All right.

Thanks for coming tonight.

We'll have a workshop to go over the um resiliency trust uh planning that has been discussed.

Um just a quick little backstory.

Um, as a as a city council administration, you know, we are tasked to find uh as best reasons as we can to find to find money to fix problems and things of that nature.

Um so in times like these, where a couple years ago we did a uh kind of like a uh house cleaning study where we found that we had about 500 million dollars in infrastructure needs, and we need to find and we don't have a piggy bank big enough to fit that kind of money.

So uh we try to find different ways of how to come up with this kind of um revenue.

And uh one of the plans that came up with through our police uh fire chief Harp Donnelly.

Uh I think Teresa, I thought I saw Teresa come in.

How are you doing, Teresa?

Welcome back.

Um Teresa Crean, our resiliency uh sustainability director.

Um, and some of the staff came up with uh an idea of a resiliency uh trust plan.

So um tonight we're gonna do a little uh education on what this actually is.

Um please uh keep in mind that this is just uh informational chance to ask questions, learn some things.

This is not a we're gonna vote on this kind of thing, and this plan can change tremendously.

It can be thrown into the trash for all I know.

So um, so that being said, I'm gonna turn it over to our uh fire chief Harp Donley and uh start the presentation.

Thank you very much.

We could cue up the the slideshow, that'd be great.

Uh I'd like to thank you all for giving me this chance.

I know it's tricky because we uh uh all this is presenting an idea.

Uh it's the council that establishes policy, and what this is a result of is kind of over the last two years listening to the council as they've described uh go on about the needs that the city has, particularly in regards to resiliency, unfunded needs that the city has, and then uh coming up with that we need a new way, a new revenue source to help pay for these needs.

We hear that time and time again.

Uh it's also been clear that uh we should not tack the needs on to our property tax rates, that whatever we could do is to keep maintain the property rates at that the level that they are and not exceed the property rates to do that.

And also the temperament of the council, it's been also clear that uh you don't want to burden the newport home, the residents in Newport, the people that live here year-round, the people that vote here, you're not looking to add an additional burden to them.

So with those things, those items in mind, uh two years ago, uh an idea uh came as a result of a um there was a department heads meeting where Laura Citron was the acting city manager, and we were discussing, I think then it was Elizabeth Brook and the mounting costs that that might that project might be.

And the topic that uh there are other communities that used a conveyancy tax on real estate sales uh to help pay for their specialized needs, uh, came to light.

And I think that's what started the process of thinking could we adapt that sort of uh alternative funding source to uh what we have, what our needs are in Newport, specifically the needs uh our resiliency sustainability, which uh it if the all of you that sat through or watched their presentation last week on Easton's Beach, saw there's mounting needs, you know, and that's just that's one specific uh one specific project.

So again, I I thank you all for the opportunity to talk about this and what the mayor said is absolutely true.

All this is with we're not trying to present policy to you, we're just trying to present an idea.

Uh it'll be up to the council to come up with a policy, and this is just uh uh a talking point of a possible tactic to uh to raise additional funds for the city.

Uh so what we're gonna talk to you about tonight is the creation of a resiliency and sustainability fund.

Uh I'd also like to thank we there's been a team working on this for a little over six months.

We've been talking about it for two years.

For six months, we've been getting together regularly to try to fine-tune it.

I'd like to fine-tune the clicker right now.

If we could advance this, do you have the power to advance the slide?

Oh Charlie, aren't you usually in charge of this?

That's oh, I see.

I would have a whiteboard if it was me putting this presentation together.

I had this from the last time.

There we go.

I got it.

Yeah, thank you.

Thanks.

All right.

Starting from the scratch, I say thank you alright.

Yeah, I did.

No, uh thanks again.

Thanks for your patience with this.

So the creation of resiliency and sustainability fund.

So what is the fund?

So the goal is this is going to be a self-sustained revenue source that addresses the the future, uh, the current and future needs related to the tidal, uh, the increase of the high tides, the rainwater in our neighborhood.

Uh this these are ongoing problems that we had that exist today, and the idea, the whole goal of this fund is to start the process of solving these problems and work to the future to try to prevent uh more serious problems from arising.

Uh the creation of the fund, the goal is to give us the power to be make us more resilient ourselves and not be so dependent on uh on national funds or grants.

Uh two years ago, the climate in Washington was a little bit different than it is today.

Two years ago, they were we talked about uh grants that could help us with Easton's Pond.

