Informational forums on the Nov. 8 ballot proposition that will ask voters to approve a .5-percent real estate transfer tax that would go toward a community housing opportunity fund will be held in East Hampton Town Friday and on Oct. 15.
Friday from 6 to 8 p.m. at LTV Studios in Wainscott, Matthew Lownes of LTV will moderate a panel discussion on the ballot proposition. The panel will comprise Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc, Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman, Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., State Senator Anthony Palumbo, Suffolk County Legislator Bridget Fleming, and Catherine Casey, executive director of the East Hampton Housing Authority.
Panelists will discuss the community housing opportunity fund and affordable housing in general and answer questions from the public.
The forum is free and open to the public. It will be recorded and broadcast on Channel 22 and on LTV’s YouTube page afterward. Questions for the panel can be emailed to [email protected] with “CHF Forum” in the subject line.
“We have all felt the impact of the post-Covid housing boom in our community,” Mr. Lownes said in a statement, “and LTV wants to provide the opportunity for citizens to be prepared and informed prior to the November election.”
Mr. Thiele and Ms. Casey will be among the panelists when the East Hampton Democratic Committee and East End YIMBY co-host a gathering at the Clubhouse on Daniel’s Hole Road on Oct. 15 from 5 to 7:30 p.m. There will be live music, cocktails, and hors d’oeuvres from 5 to 5:45 p.m., after which Scott Rubenstein, an owner of the Clubhouse, will deliver opening remarks.
Along with Mr. Thiele and Ms. Casey, Kathy Byrnes, a manager of the Windmill Housing Development Fund, and Pamela Greinke, an assistant manager of Provisions Natural Foods, will discuss the ballot proposition from 6 to 6:45. A question-and-answer session will follow.
East End YIMBY (“Yes in My Backyard”) will distribute materials. Those planning to attend have been encouraged to take their children, who can receive a 50-percent discount for mini golf and the game arcade.
The .5-percent real estate transfer tax, should voters approve it on Nov. 8, would be in addition to the 2-percent transfer tax on real estate transactions that goes into the community preservation fund. The Peconic Bay Region Community Housing Act, signed into law last year, authorizes the five East End towns to establish community housing funds to be paid for by that transfer tax. If passed, it would become operational in January 2023.
Should the referendum pass, buyers of a property would pay the .5-percent transfer tax, with the first $400,000 exempt up to $2 million, beyond which the full purchase price would be taxable. First-time home buyers would be exempt.
The money could be spent in a number of ways, from buying land and buildings to town-led or public-private construction projects for sale or rent, rehabilitation of existing buildings, down payment and other financial assistance to buyers, loans to construct accessory dwelling units, the creation of housing for employees of local businesses, the purchase of individual units within existing multi-unit housing complexes, and counseling on housing.
