Editors, Vineyard Gazette;

The Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank does not pay property taxes and in fact takes property taxes off the tax roll. The organizaton has an enormous amount of money in its kitty after the recent years with the ability to acquire more properties. At what point does the Island have enough properties in conservation? At what point has it taken enough property off our tax rolls and not given back to our infrastructure? How much revenue has the Island lost because of these land bank acquisitions?

When the land bank buys a property it increases the value of neighboring property which adds to the affordability issue on the Island. The land bank has had an effect on increased values that would not have been there without them.

More than 40 per cent of the Island is protected by various conservation groups. The land bank is a powerful organization with a huge pool of money; are we at the tipping point of enough conserved land for conservation?

We still need to have property for housing of all types. The Island is supported by new construction that will come to an end at some point as more and more properties are gobbled up by the land bank and other conservation groups.

The land bank purchase of a $9.5 million dollar property in Edgartown for housing their employees is a perfect example of misuse. We now lose $35,000 in taxes annually. They also purchased an additional nearby property for $8 million which is now off our tax rolls. Another loss of $28,000. Something needs to be done to keep these properties on our tax roll.

We have done a great job in protecting Martha’s Vineyard we now need to focus on maintaining what we have. We have to decide how we want to proceed but now is the time to talk about when the land bank needs to change its mission.

James Joyce

Edgartown