The town of Edgartown has the largest land mass on the Island, the second largest population, 26 government subgroups, 200 employees, and an annual budget of $45 million. Relatively speaking, it is the Vineyard’s most expensive public operation.

And it is all made possible by real estate.

“Seventy-two per cent of that budget comes from the tax levy,” town administrator James Hagerty told members of the Island’s real estate industry at a forum at the Harbor View Hotel on Wednesday morning. “The point I’m making is, all those people who you represent contribute to Edgartown greatly, making us one of the lowest tax rates on the Island, and one of the lowest in the state.”

The forum was hosted by LINK Real Estate, the Island’s multiple listing service, and sponsored by the Vineyard Gazette and Cape Cod Five. It brought together a panel of Edgartown town officials and a room full of LINK members to discuss the intricacies of permitting, zoning, planning and safety that go into home ownership transactions in the town.

Deb Blair, LINK president, said the group plans similar briefings for real estate professionals in other Island towns.

The real estate industry has seen a decade-long period of sustained growth, capped by an eight-figure transaction occurring in Edgartown in each of the last four weeks, including the Obama family’s $11 million dollar purchase off Turkeyland Cove — the first on the Island by a former president.

The boom in the real estate market has made the role of town officials all the more crucial. At the forum Wednesday, town health agent Matt Poole discussed the complex mechanisms the town uses to ensure safety, clean drinking water, and code compliance in its residences, with issues ranging from well restrictions to the quantity of allowable bedrooms.

“The most effective growth control on the Island, and also in Edgartown, are probably the health regulations,” Mr. Poole said. “If you erase all the home health limits, all the bedroom limits, and allow the buildup that zoning allows, the Island would look very different.”

Also on the panel were town assistant building inspector Reade Milne, fire chief Alex Schaeffer, planning board administrator Doug Finn and Martha’s Vineyard Commission executive director Adam Turner.

In terms of planning, Mr. Finn said the town is moving forward with an updated master plan that it hopes to complete by 2022. He also said the town wants to create a link between AxisGIS — the online cartographic platform that shows zoning and ownership information for all town parcels — and the historical permitting record for those buildings. The goal is to have all the information easily accessible online, something that drew expressions of excitement from real estate professionals who attended.

“It’s all a puzzle, but zoning is like 3D chess,” Mr. Finn said. “The zoning bylaw is our bible.”

Mr. Turner provided an Islandwide perspective, explaining how Edgartown home buyers, town officials and town planners all have to balance the benefits of a booming real estate industry with an affordable housing shortage. He described the proposed Meeting House Place subdivision, the proposed new Boys and Girls Club facility and a potential Windemere facility planned for off Holly Bear Lane as the trifecta of big development projects facing the town right now. The panel fielded questions on everything from planning arcana like pre-existing, nonconforming use to the feasibility of composting toilets. Edgartown officials took the inquiries in stride.

“I’ve lived all around the world, and this country, and this is a very well-managed and professional town,” Mr. Turner said. “It’s a very small town. It’s a rural town. But the services have been excellent.”