Ted Panitz is ready. When he first served on the council, Panitz was more than just a participant; he was a player. He was not shy about the positions he took, nor about defending them. When the then-18-member council elected him president, Pantiz ran a good meeting, allowing full debate and maintaining order. But that was 12 years ago.
Has he kept up? By all appearances, the answer is yes. He is able to speak to current town issues and apply them both to his village and to the town in general.
That said, Panitz took a number of positions and decisions with which we disagreed, and that's likely to continue. Differences of opinion and perspective are needed to ensure good government, so that should not be held against Panitz or any candidate.
Fred Chirigotis comes off as articulate, sincere, intelligent and entirely new to town affairs. Unlike his father-inlaw, outgoing precinct 4 town councilor Royden Richardson, Chirigotis is not an established civic participant. By contrast, Richardson had been a fixture in economic development efforts for more than a decade prior to his first council run in 1993 (defeating Panitz, by the way).
From her initial council run four years ago, when she was clearly uncomfortable with a microphone, she's come a long way in her knowledge of the town's diverse issues and her confidence in presenting and defending her positions.
Way have no other expectation that this will only get better over the next four years. She understands who her constituents are in the landlocked Centerville precinct she represents. While she'll vote to honor her precinct's wishes on the upcoming tax policy questions, she understands that for most of her constituents, the pocketbook benefit they'll see from a residential exemption is greater than anything from a split tax rate.
Where Joakim was able to speak in detail about different issues across her precinct and across the town, we found Pino's command of several current issues wanting, even after the rev up period.
Joakim remains dedicated to school and equity issues, but she's looking to widen her playing field to other key issues. She should be allowed to do that for Precinct 6.
In his bid to rejoin the council two years ago, Tobey said that his intent was to represent the people of Precinct 8. During his prior stint, his work as council president cut into such constituent services.
Although he personally regards the split tax and residential exemption as not in the best interest of the town, he said he would abide by the guidance provided by his constituents. There should be a place for John Alden in the civic life of Hyannis and the Town of Barnstable.His candor and straight-forward style have nothing to do with flash, but a lot to do with substance. He's admittedly “very much a proponent of less government,” but he also showed sincere compassion for some of the town's less fortunate, especially the homeless. During the debate, Alden noted that he's been “observing town government from a distance.” We'd encourage him to change that, because he has something good to offer. Tobey's thoughtfulness, humor and directness are needed on the council, and we all should have the benefit of those qualities for the next four years.
There are two ways to look at the split rate issue. Based on individual tax bills, residents will see a relatively small savings with the adoption of a split rate, while owners of commercial and industrial properties could see their bills increase by half Small relief for some, greater burden for others.
Based on the overall tax levy, the $27 million increase in the town of Barnstable's tax levy since 1996 has been borne entirely by the residential class, while the increase in the commercial and industrial classes barely registers in the $80 million Barnstable will raise in property taxes this year. Full burden for some, unchanged load for others.
We tend to look at the bigger picture on this issue. While most residents will see modest savings, this question is not about tax relief. It's about tax equity. There is also a need for moderation in adoption of a split rate.
The non-binding question will provide guidance on whether voters support adopting a split rate, but it provides no information on how large a shift would be supported or desired.
Members of FAIR (Fair Assessments to Increase Responsibility) seek the maximum allowable shift, which would increase commercial tax bills by 50 percent over a non-split rate. In the language of tax classification, this represents a commercial tax factor of 1.5. The group's argument is sound based on the numbers, but it's too much, too soon.
The report generated by the town committee that FAIR grew out of, last year's town council-appointed tax assessment committee, recommended a stepped approach. The recommendation ultimately rejected by the town council was to adopt a split tax rate, increasing the commercial tax burden by 25 percent, or a factor of 1.25.
We agree with a measured approach in adopting a split rate, which would allow businesses time to incorporate the added expense into their annual budgeting decisions. The shift in levy away from commercial properties occurred through no fault of the business and industrial property owners. It is a by-product of a manic residential real estate market that caused home prices to soar. That said, adoption of a split rate is the only mechanism available to communities to attempt an adjustment to the imbalance created by the residential real estate market.
