By William Tauro
The Debate Over The City of Somerville TransferTax Continues
As many of you know, there was another public hearing this past Monday, May 7, for residents to voice their opinions on the transfer tax which the Board of Aldermen have been working on for several months.
Residents who spoke at the podium were split into two groups, those in favor— and opposed, each group divided in sets of three to provide alternate views.
Comments by former Mayor Gene Brune resonated with long time members of Old Somerville, as he expressed deep concern and dissatisfaction of the many condo developments being built throughout the city.
With much passion, directed at the Aldermen, he said—
“As mayor, I would not have allowed what is going on with the excessive condo building”.
“We made the developers ultra rich, ask for more and give less!”.
His comments were met by a loud roaring applause, evident that many devout constituents have remained loyal long after his tenure as mayor.
When home and business owners discovered there was insufficient notification of the transfer tax proposal, they demanded to be notified of all future meetings and to take part in the process which has included a series of meetings at city hall over the past two months.
Some residents claim the transfer tax is a, “fee”, not a, “tax”, that can be increased at any time if passed by the legislature and the BOA, who will make the last decisions on exemptions and percentage rate. Their goal is to get it to the state house sooner rather than later.
There has been a great deal of confusion surrounding what exactly will be written in the transfer tax home rule petition which has been drafted and revised.
The documents can be found on the City of Somerville website by adding, “transfer tax”, in the search bar. Monday’s meeting can also be found on the city website, for those who missed a second lively debate.
Questions Persist:
We would like to ask the aldermen the following questions:
What financial analysis was given to the amount of money needed and collected at 1 or 2 %? If so, can it be made public, listed on the city website and presented at the next meeting?
Life long residents were united on the lack of affordable housing yet persisted—this is the result of poor decisions by the mayor, who has a habit of not holding developers like FRIT accountable for backing out on their deals with the city to provide 20% affordable housing units at Assembly Row. Instead, the mayor stated (during his election debate), FRIT will provide 6%, (equating to ? millions) which will be disbursed to developers and built within city neighborhoods.
Other questions:
What was the deal that was given to Assembly Square for their 2500 units of housing, and new commercial building project?
Has a study been completed on the demographics of population moving and presently living in Somerville? Is it primarily wealthy millennials and working professionals leaving the suburbs who prefer an urban environment and wish to make their new home, Somerville?
How many transients leave 1-4 years?
These are questions that residents have a right to ask and be provided answers, so they can be better informed about what’s going on in the city with regard to all real estate — by all owners.
Overall, those in favor of the transfer tax made comments about their desire to enforce Rent Control.
One homeowner opposed, explained their experience as a witness to Rent Control properties plagued with a history of disastrous results, citing rundown abandon properties that hurt the property owners, while some renters where living in other states but keeping the unit for other uses.
In addition most in favor believe the answer is the Transfer Tax and Right-of-First-Refusal, citing that soaring rents would soon force them out of the city.
Those opposed, explained that the real estate tax and water and sewer annual increases over the past ten years has become a heavy burden they can no longer bare. In addition, the $50 million towards the Green Line Extension (GLX), $285 million for a new Somerville High School and ongoing sewer repairs are crippling the local homeowners ability to afford an uncertain future of more tax increases.
Comments from both sides agree our city is now deeply divided.
I would say that is an accurate statement given the heated comments made at two past meeting by residents who delivered heated comments at the podium.
Other repeat comments made by those in favor were that homeowners should be willing to spare an insignificant token of 1% ($5-10K or more based on the sale price), in order to provide affordable units for those who can no longer afford to live in the city — evident they share a strong resentment towards long time Somerville locals who in their minds, own properties that can be compared to Mega-Mansion Billionaires.
Move over Bobby Axelrod……..