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, Sept. 26
- Open Space Committee, 2 p.m., online
Saturday, Sept. 28
- Historical Commission site visit, 10 a.m., 3 Walsh Way
Monday, Sept. 30
- Part-Time Residents Advisory Committee, 5 p.m., online
Tuesday, Oct. 1
- Human Services Committee, 10 a.m., Town Hall
- Board of Health, 4:30 p.m., Town Hall and online
- Historical Commission, 5 p.m., online
Conversation Starter
RTE Bumped to 35 Percent
At its annual tax classification hearing on Sept. 24, the select board voted 3-2 to set the residential tax exemption (RTE) at 35 percent, the state’s current limit. It means that resident homeowners can exempt 35 percent of the town’s median assessed home value from their own tax assessments.
Vice chair Bob Weinstein and members Sue Girard-Irwin and Stephanie Rein supported the increase from 30 percent.
“We’re all struggling out here on the end of the Cape,” said Rein. “This is one of the tools we have to allow families, seniors, and everyone in between the option to live here.”
Chair Susan Areson and clerk Nancy Medoff both said they were in favor of the RTE but not the 35 percent figure. Medoff said she preferred 30 percent; Areson did not specify her preferred rate.
Regan McCarthy, vice president of the Truro Part-Time Resident Taxpayers Association, suggested that there were alternatives that would offer greater relief to residents without the “divisive” effects of the RTE, but she did not specify what they were.
Mara Glatzel, who identified herself as a recipient of the RTE, said that it is what allows her, her partner, and their two kids to reside in Truro.
“This enables my family and families like ours to stay in our only home,” she said. “That matters, and I believe that needs to be protected.”
The deadline for applying for the exemption is April 1, 2025. —Aden Choate