This is an annual vote for the town council and it's one that requires annual analysis to see if conditions warrant adoption or maintenance of a split rate. This year, the inescapable answer is Yes.
As question 1 should not be looked at as a rate relief measure for residential taxpayers, neither should Question 2. In applying the same fairness principles in play for question 1, shifting a portion of the residential tax burden away from owner-occupied homes to owners of second homes, apartment complexes, vacant land and high-end, owner-occupied homes doesn't pass.
This option would provide the greatest tax relief for certain resident owners of homes at the expense of other residential property owners. The exemption calculation stays on the residential side of the ledger and has no effect on the taxes raised from commercial or industrial properties. This should be understood when listening to those opposed to the commercial split rate speak favorably about the residential exemption. Make no mistake, those who would reap some benefit from the residential exemption are the majority of residential property owners, but from a fairness perspective, it should not pass.
Under this exemption, commercial properties valued at $1 million or less that house businesses with 10 or fewer employees at all locations would qualify for an exemption of up to 10 percent of their assessed values.
According to a fact sheet prepared by the town's assessing office, the most any property would benefit if the maximum 10 percent exemption was in place is just about $540 on a $1 million property.
Cross, 74, is running for his fourth term on the Housing Authority, one of two incumbents on the ballot for two seats. The 1949 graduate of Barnstable High School and four-year Air Force veteran - he was stationed in Japan for a year during the Korean War - first ran for the Housing Authority in 1993 at the suggestion of Flynn, the longtime selectman who was then the Governor's appointee to the Authority.
He is proud of the progress the town has made toward the statemandated goal of having a tenth of its housing qualified as affordable, up from about 4 percent when he was first elected to more than 6 percent today.
“Everything is so expensive that it's making it more and more of a challenge to get housing that we can buy down and make it affordable,” he said.
In his capacity as treasurer of the Authority, he noted that the agency pumps something like $5 million into the town's economy annually in payroll, subsidies and other expenditures.
Given Paula Schnepps' background, it's no surprise the Marstons Mills resident is running for a third term on the Barnstable Housing Authority. “For me, it's a wonderful opportunity to be involved in my community,” she said. “It's an area in which I have some expertise.
Schnepp, 45, has been the executive director of the Cape Cod Free Clinic and Community Health Center of Falmouth and Mashpee for eight years, presiding over the expansion of that agency from a provider of services to uninsured adults one night a week to one that offers significantly more to significantly more people. The Wisconsin native moved to the Cape from Texas more than a year before that, and worked for the Housing Assistance Corp. of Hyannis before joining the health agency. She also has been a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, helping people build homes they otherwise could not have afforded.
She has a bachelor's degree in economics from Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., and a master's in public administration from the University of Minnesota.
She is comfortable with numbers, deals with a lot of them, given its many programs, partners and funding sources - the last of which seem to grow ever sparser.
“We're trying to be very watchful about what funding is available from the federal government, and even from the state government,” she said. Schnepp said the contributions the Authority makes to the town's affordable housing stock are important.
She also mentioned the importance of the Authority working with the town on its initiatives, such as use of Community Preservation Act funds and the Housing Committee's work on developments that come under the state's Chapter 40B affordable housing law.
Because the agency is well managed, she said, the board members' approach is to “allow the Authority to do what it does well but to ask the right questions when appropriate.”. Schnepp is one of two incumbents running for two Housing Authority seats. She and her husband, Bob Bucchianeri, have one son, Nick, 5.
“From the beginning of the town's history, the clerk was the one who recorded the actions of the town, and I still do that,” she said. “By virtue of that fact, I feel very protective of (the records).” Hutchenrider, 58, is running for her fourth four-year term as Town Clerk. She is unopposed on the ballot.
