Creative Thinking Can Build A New Our Island Home

To the editor: I left the Annual Town Meeting Saturday night feeling ashamed. Ashamed that Town Meeting had broken its compact of intergenerational equity by failing to approve funding for a new OIH. I know we have big projects and big spending ahead, but Nantucket has always had that. And, in times less rich than now, prior generations of Nantucketers have always paid it forward for future generations and built the Nantucket we enjoy today.

I’m hoping that, given the closeness of the vote, we can find our way to a solution. Most of the hard work for building a new facility has been done. We have the land and we have a building design. We just need to solve the problem of money.

Time is short, but let’s think about more creative financing than just asking for more tax dollars on top of other Town spending. How about trying to raise 1/3 of the cost through philanthropy? Nantucket has a long and successful history in raising charitable dollars for important Town projects, and we should use that expertise for this worthy cause.

And then how about, say for a period of three years, we impose a reduction in spending on other Town projects of another 1/3 of the cost and use those funds for a new OIH? Looking through the line items and projects seeking funding in the budget we just approved, I saw many whose funding could be reduced or postponed for this short period of time.

And how about we review the current project budget for any non-essential spending? For example, the current budget includes $6 million to Sherburne Commons for … ? Sherburne Commons occupies Town land through the grace and favor of the Town. And its residents are those most likely to benefit from building a new OIH. In a spirit of shared sacrifice, perhaps it could be persuaded to forgo those dollars. I’m not an expert in finance but I know we have many experts already here who could scrutinize the budget for additional savings.

We don’t need more off-island consultants to help us with this. We can come together with our shared expertise and commitment as a community to make this project happen, and I sincerely hope we do.

Pamela Perun