Transfer Tax

To be voted upon separately in each of the five East End towns, the Community Preservation Fund would create a new source of funding to preserve farmland, open space, parkland, and historic places by imposing a 2-percent tax on higher-priced real estate sales over a 10-year period. It is expected to raise between $2 million and $3 million a year in East Hampton Town alone, which has already targeted sites for preservation, as has Southampton Town.

In the works for over 10 years, the proposal is supported by East Hampton lumberyards, builders, architects, real estate firms, business groups, farmers, citizens advisory committees, town and village officials, and preservation groups - all of whom realize that the East End is in serious danger of being "loved to death," attracting so much new development that its very allure approaches extinction.

Alarmingly, state and national real estate interests have struck up a misinformation campaign where they have no business in the first place. Don't believe the so-called New Options for Open Space Preservation. The group claims that the tax will make living on the East End unaffordable and that enough money already has been set aside for land preservation. Neither claim is true.

The tax does not apply to sales of houses under $250,000 or to raw land under $100,000 in East Hampton and Southampton, and of the figure it claims is already available for preservation - $277 million - $260 million is not in fact available; it is what preservationists hope the $100 million raised by the tax will attract in matching grants from other programs - if it is approved.

We East Enders take great pride in the natural landscape that sustains and delights us. A resounding "yes" to the Community Preservation Fund will send a message to those who have other ideas about that landscape, and offer encouragement to those who hope to follow our lead.