Uh now things have changed, and what prompted this in some regards is for us to kind of roll up our sleeves and take charge of our own destiny.

If we could come up with a fund uh on our own and be to be ready to address the issues as they come up and to try to forecast other future issues, it wouldn't prevent us from going to the federal government or looking for grants, but it would enable us to have uh money on hand to be able to tackle these projects, uh, and then we could get the work done and then go for the additional funding afterwards.

Uh the goal is to the establishment of a new revenue source to create uh a predictable funding source uh to address the resiliency needs without increasing the burning on the tax base.

And again, the the this what this fund does is it what it doesn't do is it doesn't affect the property tax rate.

Uh and you're all familiar with the resiliency needs, the neighborhoods, the street flooding that takes place, uh the folks in Bedloe Avenue, the the the in that that neighborhood, uh the pictures here are from a storm two years ago.

Uh this is uh bridge and third street, uh Wellington Avenue.

Uh the properties you see here, and this was just this wasn't a remarkable tide, uh high tide.

This was a storm, but it wasn't a uh an immensely strong storm, uh, and it created uh flooding in the streets.

Now, listening to the presentation uh last week, the predictions from between now and 2060 is that the the tides are predicted to raise another foot and a half.

So if you can imagine adding a foot and a half on this, what was just a winter storm, uh how that how the extension of the flooding would go, not only past Spencer Park there, but heading towards Harrison Avenue.

So these are uh these are properties that are routinely at risk, and I think if we do nothing, it will it will only increase and more properties will become at risk.

So the goal of this fund is to try to uh head off these sorts of challenges.

Uh what prompted, I think I said earlier what prompted this was at a meeting we were talking about Elizabeth Brook uh and the challenges of uh storm water treatment, and those challenges are just continued.

Every year, every year we seem to come up with new needs to try to counter the effects of our stormwater management systems.

Uh it wasn't until recently I realized that uh projects like Almy Pond, evidently Alami Pond is one of the least healthy waterways in the entire state uh when they look at the the quality of uh of life in that particular uh that particular piece of water.

Uh it that is identified as one of the least healthy, and all of that is mostly because of watershed issues from chemicals from neighboring properties that are that are rinsing into the pond.

Uh the threats, the threats are common, right?

The cut that's coastal storm threats that threatens.

Uh you listened to the presentation last week, and it wasn't until the end of the presentation did I hear them even talk about protecting our um our reservoir.

Uh we talked about the the dunes that were needed, talked about the replenishment cost, the renourishment cost of the dunes.

Uh it wasn't towards the end that they talked about the need to protect our reservoir.

And then this sort of fund would give us that ability, at least to start the planning process to come up with a long-term plan.

Uh you'll see the quality of life that we have in Newport Newport.

Uh councillor Gene DePolitano likes to say, is it 10 square miles of land with three of them being underwater?

Well, every year there's a little bit more underwater.

Uh and if to to maintain the quality of life that we have, we're at Newport, as you all know.

We're we're the driving force behind tourism in the state.

Uh our attractions are here because we have we're surrounded three sides by water.

Uh if you look at our cliff walk, uh, four years ago we had a piece of the cliff walk slide away, and we're in the process of coming up with a plan on how we're gonna manage that.

We're we're waiting for federal funding.

This sort of thing would enable us to maybe not be so reliant on federal funding to get the job done, but uh, but to be positioned to take advantage of that funding when it came available.

If there was any matching fund requirements, we would have uh a pool of money to to go to to help with those matching funds.

Uh the ocean drive, if some of the walls on the ocean drive, they were there was some work that was done back in the Obama administration, uh, but there's some section of the ocean drives that were built during the WPA projects.

Uh and the design of the ocean drive are was done back in the WA projects.

The um things have changed since then.

The the tides have the tides have risen, and again, we're predicting that they're going to rise another foot and a half between now and 2060.

So uh preparing for that is the sort of thing that having a resiliency fund, a dedicated fund would help with.

Uh, what is the proposal?

The proposal is to create dedicated funding source uh to use a conveyance tax on property sales.

Uh the conveyance tax isn't anything new to Rhode Island.

Uh it's been done in other communities for nearly 40 years or over 40 years in some case.

Uh this this tax, and I recognize again, this is just information, putting the information out on this to kind of get the story straight.

This would be only applied to properties that do not qualify for our lower residential tax rate.

So if you're making Newport your home uh and you're gonna live in your house year round and you qualify for the lower tax rate, this doesn't apply to you.

