Tisbury selectmen met with the Martha’s Vineyard Commission Monday night in the first of a proposed series of meetings over the future of Beach Road. Flooding, drainage, utility burial, and jetty extension were among the topics the two government bodies discussed.
Toward the end of the meeting, selectman Jeff Kristal made a revelatory announcement that Tisbury might direct some of the money it gains from the short-term rental tax to fund a sewer system expansion. The announcement followed comments from board chair Melinda Loberg about the growth potential along Beach Road, and insufficiency of the town’s present sewer infrastructure to support such growth.
“All of these properties are hooked into sewer, or have the ability to hook in, and that’s the only viable way of doing wastewater in this area,” she said. “And our current plant is tapped out.”
Kristal suggested 30 percent of short-term rental proceeds be allocated to sewer. “We’re looking at setting aside some of that money to create [a] sewer expansion,” he said. “So we’re not taxing the Tisbury taxpayers, we’ll be using the short-term rental money, maybe 30 percent of that money, to go to a sewer expansion of some sort.”
The MVC members present did not respond one way or another to the proposal.
Selectman Jim Rogers later told The Times the idea is not policy but a concept.
“Jeff is a little premature on that,” he said. “That’s something he’d like to see. We haven’t really discussed that as a board.”
Rogers said by expansion, Kristal meant both beefing up the plant and expanding sewer lines. Overall, he said, it was likely the selectmen wouldn’t allocate any short-term rental tax proceeds unilaterally: “We’ll most likely let the voters decide how we’ll allocate those funds.”
Kristal said much the same when reached Tuesday afternoon. He said he was poised to propose a warrant article for the next special town meeting that would create a debt stabilization fund, and a sewer or general infrastructure fund. The former would be funded by a 70 percent take of the short-term rental tax, the latter 30 percent, as he outlined the night before.
The sewer fund would allow for additional top-of-the-shop housing in the B2 district on upper State Road, among other benefits, he said.