Nantucket Voters Endorsed More Than $200 Million In Override Spending. Here's What That Could Mean For Your Tax Bill

Voters approved more than $200 million in spending over the tax levy limit at Nantucket’s Annual Town Meeting and the local elections this year. That spending could increase the tax burden for a year-round Nantucket homeowner with a home valued at around $2 million by around $474.

The figures included here were derived using the town’s tax rate calculator by selecting all projects except the $5.4 million LORAN barracks repair project that voters defeated at Town Meeting, and could ultimately end up being slightly lower. Some of the borrowing included on the calculator may not ultimately be necessary.

Of that $474, roughly 55 percent, or $259, comes from the $119 million in borrowing needed to construct a new Our Island Home skilled nursing facility at Sherburne Commons, which was passed under Article 11 at Town Meeting and as Question One at the subsequent elections.

But a single number can’t accurately capture the impact of the Town Meeting and local election votes on all island property owners. How an individual property owner will be affected depends on the value of their property and whether they qualify for the residential tax exemption.

On the lower end, a year-round homeowner with a $1 million property would see their tax bill increase by only $43. If their property is worth $5 million, they would see a $1,766 increase.

Homeowners who don’t qualify for Massachusetts’ residential tax exemption, which allows municipalities to shift taxes within the residential class away from owner-occupied residential properties, primarily those with lower property values, to vacation homes, higher valued homes, and other residential properties not occupied primarily by the owner, will see the largest increases. A summer resident with a $2 million home is looking at a $861 tax increase, and a part-time resident with a $5 million home could see their tax bill increase as much as $2,154.

The town is actively working to find efficiencies in the projects to reduce costs. On Town Meeting floor, Select Board chair Dawn Hill suggested that the cost of the new Our Island Home facility, in particular, could be reduced.

“The $119 million is the maximum amount that we are going to ask you to borrow,” Hill said. “There is going to be a fundraising effort, and there are contingencies built in, as well as some housing options that were negotiated with Sherburne Commons that may not be exercised, which come to between 4.5 and 5 million. So this, in all likelihood, and we will work towards this, this number will be less.”

Of course, it is also possible that any of the projects could run into unexpected difficulties and cost overruns that were not planned for, forcing the town to go back to the voters for more money in the future.

Nantucket’s taxpayers who don’t own property won’t be directly affected by the tax increases.