You wouldn't have, or if you have property that you own and you're using it as even investment property and you're renting it to people that live here year round uh and you qualify for the lower tier, this doesn't apply to you.

Now, in the initial proposal, there are some uh restrictions or requirements that you have to you sign an affidavit saying you're gonna maintain this, so it wouldn't be so easy for somebody to say, I'm gonna do it, and then change their mind and turn it into short-term rental later.

So we do have a a bit of a requirement to uh to swear that you will maintain it for a certain length of time.

It'll be up to the council to decide if you if you accept this idea in any way to decide what the limits are, whether it's uh uh initially proposed was following what uh little sorry, what Block Island had, they use a five-year mark.

But this are what we're doing here is just presenting an idea.

It'll be for the if the council decides to decide to take this forward, uh, you can amend the idea however way you'd like, uh, or decide as Charlie, as uh the mayor says, to uh set it aside, forget about it, or uh, or trash it all together.

Uh this is just an opportunity to present uh new thoughts to you as an alternative for uh fundraising source.

Um so I again I want to stress because I have heard I haven't followed social media too much on the topic, but one thing that I have heard in conversation is people are concerned that this is going to affect how does this affect the average New Porter right now.

Well, if you live here, if you vote here, if this is your year-round residence, it doesn't affect you.

If you have property you own today, it doesn't affect you.

It only affects those properties that don't or will only affect if you decide to go forward.

Uh those properties that are commercial properties or properties that don't qualify for the lower tier tax rate.

And those are future sales, not today.

It's it's when you when you buy into a property, you're gonna buy into a community that's setting money aside up front to help protect the community and protect the quality of life and the property values that we have.

Uh what's different about this is it's a one-time fee.

This isn't like the uh last year when the state legislature passed the what they call the Taylor Swift tax, which is an additional annual property tax on homes over a certain value.

This isn't that.

This is when you come into the city and you buy a house, it's a one-time tax that you're paying into to uh to help protect the community the way it is and to fortify it to make it a little bit better for the future, for the for our future and the future of our uh of the next generation to come.

Uh it would be a part of adopting a citywide residential and sustainability plan.

Uh the the way uh this would it would take place is part of it was established with the creation of our resilient sustainability director, where now going forward all decisions in the city are made with resiliency sustainability in mind.

So the that office would be responsible for coming up with a plan that gets presented to the council, and the council will decide annually if that plan is a suitable plan.

Uh it would only be used on projects that are related to resiliency and sustainability.

By law, it would be that way because it's gonna be written into the law that that's the only way that the uh the funds would be able to be used.

Um the again, it'll be legally dedicated for just for specifically that use, uh, and it would help to support the infrastructure that we have and take risk reduction uh measures.

Uh I think about the king tide that takes place routinely.

Uh and you go, we we were tasked uh by NOAA asks for us to go out and take a look, ask us uh city city officials or emergency management officials, go take a look at the what the king tide effects are.

Uh and routinely, I'll we'll take a look, and if you go down to Bowens Wharf Ministers Wharf, the tide comes right up, uh right up into the parking lot.

Uh, it's not an unusual tide for that to take place.

So uh these this sort of funding would be able to help uh protect the areas that are most at risk, whether it's our resident, whether it's our residential areas, our business areas, uh all of the waterfront that the things that keep Newport uh what we what we know and love and what keeps Newport as the number one tourist attraction in the in the state and uh creating so many jobs and uh and delivering so much money to both the state and to the city.

Uh and I had mentioned earlier on that other communities have been doing this for years.

Block Island and Little Compton have been doing this for 40 years.

Block Island or New Shoreham, they have this money dedicated into a fund.

They're they're enabled up to 5%.

Again, I we uh I've initially mimicked the laws that have already been passed, imagining that they would have more likelihood for success because they've already been in place.

Uh what they are enabled up to 5%.

Every year they they have a meeting and they decide what rate the council gets to decide what rate is going to be charged that particular year.

Uh 40 years later, uh we were we're fortunate to talk with the now town administrator of Block Island, and they said that their open space needs are nearly satisfied.

So 40 years later is they find themselves in a position where they can dial this down, and you have the ability annually, if you could dial this rate down to nothing if you chose to.

You could dial it down to half a percent or one percent.

Uh the initial numbers were only uh mimicking what the other communities have been enabled to do.

But it would be up to a proposal from our uh resilient sustainability director along with our finance director to come before the council annually and say, here's our plan, here's our need, here's our suggestion.

