Cost Of Coastal Resilience Projects Should Be Shared By All

To the editor: Article 69 is a general bylaw that allows unregulated town committees to establish and classify districts and sub-districts so that these red-lined areas can be eventually taxed to pay for betterments that would possibly improve the coastal resilience of the entire island.

The taxation assessment is to be based on the classification of taxpayers and exempt properties in these sub-districts. The article does not outline who in the town is going to create this system or how much it will cost. The article was approved by 229 voters out of 344 voters attending the May 9th 2024 Town Meeting.

This vote is just the beginning of a new basis for establishing a system to tax property owners by where they live not considering the intrinsic future marketable value of these selected properties with the only representation the taxpayers might have in the establishment of these sub-districts is the decision of unelected town committees or outside off-island paid consultants.

The first example if this type of classification is the January 24th, 2024 Memorandum of Understanding between the Town of Nantucket and the Land Bank sharing the design costs of $500,000 for two Washington Street projects, thankfully signed off by these selectmen.

Any project that is undertaken on the coast of any small island effects ALL the people of said island and the cost of those projects ought to be shared equally be ALL the citizens of this island.

Regards,

Gerry Connick
Washington Street