Waiting could cost town $450,000

We hope the Board of Selectmen will reconsider their decision not to hold a Special Town Meeting before August 31 to adopt the local meals tax and raise the room tax. By waiting until after August 31 to vote on these taxes, it will cost $450,000 in revenue.

Granted, the Board of Selectmen is busy with other issues. The board is preparing for a Special Town Meeting in September to change the zoning for Sherburne Commons so that it can be saved and sold to a private healthcare company. And, let's not forget that 10 years ago, a home rule petition to expand the meals tax did not get through town meeting.

Yet, we are now in different times and FY11 will be more challenging for cities and towns than this year.

The chairman of the Board of Selectmen said that the taxpayers and the citizens do not have an appetite for a Special Town Meeting in August.

"You could bet the rent it wouldn't pass," said the chairman. "That is why we did not gear up for an August Special Town Meeting."

We need to be careful about turning down that which the state government has offered. Maybe the state will stop offering.

Nantucket is in the enviable position of having the ability to go to town meeting and raise a new revenue source. In raising the room tax by two percentage points, it will be paid for by people visiting the island. No one has ever made travel plans based on the lodging tax.

As for the .75 percent local meals tax, many restaurants on the island have made tipping mandatory and have built an 18 percent tip into the bill. We are troubled that the selectmen are stemming the public debate on adopting the local meals tax and raising the room tax from 9.75 percent to 11.75 percent. It is one thing for the voters to say "no, we don't want $450,000 to hold the budget together," it is another thing for our elected leaders not to give us the chance to speak.

Governor Deval Patrick recently said that if state revenues did not meet their targets, that the reduced local aid we received this year could be reduced even further, and who would make up that shortfall?

Perhaps $450,000 is small change, but how will we know unless we take it to the voters.