But those uh the numbers used would only be decided by the council.

It's the council's decision how the how the numbers get established, and ultimately the council's decision and how uh the money gets spent, providing it's spent on uh resilient sustainability projects.

Uh again, Little Compton does the same thing again once again, 40 years it's been in play.

They use it for agricultural, uh maintaining their agricultural culture in the community and supporting that.

Uh every year at their financial town meeting, they all they stand up and they make a vote as to what rate it's going to be.

I think currently they're using a rate of 4%, but that takes place every year they decide what that is.

In this proposal for your consideration would be the council would be the deciding factor on annual basis what rate this we would charge.

So I wouldn't let the numbers, the high number scare you so much.

It's only what the other communities have been asked for, but we would have the ability to determine what that level was.

And again, like Block Island is in the position now with most of their open space accounted for, they can dial it right down to nearly nothing.

Uh it's it's not a guarantee high percent.

It's just enabling us to be able to take control of ourselves.

Uh and once again, uh this format has been in place for 40 years into other communities.

Uh why the convenience feed tax is the right tool.

Uh it's a one-time fee.

It's not an annual fee.

It's the it's you know, it's you come into town and you're investing.

If you're making an investment in the city, whether it's through real estate property, even through a second home, investing in a second home or commercial property, you're going to be investing in a town that takes uh preserving our way of life and preserving our uh our our shoreline and maintaining uh the culture that we have and making improvements to it seriously.

So it's a one-time fee you'll have to pay, it's not an annual fee.

And then it's not the seller that pays this fee.

It's like any tax, it'd be the person buying the property.

And then when that the property gets sold again, it's the next person buying the property, unless, of course, they're buying a residential property that they're going to use for their year-round home.

Then they're exempt from that.

So if you're a first-time home buyer and you're making Newport your home, you don't have to pay this.

If you're uh you're coming in, if you're uh shipped here, uh working for the military and you're buying in Newport your home, you're staying here for three years.

Well, initially you don't have to pay it.

Uh the council can decide what the restrictions might be as far as how long you'd have to maintain that uh that residence.

Again, I think having some sort of restriction uh will prevent the abuse of the system for an investor to come in and say, I'm gonna make Newport my home, and the next thing you know, they're turning around and uh to short-term rentals.

So I think having some skin in the game is important.

But uh having the fairness of not charging this particular fee to people that are making Newport uh their full-time residence.

I think that's that's a way to reward those that are choosing to make Newport their home through rental or through purchasing a property.

Uh what's nice about a conveyance tax is a percentage-wise, is it scale with the property values, you know, and as the property goes up, it's it's nothing that we have to address every year that we want to raise.

Uh we have a goal of whatever number it is, and next year we have to reset that goal.

Uh you get to work off of a percentage.

So as the cost of housing rises, the cost of revenue that comes into the community rises as well.

Uh it captures the value of the properties, uh, properties that at our investment properties, which are usually the higher uh higher value properties.

So uh when a hotel sells, we're gonna make more uh potentially make more on this conveyance tax than we would if uh a single single uh residential unit were to sell.

So it kind of it elevates with the with the buyer's ability to pay for it.

Uh what I also like about this plan is uh it's a it's predictable revenue source.

So we wouldn't use it if you are to go forward with it.

Uh it wouldn't necessarily get used for this year's budget, but it could be something that gets used in budgeting purposes to say what what are our needs this year, uh, how much of a burden do we have to put on the general fund, how much of the burden of the required projects that have to get done can we can we put towards uh this residential sorry this uh resiliency uh and sustainability projects.

Um it's a way to predictably have a revenue source that takes the burden off of uh the average homeowner.

Uh again, uh it kind of repeats just to drive the fact home that the higher residential higher commercial investment properties uh contribute more uh to the throat contribute more to this because they have more at risk, they have more at stake.

Uh they're they're coming into the town using our property, their property, they bought it, but using the city as an investment mechanism.

So they're uh this is attaching uh a fee associated with them coming in uh and using whether it's through real residential investment or for commercial investment.

Uh again, uh the year-round property owners are not burdened by this at all.

And once again, anybody that owns property right now in town is not burdened by this at all.

Uh it's only those that are selling the property that's using it in some sort of investment fashion.

Uh uh attaching it to the property values uh again is there's a fairness associated with that.

If you can afford to buy a larger home, you could afford the the thought is that that percentage it's it hits it stings everybody the same.

If you're buying a more expensive property, the percentage is the same.

