Meetings Ahead
Meetings in Truro are often held remotely. Go to Truro-ma.gov and click on the meeting you are interested in for an agenda and details on how to join.
Thursday, Oct. 31
- Pamet Harbor Commission, noon, Town Hall
Friday, Nov. 1
- Cable and Internet Advisory Committee, 2:15 p.m., Town Hall
Monday, Nov. 4
- Conservation Commission, 4 p.m., Town Hall and online
Conversation Starters
The Motor Inn Taking
The select board unanimously voted on Oct. 22 to authorize the taking by eminent domain of the condemned Truro Motor Inn at 296 Route 6 and approved the release of $1.6 million from the Dennis Family Gift Account as compensation.
The $1.6 million won’t be going directly to the Delgizzi family, which owns the property. Instead, it will be applied to cover part of the family’s unpaid local, state, and federal taxes.
The taking was overwhelmingly approved at town meeting in May, but the select board paused the process in August because of legal uncertainties about ownership.
The listed owner, Daniel Delgizzi, died in 2020, leaving the property as part of his unsettled estate. His son, David, whose address now appears on town assessor’s records for the property, owes about $2 million in federal income taxes and $400,000 in state income and meals taxes.
Before the vote, Katherine Klein of KP Law said that Daniel Delgizzi also owes Truro about $400,000 in overdue real estate taxes. She said that amount will be deducted from the $1.6 million, with the remaining $1.2 million placed in a separate town account accessible to the IRS.
“They would be a third party with a claim against these funds that we’re holding for Mr. Delgizzi,” said Klein.
While Town Manager Darrin Tangeman previously suggested that probate court action might be necessary to resolve ownership, town counsel and the IRS settled the matter after the IRS placed levies on all Delgizzi properties in September.
At one point, the IRS mistakenly placed a levy on the $1.6 million from the Dennis Family Gift Account that had already been designated as compensation for the property.
“We have been in touch with the IRS, and they agree that they can’t levy against a town account, which is what these funds are,” said Klein.
Select board vice chair Bob Weinstein thanked Klein for her explanation of the process. “We have a perpetual tax scofflaw,” said Weinstein. “I just want to make it clear to the public that this levying is against the Delgizzi family and not the Dennis Family Trust.”
The town is considering how to allocate the $400,000 owed by Delgizzi. Tangeman told the board that Assistant Town Manager Kelly Clark had suggested that those funds might be slated to develop the Truro Motor Inn.
Board member Stephanie Rein said she thought that would be appropriate. “I wouldn’t call it ‘found money’ because it was owed to us, but they owe everybody, as we can see from the IRS and towns up and down the Cape,” she said.
Chair Sue Areson agreed, adding, “It would be great if we could earmark it for an appropriate use, particularly for housing, which is what the town meeting vote specified.”
Tangeman asked Klein if that should be included in the motion she provided to the select board, but Clark suggested the conversation be continued during the town’s warrant development process in the months ahead.
Klein agreed, saying, “I think we want to make sure that we do that properly.”
Tangeman told the Independent in an email on Oct. 28 that the transaction is still pending. “We will have an announcement once it is official,” he wrote.
Cyber Awareness Workshop
Truro resident Bernadette Leonard Dutra will give a workshop about avoiding identity theft and other scams on the internet on Saturday, Nov. 2 at 2 p.m. at the Truro Public Library.
“The internet is only 34 years old, and there hasn’t been a lot of knowledge shared with the public on how to keep themselves safe,” said Dutra, who works at a health-care cybersecurity company, IntellusAccess. She said she especially wants to educate elderly people about how to do that. —Aden Choate
