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Residential Tax Exemption Petition Gets Pushback
Linda Shea last week expressed her opposition to a proposed residential tax exemption that would increase property taxes for seasonal property owners such as herself if adopted. Funding to allow for a possible exemption is being sought through a citizen’s petition at the May 12 annual town meeting. RYAN BRAY PHOTO
ORLEANS – Linda Shea might only live in town seasonally, but her heart is here in Orleans.
“In the winter, I have a place off Cape, but it’s just a house,” she told the select board April 9. “This is my home.”
Shea and her brother own two cottages on property on North Cottage Street. The property has been in their family for 89 years, she said, and it’s been the site of countless birthday parties, graduations, wedding receptions, Christenings and other family events. They do not rent the cottages, preferring to use them to host family and friends.
The joint ownership of the property prevents Shea from being a full-time resident in town, which also excludes her from voting at the upcoming annual town meeting on May 12. At the meeting, a citizens’ petition will go before voters seeking funding that could be used to help the town allow for a residential property tax exemption. If approved, the exemption would shift some of the property tax burden from year-round property owners to seasonal ones.
“That seems to be discrimination,” Shea said of the petition. “I don’t quite understand where they’re coming from.”
The petition, which is being brought forth by Orleans resident Tim Counihan, seeks to raise and appropriate or transfer from available funds $13,270 to increase the overtime budget in the assessor’s department, as well as an additional $6,000 to customize software to allow the department to implement the exemption. The petition specifically calls for a 25 percent exemption, but Counihan said that figure is flexible.
“By bringing it to town meeting, I’m trying to get citizens’ involvement and citizens’ awareness and begin the education process around what this means and how it’s going to affect everybody,” he said in a recent interview.
Counihan said that if adopted, an exemption would benefit 92 percent of year-round property owners in town. He said by taxing year-round and seasonal property owners at the same rate, year-round residents are “subsidizing” seasonal property owners. But Shea argued otherwise.
“They say that they’re subsidizing the seasonal residents, which almost seems the opposite,” she said last week. “We pay the same taxes and we’re not here eight months of the year using the services and the schools and the roads.”
At its annual tax classification hearing in November, the select board unanimously voted to assess property taxes in town by a “factor of one,” establishing a single rate for both year-round and seasonal property owners.
While board members were not against the idea of a residential exemption, they said that more time is needed to explore it as an option.
“I would just note for the record that the petitioner has never presented this to the select board,” Select Board member Kevin Galligan said in a discussion of annual town meeting warrant articles April 9. While a presentation to the board on the petition is not required, Galligan said it could have been brought before the board “out of courtesy.”
“I’m concerned about process here,” added Andrea Reed of the select board. “I would have preferred that we go through a public process with our boards and committees rather than leaping to it, considering we have discussed it for years.”
While passage of the petition would set aside funding to allow for the exemption, the select board would still need to vote in favor of proceeding with it. Mefford Runyon of the select board argued that the time and place for reconsidering the exemption is the next classification hearing in the fall, not town meeting.
Town officials have recently fielded calls from some residents who were concerned about what will happen if the petition passes, Assistant Town Manager Mark Reil said.
“This is not going to have any effect on your tax bill anytime soon…until the following steps that would need to take place,” Galligan said of what would transpire if the petition passes next month.
“It’s too confusing, there’s too many unanswered questions, and it leaves too much assumption from the public to think that their tax bills are going to be changing immediately,” said Michael Herman of the select board.
Board members also questioned the way in which the petition would be funded. The petition calls for the money to be provided through a finance committee reserve account. But Town Manager Kim Newman said funding from that account can only be authorized by the committee for “unanticipated expenditures.”
“The mechanisms are not exactly correct here,” she said.
Shea advocated for voters to reject the petition at the May 12 spring session, and said she feared that an exemption would foster an “unfriendly” attitude toward seasonal residents in town.