So it you feel you you pay a little bit more, but it's stings you the same.

Uh the bottom line on this uh it's a long-term asset protection.

You know, our newports, our shoreline, we're the city by the sea, you know, and we don't want to be the city under the sea.

You know, we want to protect uh protect the coastlines that we have.

We want to protect the businesses and the properties that are around the coast.

Uh we want to come up with ways to improve what we have because we're not uh we're not fighting an even battle.

We're our our seawalls are are old, our seawalls, the heights have been established, but the tide's raising.

So they uh uh we have to adapt with with the changes that are coming our way.

And that's what this the whole purpose of the fund is to make us Newport more adaptable, more resilient uh as we go forward.

Uh again, it's a market-based strategy.

And what I've seen firsthand, the cost of not having a plan is more expensive than having one.

And I'll I'll use one reference to you, and I I I beat this uh this story a lot, but we had the storm two years ago, and we lost Elm Street Pier.

Elm Street Pier, uh, the the primary spot for some of our north end families to come and enjoy the harbor.

Uh we were positioned as a community, we recognize that the pier was weak, and maybe we should have a plan to replace it.

Because we had money set aside and we're able to go forward with the plan to replace it, we're able to track those expenses and work with FEMA, and we're in line to get 75% of the cost of rebuilding that that pier.

Uh so the hundred and the 1.75 million dollars, we're online to get a big check from FEMA for 75% of that.

We have three projects around the ocean drive right now that have to do with two or seawall projects and one's a roadway um uh like additional riprap that uh that happened during the same storm.

We didn't have the money set aside for that.

Now we're currently working, uh the money's now been budgeted two years later.

Uh we're working on extensions from FEMA to try to track the projects.

There's a there's a risk that uh we may not make the period of performance.

So from my perspective as uh the EMA director, seeing how much easier it is to get refunded from FEMA for disasters and storm-related um damages.

If you have a plan in place and you're shovel ready to get the work done, it's it's a much easier process than having to go acquire the funding, uh, go and then hopefully meet all the requirements after the fact.

So having a plan in place and a source of revenue to tackle these projects, and even have a plan in place to fortify and makes it take some mitigating action so these damages aren't as severe in the future.

So that's uh I'll wrap it up by where I got started a little bit.

All this is an opportunity, and I appreciate the opportunity to have the conversation because it sparked with an idea two years ago.

Uh last year we kicked it around, and I have to say it was pretty was more cumbersome than this last year.

This would this is a much more straightforward with the benefit of our two-tier property tax system.

It it helped us clearly define those that will carry the burden of this conveyance fee uh as opposed to those that don't have to pay it.

And the ones that don't have to pay it are the folks that are making Newport their home or have property that they're renting for others to make Newport their home.

But I'm I'm open for any questions you might have.

That's my that's that's the whole deal.

Thanks, Chief.

I was starting off on council.

Any uh questions?

I just have one.

Yeah.

Um just one question.

Hi, Harp.

Hello.

Um you answered all my other ones actually with your presentation.

It was really good and informative.

Thank you.

Um, so you mentioned commercial properties.

So is that for like people coming in to buy property that people are going to live in, or would that include businesses like I don't know, a restaurant or studio or anything like that?

Yes to both.

It could be property that people are going to live in, providing that the people living in the property aren't living year round.

Right.

Uh if the property, I think what I love about the two-tier system, it makes it it gives some clarity to this.

If uh if you're buying property and it's investment property, uh and the folks aren't living here year round, then you'd have to pay this.

If you're buying property uh and it's housing related and you have you can sign that affidavit that these that these units are being used uh as year-round residents and they meet the qualifications of the two-tier system and the lower the lower tax rate, then they won't have to pay it.

But those that are coming to Newport and are buying property as an investment.

And I can't blame them.

Newport's a beautiful spot.

And I don't ever see uh the the folks, anybody not wanting to buy property in Newport as an investment.

We did a little bit of looking into this to say, hey, what's the bad ramifications?

Did Block Island or or um uh Little Compton suffer any uh slag in their real estate sales result of this?

And there's no evidence to show that uh at all.

But to answer your question, they may have to and they may not.

If they qualify for the lower tier, they won't have to pay it.

Right.

Uh, but if they don't qualify, they will.

Okay.

Thank you.

Um, thank you, Harp.

I think that uh, you know, I appreciate any any kind of outside the box thinking as revenue ways of helping us with more revenue.

Did you look at any other options for um revenue for this fund?

