Some Provincetown meetings are in-person only, some are remote only, and some are a hybrid where you can choose to participate in person or through a remote link. Go to provincetown-ma.gov, click on the meeting you want to watch, and follow the instructions on the agenda.
Thursday, August 26
- Water & Sewer Board, 2 p.m., Veterans Memorial Community Center
- Building Committee, 3 p.m., remote
- Planning Board, 6 p.m., Town Hall
Wednesday, Sept. 1
- Historic District Commission, 4 p.m.
Conversation Starters
RTE to Remain 25%
At the annual tax classification hearing this week, the select board voted to keep Provincetown’s residential tax exemption (RTE) at 25 percent.
For the owner of a condominium with the average assessed value of $486,450 who chooses to apply for it, the resulting tax break will be $1,014.02. The nonresident taxpayer owning a condo of the same assessed value will have to pay an extra $145.12, according to the assessor, Scott Fahle.
The formula behind the RTE offers year-round home owners with more costly properties less of a tax break, while all nonresident home owners will pay 4.75 percent more than they otherwise would.
Provincetown is one of 16 communities, along with Truro and Wellfleet, to offer the exemption. It can go as high as 35 percent by law, as is offered in Boston, Waltham, and Somerville.
Provincetown Part-Time Resident Taxpayers Association (PPRTA) members expressed opposition to the policy.
Melissa Fallon of the PPRTA said that the RTE helps people who own valuable properties and need no financial help. “My place is under 300 square feet and I am very fortunate to have it,” she said. “There is no means testing. So, someone could be much wealthier than I and get a tax break.”
Scott Van Hove said the tax exemption should be repealed, or at least changed so that only properties below the $700,000 average assessed value qualify for it.
Pat Miller, president of the PPRTA, said any marginal benefit of the tax break is “totally outweighed by the divisiveness that it creates.”
Select board member John Golden said the part-time resident association’s arguments never change.
And select board member Leslie Sandberg said, “All I have heard from the PPRTA is negativity. This negative tack is divisive and corrosive. If you continually criticize this town, why would you think anyone would want to work with you?
“If you want a residential tax exemption, move to Provincetown or rent to someone who lives in town year-round,” Sandberg added. —K.C. Myers