New $137 Million Our Island Home Approved At Town Meeting, One Year After Defeat

In a reversal, Town Meeting has voted 959-321 to support a $137 million proposal to move Our Island Home to Sherburne Commons after defeating the plan last year.

The largest capital project to ever go before Town Meeting, Article 11 is poised to keep the state’s only municipally owned skilled nursing facility open for the foreseeable future. The project still needs majority support at the ballot box in the upcoming local election, but if confirmed, Monday night's vote represents the single biggest investment Nantucket’s voters have ever approved.

Highlighting what they saw as the ethical importance of the facility, advocates leaned on personal stories and moral appeals.

"It reflects years of collaboration, foresight, and commitment to balancing regulatory standards, resident safety, and the highest quality of life possible," Select Board chair Dawn Hill said. "When a person or loved one needs the level of care Our Island Home can provide, it is not a choice, it is a necessity."

A first attempt at voting was canceled due to a technical issue. Then, in an initial vote, Town Meeting backed the proposal 900-312. But due to confusion in the high school gym about whether certain votes were being counted properly, the question had to be re-voted.

Had Article 11 failed, the Select Board had indicated that the existing Our Island Home would be closed within three to five years, likely leaving Nantucket with no options for skilled nursing care and forcing elders to leave the island at high cost to them and their families.

Opponents have rarely refuted the importance of Our Island Home, instead framing the issue as a choice between the emotional appeal of the facility and the allegedly illogical financial downside.

"These numbers are insanity," island resident Andrew Tapley said. "Let's say you had to build a $10 million house, but you knew that once you built that asset, it was worth $2 million, and you'd have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars annually to maintain it. No one in this room is going to make that financial decision, and if you are, come talk to me, because I have a bridge I want to sell you. I think we have to come up with another solution."

Nantucket is facing a wide range of expensive capital projects in the next decade, including over $200 million on this year’s warrant. Article 11 asked for $119 million in borrowing, the same amount the town asked for last year. It was opposed by the Finance Committee and Capital Program Committee, two town committees that evaluate capital requests, but supported by the Select Board. The Finance Committee’s vote was 4-3.

"I don't like the business model, and I don't believe it's sustainable for the town to own it," island resident Marshall Keys said. "I think that this is something that would be very, very dangerous for the town to approve, however valuable it is to us."

In addition to the $119 million in borrowing, the town now has to continue providing an annual subsidy to Our Island Home. A pro forma showed that subsidy beginning at $14.7 million and increasing to $17 million over the course of a decade, and some, including Finance Committee chair and Select Board candidate Jill Vieth, have argued that the pro forma underestimates the cost by overstating occupancy at the facility.

The vote is a striking change of pace after voters shot down most major borrowing articles last year, including one nearly identical to Article 11.

"Our Island [Home] is a place of assurances that I and the rest of us in here will be cared for in our declining years," island resident Richard Ray said. "It stands as a reminder to all of us who have given this island life that it still cares for us."

This year, voters were more generous.

"My wife has just become a member of [Our] Island Home. If we vote no, she's going to have to move off-island. I won't be able to see her every day," island resident Tom Coffin Jr. said. "If we say no, we're making a big mistake."

The $119 million appropriation will fund the construction of a 60,000-square-foot, 45-bed new nursing facility at the Sherburne Commons campus, complete with enclosed courtyards and photovoltaic solar arrays. Some rooms will be large enough to accommodate a second bed should OIH need to increase capacity.

"How is it that you can quantify care for seniors?" island resident Gennifer Costanzo asked. "I could not put a dollar amount if I [were] caring for...my husband, or my parents, or a family member, or myself."