Well, yes, the initial there's plenty of other options like this would this is a a way, a guaranteed way to say, okay, we we're gonna set this and every year money funds are gonna come in.

But also this particular fund, the um resilient sustainability fund could be also funded through grants uh and and other alternatives through donations if possible.

Somebody may look at this in the future and say, wow, what a what a uh what a forward-thinking group there was back in 2026.

I'd like to invest in those sorts of projects.

Uh and money could go into this through donations.

But this what this proposal is is to come up with uh predictable way that uh that we can identify as as a way to take on those challenges.

What I what I admire about uh what this council has done is they you don't look away from the problem.

We it'd be easy to to put your head in the sand and think that this isn't going to happen.

But what'll happen could happen is the tide's gonna rise around you if you if you do that.

But this council hasn't done that.

You've you've tackled uh whether it's through the bond that you said, yep, we have a need, let's go and get let's get the bond out there, let's uh identify the needs that we have and tackle them.

And I just look at this as a way for us without having to go out for additional bonding to uh to roll up our sleeves and kind of like take charge of ourselves.

Um driven from like if there's a problem, we want to solve it.

And I think this is the way my brain works is this is a an opportunity to potentially solve it.

Um so how would we, I guess, track and enforce this?

When somebody buys a house, maybe they say up front, yeah, I'm gonna live here all year round, and then three months down the road they get another job somewhere or whatever and decide to do a seasonal rental situation with their house.

Uh from what I understand right now, we don't have a way of tracking our seasonal rentals.

So how would we determine that it's gonna be somebody who's gonna live here year round or rent year round?

Yeah, that's a great question.

Uh what happens what they do in uh Block Island is when you buy the property, you sign an affidavit.

And again, Block Island, they use the the five-year measuring stick.

Uh, you all may look at this, and again, it's gonna this is just an idea given to you.

You may come back and say, we like the plan, but we want to make modifications to it.

But we'll go with that five-year idea.

Uh they sign an affidavit saying that that they they will they're attesting to the fact that they're gonna keep this house as their primary residence for that length of time.

And then through whether the property sells and we and it flags itself through a property transaction, we could identify this person uh this has reneged on their deal.

Uh there is a chance that people could be dishonest, and then we have systems in place for our short-term rentals where we have a talented team up on the third floor that uh then investigates any of the the breaches in our short-term rental requirements.

So I believe that this could be looked at in that same regard.

If we have if we find out that uh we'll know which properties are have been identified, it's easy enough to uh we know what properties are in our our lower tier, we know what properties have been sold, we can track that.

Uh if we if we're made aware, uh then we then there's a penalty.

What's built into the proposal is what they do in Block Island is they they charge you're if you breach it, you're responsible for what you would have owed plus a 12% per year for every year that uh that you should have paid it and you didn't.

So there is penalties associated with that, and but hopefully that would help keep people honest.

Uh the the reality is if somebody passed slips through the crack, uh we would we would try to tighten up the system.

And I think we have some systems in place, and we may find if the mud if the amount of money that's coming in is substantial enough, we may reinforce those systems to uh to try to track down folks that may breach it.

Thank you.

Yeah.

I think whoops, I think I'm a little confused on who's paying the tax when somebody sells their house.

Yeah.

The buyer, correct?

Exactly right.

It's like uh it's just like a uh a sales tax on anything.

We can call it a fee.

We can you know we can call a lot of things, but it's let's it would it's a fee that the buyer pays uh based upon their purchase price.

So if you imagine buying something at the store, the buyer has to pay that and I've been rolling this thing around in my head, and I'm thinking the younger people have a hard enough time putting together a down payment if they can.

I think that's a great point.

I now hopefully this gives you comfort.

Um am I cutting you off by answering this too soon?

No, no, no.

Yeah, hopefully this gives you comfort.

If it's a young young folk, old folk, anybody that's buying a home in Newport and they're going to make it their home, they don't have to worry about this fee at all.

Uh it's not something they have to pay.

Uh, and even if they attest to the fact that we're gonna we're gonna maintain this as our house for three years, five years, whatever the number is that uh that the council may decide upon, uh you don't have to come up with that money up front.

If you're if you're attesting to the fact anybody that's buying a home to make it their home, first-time homeowners do not have to worry about this.

If you're a first-time homeowner and you're using your property as short-term rental, it's the first time you bought a house and you're investing, where you're paying.

But if you're a first-time homeowner and you're making the house your home, you don't have to pay this.

I don't know if that clears it up enough for you.

