Edgartown reacts to early filed Housing Bank bill

Town was not notified of bill filing.

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State Rep. Dylan Fernandes, right, and State Sen. Julian Cyr, shown here at the MVC in March, have filed legislation to create a Martha's Vineyard Housing Bank. Edgartown selectmen aren't happy about it.

Updated 6:30 pm

Edgartown selectmen voiced their frustration after learning Monday state Sen. Julian Cyr, D-Truro, and state Rep. Dylan Fernandes, D-Falmouth, had filed legislation to create a Martha’s Vineyard Housing Bank — nearly three months before Island towns were set to vote on it at upcoming town meetings.

“It turns out they filed this legislation back in January and never told us,” selectman Arthur Smadbeck said at Monday’s selectmen meeting, where selectmen voted to send a letter to Fernandes and Cyr outlining their opposition to the Housing Bank.

Leslie Sandberg, Cyr’s senior aide, told The Times the bill was filed as a “placeholder bill” in anticipation of April town meetings. If Island towns approve the creation of the Housing Bank, then legislation will be ready to move forward, and voters won’t have to wait a full year for another legislative session; if towns vote it down, then the bill goes nowhere.

“We’re not going to do anything that the residents of Martha’s Vineyard don’t want done,” Sandberg said. “Let’s file something as a placeholder and see what towns decide.”

Housing Bank campaign manager Makenzie Brookes said she knew the bill had been filed, but understood it to be a placeholder.

In February, Oak Bluffs sent a letter — endorsed by both Edgartown and Tisbury — opposing the Housing Bank. Smadbeck said even after that letter was sent, the town was still not notified that legislation had been filed.

Monday’s letter reiterated the town’s opposition to the Housing Bank. “It is our belief that municipally subsidized housing is best addressed at the municipal level. The creation of a regionally operated governmental bureaucracy duplicates and interferes with what our Affordable Housing Committee, our Community Preservation Committee, and our Edgartown Housing Trust Committees are presently already doing,” the letter states.

Despite the placeholder status of the bill, Smadbeck said it is “very unusual” to file legislation for the town unless the town specifically asks for it.

“In this particular case, they knew how we felt about it, and they filed it anyway,” he said.

The Housing Bank campaign has put two articles on warrants in each of the towns, one establishing a Housing Bank and another to use 50 percent of the newly expanded short-term rental tax to fund it. The legislation filed by Fernandes and Cyr has wording that would only establish the Housing Bank — not fund it. Selectmen were still nonplussed.

“In the future, if you’re going to file legislation on behalf of our town, have the courtesy to come here and find out how we feel about it,” Smadbeck said.

“Very disappointing,” selectman Margaret Serpa added.

A hearing for the bill that was scheduled for Tuesday, April 9 at the State House —  the same day four Island towns are expected to tackle the issue at town meetings — has been cancelled.

Updated with cancelled hearing and comments from Cyr’s office and Housing Bank advocates -Ed.

9 COMMENTS

  1. I don’t trust this MV Bank proposal…not for a split second. We are over taxing tourists out the ying yang already. I think there comes a time when people will opt to go elsewhere because it has become too expensive to vacation here

    • The short term rental tax is being assessed according to Commonwealth of MA regulations. Vacationers will have to pay it – here or on Nantucket, the Cape, in Boston, or the Berkshires. The Housing Bank is simply trying to do is ensure that the funds generated are made available to help island residents stay on the island. They aren’t creating a new tax or a new fee.

      • The short term housing tax is state wide, yes. Let’s talk about how the “MV Bank” wants the town’s to ADD ( piggyback) up to 3 additional local taxes on top of that!!! Feels like a pyramid scheme to me.

      • The MA short term rental tax is not new for Hotels and B&B’s but it is new for the thousands of island property owners that rent their homes to summer vacationers. A percentage of this tax goes to the state and an additional percentage can be voted in by each town. This new source of income for the island can benefit the most by applying it to property taxes, making housing a little more affordable for everyone, and costly town budget items. Each town should determine their need for affordable housing and call for residents to vote on using their new tax money to support affordable housing projects. Vote NO for the affordable housing bank.

  2. In the next election cycle It may be time to send a message to both Cyr and Fernades We don’t need two shills for the Housing Bank. Send them packing.

  3. Few things – PURELY from a layman’s perspective when it comes to this whole Housing Bank thing.

    Seems to me that what Fernandes and Cyr did was merely file a “break glass in case of” piece of legislation. It doesn’t commit us to a damned thing. If the Island towns approve its creation, then legislation moves forward without too much delay. If we collectively decide against it, the legislation dies (Jeez, You’d think that no one on the island ever watched Schoolhouse Rock…)

    Secondly, can we PLEASE dispense with the anonymity on these blogs / pages / forums / whatever? I never understood why folks can’t own their words. That’s one of the biggest problems with our society: we can all be cloaked if we wanna be. Accountability has become a quaint, outdated notion.

    If I’m going to sound ignorant then, dammit, that’s fine. At least I’m owning the fact that I may be coming across like an ignoramus.

    What say you?

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