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© 2021 The Somerville Times. All rights reserved.
By Peter Blaikie
Twenty-four-year homeowner
(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries and letters to the Editor of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)
If you are a homeowner in Somerville and concerned about the transfer fee the city is looking to back room deal on you, you should make a point to be heard on April 4th at Somerville city hall. Here is a reply to one of the supporters of this plan. I had to copy and paste it as it will be deleted like other arguments I responded to about this issue. It seems that when someone makes a valid point and it doesn’t match their mission statement they would rather delete their post then host a counter argument that might make people think about the implications of what is being proposed. Here is my response to Katie Gradowski’s supporting the transfer fee:
Katie, this transfer is nothing more than a socialist extortion and should not pass in any form. If the “People’s Republic of Cambridge” stopped it so will we.
The CPA tax and the Proposition 2 1/2 override were more than enough pilfering from the Home owners and this needs to stop. If this city really meant what they say they would have made FRIT and other developers cede the 20% affordable housing rates but chose another back room bag job and settled for 6% and a cash payment for units that will take years to develop the inventory the 20% would have gotten us on that deal. This fee is just a greedy cash grab to be taken away from home owners fed up with the increased taxes and having to make choice to sell and move to more affordable locations. The city cannot be trusted to do the right thing and actually use it as intended. The exemptions will of course not be honored and just temporarily permitted to see how much money is lost and at that time you will then try to modify it to remove the exemptions one by one while also trying to increase the percentage collected on this tax.
Taxes are rarely reduced and most likely rise as current and future administrations get used to the deeper trough they feed from. I will be at the meeting and look forward to informing the people of this socialistic crap for what it is “Robbing the Hood” instead of Robin Hood. I have no connection to SPOA or any other landlord organizations but I would ally with them in opposition to this. Sometimes cities and towns become more expensive due to location and people have to make choices and move to a city or town that provides housing at a price within their budget. I would love to live in Dover, Wayland, Weston, Duxbury or Marblehead but they are beyond my budget so I am here.
If the city continues to increase taxes, we landlords will just pass it on to our tenants as higher and higher rents which will accelerate the gentrification process led by these same steps you are supporting to fight gentrification.
What will be your next suggestion? Rent Control? Change is inevitable and when Somerville developed as much as it did why would any rational person not expect rent and home prices rise in relation to the surrounding development? Why should the homeowner be made to pay for something they had no direct input in?
I am not going to be made to feel guilty for this outright stealing from me to give to others. We have charity for that and you and the other socialists can give all the money you want but keep your hands out of my pocket when doing it. I will fight hard to keep what I earned and saved for my family to stay right where it is.
I will see you on Wednesday when I have my say.
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I am with you Peter!! I found it funny that Katie also pointed out an organized group that opposed the fee in Cambridge. She must have forgotten that she is part of an organized group supporting the tax in Somerville 😛
I don’t think it’s necessarily a crime for a landlord to pass his increases on to tenants. After all, any business that suddenly has an increase in fees passes that on to its consumers. That’s just the way it is.
One problem with increases like these, however, is that it doesn’t help those of us who are single-family homeowners and do not gain any income from our property.
While Residential Exemptions are a huge help, single family homes get the same amount of exemption as multi-family, even though those landlords can pass the cost down to others.
Transfer fees are just another way to squeeze money from residents, many of whom are trying to make ends meet as it is.
Many who are on MassHealth for nursing care also have to pay those fees back if their home is sold. The City offers to defer property taxes as well, assuming those monies will be paid back on the sale of the home after death.
It’s getting to the point that for many of us who are old and need care, when our home is ultimately sold, there won’t be any money whatsoever left to pass down to anyone. But of course the City doesn’t care about you once your dead, let alone while you’re alive.
Enough already. The mayor does not have to get his way every time in his efforts to find new ways to increase revenue. Maybe do some work and reduce the spending.
Right now there is a vocal group who are against the transfer tax. At this point, I don’t care – I won’t pay it given the planned exemptions and even if i did, the 6-9k fee is massively dwarfed by the probably $ ill get from appreciation. But lets get serious here.
The bulk of the alderman, on behalf of their constituents want it to pass and if it were to go to a public vote it will definitely pass. I’d suggest making that your underlying assumption on what will happen. Now given that, we can focus on two things, the conditions that determine who pays the fees and what is done with the money.
Its a done deal, lets start thinking how to control it.
Totally agree with Matt. It’s a tax that hits people buying real estate in the city. It’s not going to jack up rents or kick people out of their ancestral homes. In the context of skyrocketing real estate values & people making killings when they sell and/or buy & flip houses I really don’t give a crap about whiners complaints about it. My only concern would be making sure the money gets put to good use, and given the huge focus on affordable housing at the moment I have no doubt there’ll be considerable thought put into the most effective way to use it.