“The thing is I feel that if you’re lucky enough to live in Orleans year-round, you’re lucky enough,” she said. “Enjoy it. I wish I could live here year-round. Just enjoy it, and let the seasonal residents enjoy it also.”
Email Ryan Bray at ryan@capecodchronicle.com
“In the winter, I have a place off Cape, but it’s just a house,” she told the select board April 9. “This is my home.”
Shea and her brother own two cottages on property on North Cottage Street. The property has been in their family for 89 years, she said, and it’s been the site of countless birthday parties, graduations, wedding receptions, Christenings and other family events. They do not rent the cottages, preferring to use them to host family and friends.
The joint ownership of the property prevents Shea from being a full-time resident in town, which also excludes her from voting at the upcoming annual town meeting on May 12. At the meeting, a citizens’ petition will go before voters seeking funding that could be used to help the town allow for a residential property tax exemption. If approved, the exemption would shift some of the property tax burden from year-round property owners to seasonal ones.
“That seems to be discrimination,” Shea said of the petition. “I don’t quite understand where they’re coming from.”
The petition, which is being brought forth by Orleans resident Tim Counihan, seeks to raise and appropriate or transfer from available funds $13,270 to increase the overtime budget in the assessor’s department, as well as an additional $6,000 to customize software to allow the department to implement the exemption. The petition specifically calls for a 25 percent exemption, but Counihan said that figure is flexible.
“By bringing it to town meeting, I’m trying to get citizens’ involvement and citizens’ awareness and begin the education process around what this means and how it’s going to affect everybody,” he said in a recent interview.
Counihan said that if adopted, an exemption would benefit 92 percent of year-round property owners in town. He said by taxing year-round and seasonal property owners at the same rate, year-round residents are “subsidizing” seasonal property owners. But Shea argued otherwise.
“They say that they’re subsidizing the seasonal residents, which almost seems the opposite,” she said last week. “We pay the same taxes and we’re not here eight months of the year using the services and the schools and the roads.”
At its annual tax classification hearing in November, the select board unanimously voted to assess property taxes in town by a “factor of one,” establishing a single rate for both year-round and seasonal property owners.
While board members were not against the idea of a residential exemption, they said that more time is needed to explore it as an option.
“I would just note for the record that the petitioner has never presented this to the select board,” Select Board member Kevin Galligan said in a discussion of annual town meeting warrant articles April 9. While a presentation to the board on the petition is not required, Galligan said it could have been brought before the board “out of courtesy.”
“I’m concerned about process here,” added Andrea Reed of the select board. “I would have preferred that we go through a public process with our boards and committees rather than leaping to it, considering we have discussed it for years.”
While passage of the petition would set aside funding to allow for the exemption, the select board would still need to vote in favor of proceeding with it. Mefford Runyon of the select board argued that the time and place for reconsidering the exemption is the next classification hearing in the fall, not town meeting.
Town officials have recently fielded calls from some residents who were concerned about what will happen if the petition passes, Assistant Town Manager Mark Reil said.
“This is not going to have any effect on your tax bill anytime soon…until the following steps that would need to take place,” Galligan said of what would transpire if the petition passes next month.
“It’s too confusing, there’s too many unanswered questions, and it leaves too much assumption from the public to think that their tax bills are going to be changing immediately,” said Michael Herman of the select board.
Board members also questioned the way in which the petition would be funded. The petition calls for the money to be provided through a finance committee reserve account. But Town Manager Kim Newman said funding from that account can only be authorized by the committee for “unanticipated expenditures.”
“The mechanisms are not exactly correct here,” she said.
Shea advocated for voters to reject the petition at the May 12 spring session, and said she feared that an exemption would foster an “unfriendly” attitude toward seasonal residents in town.
“The thing is I feel that if you’re lucky enough to live in Orleans year-round, you’re lucky enough,” she said. “Enjoy it. I wish I could live here year-round. Just enjoy it, and let the seasonal residents enjoy it also.”
Email Ryan Bray at ryan@capecodchronicle.com
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