Yeah, it does, but uh I'm still a bit concerned.

Um because of the burden that it puts on it.

You're saying they don't have to pay, but like uh Stephanie had referenced, if somebody gets, you know, uh relocated someplace, not necessarily in the service, it could be any type of job.

And then they have to leave, they would have to rent or try and sell.

Yes.

Yeah, I think that's that's a good point.

And uh, and that is a consideration, right?

Life happens.

So you could have somebody that says, I'm gonna keep this as my home for three years, uh, and they get a change of orders, uh, and now they have to adapt.

So it the ball will be in their court.

They'll be in they'll be in complete control to decide, hey, is it worth my while to pay this fee that that I owe, or let me keep this property as a as a long-term rental for another year, half a year, whatever it might be to meet that threshold that's been established, and then do whatever steps they have to do.

After that, after that, whatever the term time frame obligation is complete, they're no longer required to pay.

So if uh if if you moved in and something happened and you had to move out, it would be your choice.

Do I pay this?

Like a lot of the hard life decisions that we have to make.

Do I pay this additional fee right now, or do I make the decision that I'm gonna rent this to somebody else and sit this out for the next year, two years or six months, whatever it might be.

So that ball becomes in the court of the person that has to make the decision.

We're not forcing them, they have options at that time.

But I ideally, in my in my brain, when somebody's saving up to buy a home and to make a house their home forever, the likelihood of them taking a switch in directions isn't super high.

But if that did happen, the ball's in their court to decide how they want to proceed.

Okay.

Um, also I'd like to ask a question with planning and zoning, if somebody could respond to it.

Um residential property and residential areas, unless they now operate Airbnb, they wouldn't be allowed to in the future.

We're trying to regulate the neighborhood so that people don't get pushed out.

Sure.

Could somebody come in if they were, you know, say lost their job.

Could they rent no, I guess not.

They'd be subject to whatever the same rules that everybody else is subject to.

So uh yeah, this does this would have no effect on that whatsoever.

Okay.

You do bring up a you do bring up a good point though.

Um I think you were where you were going with that was counselor, that uh does it matter because we've already restricted short-term rentals in our residence.

Right, exactly.

It still matters because there's several hundred properties that got in under the gun before we made that prohibition, and those uses of those properties are grandfathered for as long as that use remains consistent.

So there's potentially 400 residential properties in town that could eternally be bought and sold for short-term rental operations with, and there's nothing that we could do about it.

Except this is potentially one avenue where we could say if you're going to do that and use our these residential properties for commercial purposes, you're allowed to do that by law, but we're going to charge a fee so that you can help us with our future resilience needs in the process.

Yeah, um, I'm just wondering, you know, we want long-term rentals, though, right?

So what if it were uh if we people wanted to rent though for long term for you know a year or so and not seasonal rentals in neighborhoods, what would they have to pay?

Not at all.

No, those those same folks would be able to take advantage of our uh lower tier property tax rate as well.

So that lower tier rate is available for folks that live in their house year-round or rent it to people that are living in their house year-round.

So yeah, you could you could even be an investor and invest in property in Newport, but as long as you were committed to and uh have your property qualify for that lower tier tax uh tax rate, you wouldn't have to pay this.

So you could own multiple multiple properties in Newport, but if the way you were managing your investments were that they were long-term rentals and you qualified for the lower tier uh tax rate, you wouldn't have to pay this.

Because you were doing exactly what you're suggesting is we'd like to encourage um more people living in Newport year-round.

Uh yeah, that's that that's the that's an added benefit of this.

And I think that's what uh why I love the clarity of the two-tier tax system, because the last year's proposal of this had like six different semi-complicated ways that you didn't have to pay.

This proposal is very simple.

If you're making Newport your home or making uh making your property available for others to make Newport their home, you don't have to uh long term, you don't have to pay this rate.

Do you think that we would have to hire more staff to administer this?

I think you'd have to assess it as it as it went along.

And if you if for some reason you thought that there was a lot of fraud taking place, I believe it would be worth your while to have you know, worth our while to hire more staff, because uh we're not talking about an insignificant amount of money.

So for instance, the uh our annual what's expected we're gonna raise in property tax uh to fund next year's budget, we'll say is roughly 100 million dollars.

One percent of this fee will bring in over five million dollars.

So uh it's the it is the opportunity to to bring a lot of money into the city, money for needed projects, but I think if we found that there was people there was fraud involved, it would be worth our while to track the fraud down.

