Letters

In 2019, I introduced the Peconic Bay Community Housing Fund bill in Albany to address the compelling need for workforce housing on the East End. The fund would have been financed by an additional 0.5 percent real estate transfer tax, while at the same time increasing the exemption from the entire real estate transfer tax from $250,000 to $400,000. The creation of the program would have been subject to a public referendum.

The legislation passed overwhelmingly in the State Legislature — but was vetoed by the governor.

Two years later, that veto seems even more ill-considered in the face of a pandemic that has transformed the local real estate market. Housing for local families is even less accessible today. A total of $35 million could have been generated in 2020 to help local families find housing opportunities.

Some have suggested that we should use the recent increase in revenue from the Community Preservation Fund to fund community housing [“Put It To A Vote,” Letters, March 25]. Such a suggestion misses the mark.

First, the land preservation component of the CPF is not yet completed in any of the five towns, especially on the North Fork. The North Fork has been unable to fund water quality projects because of the demand to protect farmland and open space, let alone consider an additional purpose like housing. Further, funds are still needed to pay off the debt service that was incurred to front-load land acquisition early in the program.

Just recently, the public authorized the use of 20 percent of the fund for water quality projects. The price tag to reverse declining water quality on the East End is literally in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Finally, there is no guarantee that the recent surge in CPF revenues is permanent.

In short, there is no surplus of CPF funds that can be diverted to housing. Even with the current real estate surge, the demand for land and water conservation outstrips available revenue.

Community housing needs its own revenue source to address the burgeoning crisis. I am hopeful that we can pass the bill again this year, and that in the face of the compelling case being made by our towns in the face of the pandemic, the governor will sign it. We need to protect rural character, improve water quality — and provide community housing. We cannot afford to pit one of these critical needs against the others.

Fred W. Thiele Jr.

Assemblyman

1st District