, again, that same rationale that the region is losing teachers and nurses, police officers, firefighters, et cetera, since there's no reliable revenue source to get housing.
GG What about those opposed? What were their main concerns?
CL Well, a lot of those were from Barnstable, where there have been some fairly large 40B projects that have been approved. Their concerns were that they had bought their houses when prices were lower, that they're not all millionaires, and now they were being penalized and they were going to lose money on their investments. Some speakers were calling it a "punishment tax" or a "thievery tax." And the delegate from Barnstable, Frank Frederickson, actually said that in his mind it was taking money from one group and giving it away to other people, which he said was unfair.
GG Though the Assembly voted in favor of the fee program, it's not the law yet. Does it seem, from what you can tell, like it could actually become law? And what are the next steps in that process?
CL The legislative delegation, Julian Cyr and Dylan Fernandez, et cetera, will file it with the state and it will go before the legislative body. Cyr had actually told the Independent last fall that what he's trying to do and what the rest of them are trying to do is attack from all sides. They have bills up there already pending that are related to this kind of thing. Their aim is to build momentum, create a revenue source. He said that passing any version of that is going to be an uphill battle, mostly because of the real estate interests. There's strong opposition, and that was even very evident at the Assembly meeting where there were a couple of people involved in real estate that spoke very strongly in opposition of this.
Read Christine's full story in the Provincetown Independent.
