WELLFLEET — The select board has called a special town meeting for June 17 and a town election for June 18 to ask voters to consider the purchase of the property owned by the Gestalt International Study Center on Cemetery Road. It would be used for town offices.
The 2.5-acre wooded property, with its 4,400-square-foot office building, is listed at $1.5 million. According to the assessor’s records, the center was built in 2001. Its assessed value is a little over $1 million. Interim Town Administrator Thomas Guerino told the board late last month that factoring in possible “minor repairs,” he estimates the total cost will be about $1.7 million.
“It would provide the town with a number of things,” said Guerino at the board’s April 26 meeting. “As you know, we’re having difficulty now finding offices for the town planner and some others.” A handful of departments are currently sharing space in the public works building, he said. Guerino said the building could also be used for public meetings.
Town counsel has already reviewed a draft purchase and sale agreement, and suggested changes have been incorporated into the document, Guerino said.
Voters would be asked to approve a debt exclusion, or temporary property tax increase, to fund the purchase. But a report on Wellfleet’s financial condition, provided by the state Div. of Local Services in 2023, noted that the town has a history of relying too heavily on overrides, which are permanent tax increases, and on temporary debt exclusions, calling it “a cause for financial concern.”
According to the state agency, Wellfleet taxpayers had as of 2023 approved 15 of 19 override requests in the previous 12 years totaling $3.1 million, which is 15 percent of the town’s $20.5 million tax levy base.
Debt exclusions represented an additional 12 percent of the tax levy, but that calculation did not include the $6.5 million borrowed to purchase Maurice’s Campground or the $38.1 million authorization for the Nauset Regional High School renovation and expansion.
According to Town Treasurer Jared Aponte, the town will have $32 million in debt exclusions, counting principal and interest, at the start of the coming fiscal year. “The majority of the outstanding exempt debt is for Maurice’s Campground, dredging, and the police station and fire station,” Aponte said in an email. “The remaining projects are the usual capital for equipment and building repairs.”
Guerino acknowledged the town’s financial situation at the April 26 meeting.
“I’ve been talking a lot about the debt schedule and the number of projects the town already has in the hopper,” Guerino said. “And we don’t want to be adding any more burden if we can help it to the taxpayer by bringing on additional debt service.”
He added that some of the current debt covered by approved tax increases would be paid in full and therefore coming off the tax rate.
Select Board chair Barbara Carboni limited further discussion at the April 26 meeting, saying that what the board needed to do at that point was to set a town meeting and election date. The board did not return to the subject of the purchase at its May 7 meeting.
According to Laurie Fitzpatrick, president and CEO of the Gestalt International Study Center, the reason for the sale is that the organization has shifted its operations to Boston.
Selling the property, she said, is “part of a strategic move to be a little bit more centrally located and be able to access more diverse audiences and participants and broaden our geographic reach.”
Fitzpatrick would not offer specifics but said the town is “among a number of potential buyers” for the Wellfleet property, which is located in a commercial zone.