A town native who grew up in Centerville and now lives in Santuit, Hutchenrider is Barnstable's first Master Municipal Clerk, Massachusetts fourth, and the entire planet's 214th. The designation is, in her words, “the highest you can go” in the International Municipal Clerk's Association. She also just completed a two-year term as president of the Massachusetts Town Clerks Association, and now sits on the organization's executive board. She belongs to several clerks associations.
Her interest in being a town clerk goes back two decades to when she was working for a town in central Massachusetts. When she first ran for Barnstable Town Clerk in 1993, she already was an assistant in the clerk's office here.
Her tenure has seen its share of historic developments, from the digital revolution through the ongoing election reform initiatives that grew out of the presidential election of 2000 to the introduction of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts last year.
Hutchenrider provided steady leadership as the state clerks association navigated the uncharted waters of same-sex marriage, and the association was honored by the Freedom to Marry Coalition of Massachusetts for its role in implementing the change.
Ditto the town's laws and regulations. She sees challenges for towns on the horizon, and is working with the new president of the state association to make sure her colleagues' concerns are heard.
“The challenges that are going to come up are going to be in election reform,” she said, in such functions as same-day registration and opening of absentee voting.
“The cost of doing both (absentee and at-thepolls voting) is going to be phenomenal,” she said. “Who's going to pay for it? The towns don't have that kind of money.” Overall, Hutchenrider said, she's keeping up with history.
Hutchenrider has five adult children and 10 grandchildren, including a set of triplets. She and her husband, Bradford, have been married nine years.
There are three non-binding questions on this year's ballot, all relating to how the Town of Barnstable taxes its residents and property owners.
None of the options discussed in any of the questions would change the amount of money the town can raise in property taxes. The questions deal with how the tax burden is distributed among classes of tax payers, including residential, commercial, industrial and personal property.
How the town taxes property owners is decided each year in what's known as a classification hearing. This year's hearing is scheduled for Nov. 17, the first town council meeting after the election.
Do you support the Barnstable Town Council's adoption of a split tax rate allocating less of the tax levy to residential properties and more to commercial/industrial personal property up to the allowed lawful shift permitted under MGL C. 40 Section 56?
Approval of a split tax rate would shift a portion of the tax levy away from all residential tax payers to commercial, industrial and personal property tax payers. The state allows the town to assess commercial properties at a tax rate up to 50 percent higher than a nonsplit rate. Those favoring the split tax argue that the percentage of Barnstable taxes paid by residents has increased from 82 percent in fiscal year 1992 to 89 percent in FY 2006, while the portion of business taxes has decreased from 18 to 11 percent.
Those arguing against a split rate argue that commercial real estate has not kept pace with the surge in rising residential property values. They also argue that it is unfair for businesses, who would pay significantly more per property versus what individual property owners would save.
With a single tax rate, the town tax on a $300,000 property would be $1,695 at the expected FY'06 rate of $5.65 per $1,000. With a 25-percent shift toward CIP properties, the residential property owner would pay $1,644, or $51 less, and an owner of CIP property of the same value would pay $2,118, or $423 more.
This is an option that allows a community to grant an exemption to owner-occupied residential properties of up to 20 percent of the town's average residential value. In effect, the exemption shifts a portion of the tax burden, within the residential class, away from lowerto medium-valued, single-family homes to multi-family properties, apartment buildings and non-resident property owners. The result is a higher overall tax rate for residential properties (commercial and other property classes are unaffected). Not all owneroccupied properties will see their tax burden go down, however. There's a break-even point for such properties, roughly $800,000 for Barnstable's 2006 tax year, above which residents will wind up paying more in taxes than they would have without the exemption. This option is not immediately available to the town, as the financial software that generates the now-quarterly tax bills is not equipped to make the necessary calculations.
Without an exemption, the town tax on $300,000 residential property would be $1,695 at a tax rate of $5.65, the expected FY'06 rate per $1,000.
The small commercial exemption is similar to the residential exemption, except it benefits certain commercial properties up to a 10-percent exemption. In order to qualify, properties must be valued at less than $1 million and house businesses that have no more than 10 employees in a single location.
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