West Tisbury selectmen opened their meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 3, with a public hearing to address the tax classification options for fiscal year 2016. Selectmen voted to maintain a single tax rate for all classes, rather than differentiate between residential and commercial, based on a recommendation from principal assessor Dawn Barnes.
Ms. Barnes said the tax rate will increase from $5.71 to $6.06 per $1,000 of property value, which is due to a 6.6 percent increase in the levy and a 2 percent decrease in the debt exclusion.
Ms. Barnes also reported that an average single-family house value in fiscal 2015 was $960,563, which has decreased to $959,607 in FY16.
The owner of an average residential property valued at $959,607 will see his or her taxes increase from $5,479 to $5,815, or a $336 increase for the year, she explained.
An option other than the single tax rate is to split the tax rate between the residential and commercial classes, which would shift a portion of the residential burden onto commercial properties, according to a report by Ms. Barnes.
Selectman Jeffrey “Skipper” Manter asked about the downside of having the town’s excess levy capacity down from the previous year. Town accountant Bruce Stone said, “It means when you do next year’s budget, you are going to run out of money faster.”
Building permit hike proposed
Selectmen also addressed building department permit fees and staffing. Building and zoning inspector Joseph Tierney Jr. said, “As you know, we’re pretty busy down in the building department, and in most cases going 30 days to issue building permits, which is maxed out as to what the building code allows.”
Mr. Tierney listed inspections that have fallen behind. These included churches, the gymnastics center, and the airport terminal. “We haven’t been doing them in the past, but we’re supposed to be doing them,” Mr. Tierney said.
Mr. Tierney said his focus has been “to keep the building permits flowing,” which keeps the builders and commerce moving.
“I’ve talked to both builders and homeowners that are proposing to build houses, and they have been receptive to fee increases to get these building permits turned around quicker,” Mr. Tierney said. “The building code allows the town to charge fees that reflect the cost of running the department.”
Mr. Tierney proposed increasing the building inspection rate to $65. He would like to increase some fees on the higher end and lower some fees on the lower end. “If I’m doing a 3,000- to 5,000-square-foot house, it takes more time to do the inspection,” he said.
“The previous inspections were based on $50, and basically in the past two years we’ve raised electrical, plumbing, and gas inspections to $65 per inspection,” Mr. Tierney told The Times, “but we haven’t done anything with the building inspections in that period of time.”
Mr. Tierney explained that this was a preliminary meeting with selectmen to take the pulse of the situation and to see if they would be agreeable to going forward with a rate increase.
West Tisbury has the lowest building inspection fees on the Island.
Mr. Tierney said he is up 9 percent in building permits from the beginning of the year until now, but that he also has 40 permits sitting on his desk, which will skew that number if he can process that stack of permits by the end of the year. Mr. Tierney also said permits are up about 30 percent over the past three years.
“I understand that this could just be a temporary building boom, so I want to look at the next six months,” he said, “but I also don’t want to wait a year and a half if the plan does not work.”
“Last year we were about $20,000 in the red,” said Mr. Tierney, “and I was asked to break down what it would cost to add a local inspector for 20 hours a week to the office.”
Mr. Tierney will gather information on the number of building permits being issued and other data to help explain to selectmen how the department is “as busy as they are.” Chairman Cynthia Mitchell asked Mr. Tierney to put together a budget on the proposed position.
“I’m glad you are working on this,” selectman Richard Knabel said. “It’s clear that the workload is growing faster than the capacity to deal with it.”
In other business, the cemetery digital mapping project and the use of perpetual-care funds were discussed. The mapping project was started five years ago, and is meant to help show what lots are for sale and where people are located. There is $5,000 available in the perpetual-care funds, use of which requires a vote from selectmen.
Town administrator Jennifer Rand was uncertain how much money will be needed to keep the project afloat. There is no longer a charge for perpetual care, only a charge for the sale of cemetery lots.
Mr. Manter made a motion to take the $5,000 from the perpetual-care interest account to continue the mapping program. The motion was approved.
Selectmen also approved beer and wine license renewals for the State Road and Plane View restaurants. Also put on the table for future discussion was the exploration of putting electric car plug-in stations at some town buildings.
Lastly, Janet Bank announced that the annual town-sponsored holiday party will be Thursday, Dec. 10, at the Ag Hall from 5 to 8 pm. Everyone is asked to bring a friend, and a dish to share.
