Posted on April 24, 2019
Town meeting also backs purchase of tidal flats.
WELLFLEET — Town meeting voters quickly approved the Select Board’s request for $7.5 million Monday night for dredging state- and town-owned areas of the harbor and around the town pier, as recommended by the Finance Committee and a local task force.
“Everything is on the table,” Town Administrator Daniel Hoort said, referring to a handful of dredging plans that appear to be in the works after several years of effort.
In March, town leaders learned that Wellfleet is in line for a $5 million dredging of the federal channel and anchorage basin in Wellfleet Harbor. The town likely will be required to pay about 50 percent of a $10 million bill for dredging state areas of the harbor. The $7.5 million, borrowed over 15 years as a debt exclusion, also could be used to pay for a dredging contractor, the purchase of equipment or a consultant to develop a maintenance dredging plan, according to the warrant and Hoort.
The federal dredge project is expected to begin in the fall of 2020, Hoort said. But the $7.5 million funding also would need approval at Monday’s town election before plans would go forward.
If approved, the borrowing for dredging would have a property tax impact in the first year of $205.57 on a single-family home with a median value of $538,524, Hoort said.
With about 2,800 registered voters in town, and at least 173 in attendance, the voters got down to business by 7:45 p.m.
Town meeting voters also approved the second largest borrowing expense on the warrant, a proposed purchase of more than 200 acres of tidal flats and a mile-long beach off Indian Neck currently owned privately by a group of commercial shellfish harvesters.
Select Board member Helen Miranda Wilson and Hoort said the owners’ $3.4 million asking price was seen as too high by the board, which made an offer of $2 million.
“The trustees accepted the $2 million offer,” Hoort said. With an anonymous donation of $1 million, the cost to the town ultimately would be $1 million, he said. If the borrowing is approved at the town election, the property tax impact in the first year would be $23, again based on the median single-family home value, Hoort said.
The commercial shellfishing industry provides an opportunity for young people and families to work and live in Wellfleet and build a business.
“We’ve got a base of jobs,” Select Board member Justina Carlson said.
Property owner Stephen Greenberg, though, opposed the measure because he said an expert legal opinion is needed.
“Nobody should ever buy a piece of property when you have a title as messed up as this,” Greenberg said. “Let’s have this article withdrawn.”
Two other voters also urged caution in purchasing the land right away.
One of the land owners, Todd Mindrebo, asked that voters not listen to Greenberg. Another said the appraised value of the land is at least $5 million and that the town should be appreciative of the lower price.
The town’s proposal was made with an eminent domain provision.
“This is protecting our town,” Select Board Chairwoman Janet Reinhart said.
Voters approved the town’s $19 million operating budget for fiscal 2020, including $6,400 for a driver of a donated van for the recreation department, despite the finance committee’s argument that the donation is going to cost the town more than just the driver, based on a physical assessment of the vehicle by the public works director.
Voters also approved firefighters, Teamsters and communications union contracts.
After the Times deadline Monday, voters approved creation of one full-time firefighter position to be paid for in the first year from the town’s ambulance fund, with an expense of $79,000 per year. At the same cost, a second firefighter was approved by voters to be paid for through an override, which if approved at the election would add $19.39 in property taxes in the first year, according to town officials.
“We are currently down to nine on-call people,” said Wellfleet Fire Chief Richard Pauley, who manages a mix of career and on-call firefighters.
Both the police and fire departments are struggling with recruiting and retaining staff, according to Pauley and the Finance Committee.
Town meeting approved borrowing money for five pieces of equipment, but that spending also must be ratified at the election.
A used $285,000 fire department ladder truck would add $10.14 in property taxes in the first year; a $265,000 replacement for a 2009 street sweeper would add $9.43; a $220,000 front-end loader to replace one from 2005 would add $7.83; a $75,000 refuse and recycling trailer would add $2.67; and a $40,000 replacement police cruiser would add $2.41, all based on the median-priced single-family home.
In another funding article that also will need ballot box approval, town meeting approved $50,000 for buildings and grounds improvements in Town Hall and the library, which would add $3.01 in property taxes in the first year. “I really don’t feel that either one of these issues needs to be fixed up right now all that much,” Select Board Vice Chairwoman Helen Miranda Wilson said in opposition.
By 10 p.m. Town Moderator Dan Silverman asked for a motion to end the first night of town meeting, with 27 of 52 articles completed. The second night will begin at 6 Tuesday.
Source: capecodtimes.com
