Barnstable's Unfair Abatements and Taxation

Thomas A. DeRiemer
11 Wiswall Circle, Wellesley, MA 02482 508-428-9335 tderiemer@msn.com

August 2, 2007

Dear Fellow Non-Resident Property Owner within the Town of Barnstable, MA:

Re: UNFAIR PROPERTY TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION

It has come to my attention that we, as second property owners within the Town of Barnstable, during the past year, have been taxed at a higher rate than resident/voters of the Town.

There are 7,000+ non-resident Barnstable taxpayers and 15,540 resident/voters of the Town. How it works (to simplify the process) is that the Town Assessor deducts $105,000 from the assessed value of each resident’s property. This creates a different levy for residents and non-residents. The levying of this different rate upon non-residents creates an average tax penalty of $666 for the current year.

Because we reside less than full time within Barnstable, we do not have children in the schools and receive fewer benefits from our taxes for good roads and social services. The result is we are disproportionately taxed without the benefit of voter representation. We pay the same permit fees for beach and refuse disposal permits. The Town has it wrong. We should be getting the benefit if there is to be a differential formula!

I solicit your support.