To the Editor:
The Times reported that Sondra Murphy, Oak Bluffs library director, will be leaving in mid-October to take a position at a Worcester Library, “in large part due to the affordable housing shortage on the Island.” This was indeed sad and unwelcome news to me.
Sondra brought a fun, inspired energy to Oak Bluffs library. Our whole family enjoyed the varied, dynamic programs put together by her and her team. We will truly miss her, the way she enriched our lives — thank you, Sondra.
I’d also like to thank Sondra for the blunt reminder that the lack of affordable, year-round housing here has a palpable effect on our entire community.
When smart, talented teachers, nurses, EMTs, and librarians are not able to make Martha’s Vineyard their home, we all lose. When families bear the stress of seasonally moving from one rental to another, we all lose.
In the Sept. 24 news brief that reported on Sondra, selectman Greg Coogan called for a coordinated housing approach among towns. Some great, collaborative work is underway. Also reported by The Times in that issue was news about the Land Bank and Island Housing Trust’s latest joint land purchase, off State Road in Tisbury. The article highlights several other properties which the two organizations have acted cooperatively to purchase over the past 25 years.
The sad news of Sondra’s departure made me wonder how to help alleviate this issue for others struggling to create a stable life on the Vineyard. I wondered out loud if a percentage of the Land Bank fee could be used for affordable housing. Evidently I’m not the only one who has wondered this.
The Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank Commission has an Affordable Housing Policy, amended through 2009, on its webpage. Policy number 4, increase the transfer fee, says: “Proposals have been floated over the years to increase the fee above its current 2.0 percent, with the added increment turned over to the county housing authority for its exclusive use. The Land Bank Commission would not object to such an increase. Furthermore, were the Housing Authority to persuade the town meetings and the legislature to amend both agencies’ enabling acts to permit such an increase, the Land Bank volunteers to serve as the fee collection agency, processing the fee and regularly delivering to the housing authority its allotted amount.”
The policy goes on to say that the existing revenues collected by the 2 percent levy have not proven sufficient to meeting the goals and costs of conservation, and the commission would oppose an effort to divert any portion of the existing fee to a nonconservation purpose.
So, I’d like to suggest floating this proposal again. There is more to talk about than I can address in this letter. But it strikes me that we need not reinvent the wheel.
I’m not sure when the last time raising the land transfer fee was addressed. What sort of increase was proposed? Is it time to revisit this idea? Does anyone know where to start this conversation? Please let me know you thoughts and ideas around this (kiralawsullivan@gmail.com); good, bad, or indifferent, the discussion has to start somewhere.
Kira Sullivan
Oak Bluffs