Meetings Ahead
Most meetings in Eastham are in person, typically with an online-attendance option. Click on the meeting you are interested in on the calendar at eastham-ma.gov for details. All meetings are at Town Hall unless otherwise indicated
Friday, Dec. 27
- Historical Commission site visits: 55 Shurtleff Rd., 10 a.m; 670 Campground Rd., 11 a.m.; 46 Bow Rd., noon
Thursday, Jan. 2
- Zoning Board of Appeals, 5 p.m.
Monday, Jan. 6
- Select Board, 5:30 p.m., Earle Mountain Meeting Room
Tuesday, Jan. 7
- Board of Assessors, 11 a.m., Small Meeting Room
Wednesday, Jan. 8
- Community Preservation Committee, 5 p.m., Earle Mountain Meeting Room
Conversation Starter
Taxpayer Assistance Fund
At the Dec. 2 select board meeting, Assistant Town Administrator Rich Bienvenue presented a revised outline for the town’s Residential Taxpayer Assistance Fund, previously referred to as the Eastham Community Fund, which was authorized in July when Gov. Maura Healey signed special legislation to create the fund.
Bienvenue had developed the outline in consultation with select board members Jamie Demetri and Robert Bruns, and the board approved it unanimously. Bienvenue said that he anticipated the program’s terms would be discussed by the board every winter before being approved for the next fiscal year.
Under the terms approved by the select board, the fund would provide an award of up to $500 to Eastham residents who demonstrate financial need based on an application sent to the town’s assessing department. The program will become available in the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2025, and residents will be able to apply for assistance for up to two consecutive years, he said.
“If people are uncomfortable with what they see on their tax bill, we’ll have a mechanism in place to make an application to the assessing department to be evaluated for their circumstance,” he said.
The program is funded in part by donations — including a $2,000 donation in September from the Eastham Part-Time Resident Taxpayers Association (EPRTA) — but Bienvenue said that he anticipated an infusion of funds during the town’s annual budget process. “Perhaps $50,000,” he said — enough to give 100 households a $500 break on their property taxes for one year.
The Eastham Community Fund has been repeatedly spotlighted by the EPTRA as an alternative to adopting the residential tax exemption. Depending on the exemption percentage chosen by the select board, a residential tax exemption could give the year-round resident owners of properties a much larger tax break — potentially more than $1,500 per year — but it would raise the property taxes of nonresident taxpayers at the same time.
The select board is set to decide on whether to adopt an RTE for the next fiscal year at its Jan. 6 meeting. —Parker Mumford
