The NTC Should Not Increase Taxes on Seasonal Owners

I sent out the following email to the Narragansett Town Council members, our Town Manager, Town Engineers, and Tax Collector:

Dear Town Council Members, Town Manager, and Town Solicitor, Town Engineers, Tax Collector,

I strongly recommend you reconsider the proposed tax increase on those who are part time homeowners and who do not rent out their homes at any time during the year. This increase in taxes on these individuals can exacerbate the problem with rentals in our neighborhood, and it can drive out seniors who help keep our taxes low. The following is my rationale for the aforementioned statement.

People who do not live in Narragansett full time are already paying a year of real estate taxes for only being in the Town for less than 6 months. Most who own two homes are seniors. They have worked all their lives and most likely lived frugally to obtain the income to purchase two homes. In addition, many are NOT independently wealthy as I am sure many purchased their house in Narragansett many years ago when home prices were much lower. If the Town and its elected leaders are against fewer rentals, then increasing the taxes on houses NOT owner occupied throughout the year and are NOT being rented out is going to potentially have the following deleterious effects on Narragansett.

1) People who own two homes may opt to sell the house in Narragansett if they are taxed out of house and home, and that house may more than likely be purchased by investors who will rent the house, and you will be driving out more seniors who keep our taxes low. Remember, seniors use much less of our services than a summer rental, a house that is rented out to college students throughout the academic year and also being used as a summer rental, or even to a house that may be rented out to a family year-round.

2) With an increase in taxes for those who are part time residents and who do not rent out their home, it may prompt people who own houses to rent out some rooms to offset the increase in rent. This too would be a negative for our Town. Our Town has been fighting to lower the number of rentals, so the actions by the NTC to increase the taxes on part time homeowners who keep their houses vacant for 6 months or longer in the year and who do not rent out their property is counterintuitive.

3) People may rent out their house when they are away if their taxes will be the same as people who rent out properties part time or even year-round.

4) People who rent out their properties can write off their taxes, but those who do not rent out their properties cannot write off their taxes, so if you are going to tax those houses that do not rent out their property as the same rate as those who rent out the property part time or even those who rent out their property year round, you are giving more people an incentive to make rentals out of their properties, and that makes NO sense to me. In addition, the NTC has put forth more and more restrictions to lower the number of people renting a property as people have complained about college students and summer rentals have taken over our Town, so why would our NTC NOW impose a tax on those homeowners who are NOT renting out their property, and they are keeping their neighborhoods free from renters that can cause significant problems in a neighborhood?

5) I would support if one has a property who is only here not more than half a year, and their property is a non-rental property (vacant), that their property be granted the same rate as a homestead exemption. The property should not be allowed to be occupied by anyone except the immediate family members. Therefore, a person cannot allow anyone to live in the house when they are away, as the people occupying the house could potentially be paying a family rental income in cash or under the table without reporting the house being used as a rental. Those individuals who keep their house vacant for 6 months and 1 day or more are NOT taxing our sewers, our police, our roads, our school system, or our infrastructure, but they are providing us with year-round tax revenue from their homes. Why drive property owners out of our Town who create the smallest tax burden for our Town?

6) One only has to look at the cost to educate students in Narragansett Schools. While our numbers have dropped, the cost to educate our students has not gone down. If one is a snowbird, he or she is NOT having kids go to our schools, and that too is a great tax savings. Why would the Town want to INCREASE taxes on people who are not renting out their properties and who are not using our schools and other programs that would result in increasing our taxes.

7) As a result of so many rentals, I fear our sewer systems will be overflowing with c____p, that can run over into our oceans, streams, lakes, and our water supply. If more and more rentals are allowed we may have to spend an enormous amount of money on a larger sewer distribution system and if our sewer system fails, our oceans, lake, streams, can be inundated with you know what, so let's NOT drive out the homeowners by increasing the taxes on part time residents who do not tax our sewer systems by having their houses occupied year round. I also do not like having to boil my water and go out and purchase bottled water when the water has a high bacteria count. One only has to go online and see summer rentals that have 10-15 people packed into a 3-to-4-bedroom home to recognize that it makes NO sense to increase the taxes on couples and families that are least taxing to our beautiful seaside community both monetarily, environmentally, figuratively, and literally.

Please vote NO against any increase in fees for those who are part time residents for non-rental properties.

Respectfully Submitted, Dr. Albert Alba