Matt – It’s not a done deal. This Home Rule Petition is destined to die on Beacon Hill. Our Alderman even know this as fact, yet they continue to waste time further dividing our community over policy that will never see the light of day once it hits Beacon Hill. Furthermore, it’s not Somerville’s sole responsibility to try and solve the entire regions housing issues.
Let’s also talk facts and not just AH rhetoric. AH does not stop displacement of current Somerville residents. That statement which our Elected Officials and AH Advocates like to spout off, is a flat out lie! AH is Federally funded and Federally mandated, which means that it’s an open lottery to anyone who meets the AH criteria. So ultimately what AH housing does is provide some lucky person living in another community a golden ticket into Somerville. AH does very little to nothing to help current Somerville residents in need of housing. Less than 30% of available AH units are allowed to go to local residents. The other 70% must be open to anyone who meets the criteria. This includes folks living anywhere in the US, not just MA. Think about that for a moment.
Also, let’s talk about how 4 out of the 5 newly Elected Officials did not grow up in Somerville, which I find laughable when I hear them say things like, “we need to save the soul of Somerville.” Talk about hypocrisy. Not only that, these newly elected officials do not care about the people who built Somerville into what it is today. They are nothing more than silver spoon, trust funded and ideologues.
In less than 3 months this new board has proven to be nothing but a joke. Watch a meeting for yourself and decide. The Transfer Tax and Tenant First Right of Refusal is going to come back to haunt many of the current elected officials next election. Wait and see.
Has anyone else noticed how bad Ward 3 looks? Potholes everywhere, Prospect Hill park is in shambles, the children park next door to the tower has a very damaged/leaning heavy steal fence that looks like it is going to cause someone’s child a very serious injury. I called my current Alderman (Ewen-Campen) about it to ask that he get it fixed and was told to call 311. I was so taken back by his smug and careless response I almost hung the phone up on him. The homeowners and long term residents in Ward 3 sure got a raw deal in this last election and his name is Ben Ewen-Campen.
I’m not the only resident of Ward 3 who feels this way. Anyone who has had any interaction with this young man has come away feeling belittled by his arrogance. That is not the Somerville I want, nor should you!
Matt C: Why don’t you make a donation now? Put your money where your mouth is. I’m sure some transients would love $10k of your money because they don’t want to buy somewhere too far from their climbing gym and craft breweries. Checks can be made out to the “City of Somerville” in care of Joe Curtatone.
Snow Flake: How much are mommy and daddy paying your way? Whiners like you want the free handouts. We’ve seen your kind before.
There are still good deals in Everett, Malden, Quincy, Dorchester and Saugus. I think a lot of these young people think they’re too good for these other towns. They might have to associate with actual blue collar people who don’t have fancy degrees and Bernie bumper stickers.
Highlander –
you could be right, I just don’t know what the state would block the home rule petition but sure it could die on the hill. I agree with all of your points on AH – its a farce and to think that the 4sq miles of Somerville is going to make a dent in anything is stupid. Housing is regional, a plan must also be regional.
I don’t agree with you on the alderman, I don’t think you have to be born some place to make it your home or to care about what happens to your friends and neighbors.
JJ, I have no intention on leaving anytime soon. As I have said multiple times, the transfer fee should be targeted at people that are transient, it should be a sliding scale that goes down and eventually phases out for long term residents. go troll some place else.
Liz: this is about the children of cultural elites who’ve been raised on participation ribbons and themed birthday parties. They made crappy career choices, flunked out of PhD programs, or are stuck in perpetual “post doc” jobs waiting to be hired by an Ivy League school looking for the next superstar professor (not gonna happen!). Now these kids have been cut off by mom and dad and want the taxpayers of Somerville to pick up their tab.
We’ve all become house-rich here in Somerville. As long as they target this at the house flippers and create exemptions for longtime residents I don’t see what the problem is. It will help people who need affordable housing to stay here. Blakie seems to think eating your own is all right. I don’t.
Villenous – this transfer tax will not prevent current Somerville residents from displacement. That is a flat out lie. If passed, the Tax would go to AH, but it will not directly prevent Somerville residents from being displaced.
The language has not even been stated from the committee or Board of Alderman. Upon completion of the public testimony and their personal decisions are discussed and approved. Then then the language for the home rule petition will be submitted to the Commonwealth of Mass for consideration.
That is where the final decision will be made it either gets approved or could die in committee. Until then no- one knows what the final say will be.
Great commentary Mr. Blaikie