Our Island Home And Your Wallet

To the editor: Here are a few steps to take to help Nantucket taxpayers understand how the building of a new Our Island Home will affect their household's wallet.F

First, confirm that you have the residential exemption. To qualify, you must own and occupy the property as your primary residence. The exemption is not a right, but a privilege, and requires an application. If you are unsure of your status, call the Tax Collector's office (508) 228-7200 or stop by their office at 37 Washington St.
Nantucket's 2026 tax rate is $3.12 per assessed $1,000 - the fourth lowest in the Commonwealth. This year's exemption is set at $899,000, which is subtracted from qualifying properties assessed value before taxing.

If your assessed value after the exemption is $1 million, you would pay $16.03, $2 million = $175.13; $3 million = $334.23. The average year-round assessed value is $2.2 million. The Tax Calculator can be found on the Town website. Currently, there are 2,300 properties with the residential exemption out of the 11,000 taxable residences in the assessor's records.

Residential tax exemptions are in place in some Massachusetts communities to shift the tax burden from lower-valued properties to the higher-valued ones and to those owned by non-residents.

The cost in dollars per trip to visit a family member/friend in an off-island skilled nursing facility far exceeds the average additional tax of $206.95. Imagine if your beloved parent or grandparent was living in a skilled nursing facility in Marlborough? Ask me about it.

Please vote YES on Article 11 at Town Meeting on May 4th. Save Our Island Home.

Alison K. Forsgren