And and some of the properties are not even prone towards fraud.

If it's uh commercial property, uh doesn't even they're automatically gonna have to pay this fee.

So uh and that's the bulk of the uh of the property sales in the city.

But uh, but I think the answer is we'll have to monitor it.

And if we think if the administration or the council believes that we have to add additional resources to make sure we're not taking getting taken advantage of, we could make those decisions as at that time.

So could you go through the list of exemptions again?

Yeah, it's so simple.

Uh so the list is if you're buying a home in Newport and you're gonna make it your home uh and qualify for the lower tier tax rate, or if you're buying a new port and you're gonna make it somebody else's home and you qualify for the lowest tier tax rate, you don't have to pay this.

And what what if you all entertain this idea?

You'll get to decide how long to in the prevention or try to minimize fraud, how long we'd like to have somebody write an affidavit and say, I attest for three years, I'm gonna keep this house as my home or keep it somebody else's home year-round.

Uh after that three-year obligation or four-year obligation to your obligation, whatever's decided, it's no longer you don't have we don't go back and say now you owe us money.

They just have to satisfy that obligation when they when they uh make that statement at the purchase of the property that they're going to uh maintain the maintain the requirements of the lower tier tax rate.

So really it the the it's it's really if you qualify the low for the lower tier, your property qualifies, it's not affected by this.

Uh you would just have to, we the council, if you like this idea at all, you can determine and make the policy of how many years uh you would require as uh the appropriate amount to uh to prove that fact.

Does that make sense?

It's pretty simple.

Maybe I and I'm I'm uh again, there's been a team working on it, working hard on it, and it's uh uh it's I'm pretty close to it.

So it's for me, it's like oh, this is so simple.

I'm very excited about I'm kind of holding back a little bit to uh uh to just try to present the facts in a really a really calm way.

But I think this is an opportunity to make a generational change that when we look back in time, we can see hey, this is what it was like before 2026, and here's what it's like after 2026 as far as our investment in the future.

Um couple questions.

Uh and I think uh Chief, you could probably answer some, if not maybe someone from administration.

Was there any thought put in place uh to put in a threshold uh of a sale price?

Uh much like the no sooner be renamed uh Taylor Kelsey tax that's coming up.

Taylor Kelsey.

Yeah, there was intentional thought to not do that.

When this when the this concept first made its way, and it was actually talked about two years ago on the council uh at on the dais, and it was uh they described it.

Well, we'll just do it for properties over a certain amount.

And you may remember that's the time where everybody, everybody's house is now over a million dollars.

My house is probably close to a million dollars.

So uh by identifying uh a random number, uh we intentionally stayed away from that.

So everybody pays this equally.

The only people that get a break are those that live here year round, the folks that live here, vote here, that uh that are making Newport their home, they're getting a break on this.

But even if I bought up an extra piece of property, a piece of land behind my house and I was using my house for other than my primary residence, I'd have to pay the this tax on whatever you know, whatever that might have cost.

Uh so yeah, that it's intentionally not a limit there to make it uh even and across the board.

And then do we have any concern should this pass because it's gonna be uh through legislation that the state might want to come in and stick their hand in our pockets?

I think that's that's always a concern, but I would I like to look back to the fact that this has already been done for 40 years.

Well, we're we're not asking for anything new.

This isn't a new concept.

This is what's been done in Block Island on Little Continent for 40 years.

Uh it's it's really no different.

The it I plagiarized the heck out of Block Island's initial plan, and uh thanks to uh our solicitor Chris Bean, he really simplified it and made it uh uh a much better, easier to understand plan.

Uh but yeah, am I worried about that?

Uh I think we always have to look over our shoulder and worry about that.

But I don't think that we should let that worry stop us from moving forward.

Uh I think we we have an opportunity to take charge of ourselves.

Uh is there a chance other communities will look at this and say, wow, Newport's gone to something.

Uh there is a chance that they would do that.

But I actually I think this I'm this proposal I'm I back.

I think it's a good idea.

Uh so I will I wouldn't blame other communities for wanting it, but our community's unique.

And I think that the state may look at us in a unique way because we're the driving force behind tourism.

You know, protecting Newport is protecting their bank accounts, protecting their revenue source.

So we are we have a unique need to this.

And I think attaching it to one of the one of the uh interesting points, we had um Amy Land, our uh uh the town director from uh Block Island from New Shoreham come into one of our meetings, and she gave us every time we've talked to somebody, the proposal gets a little bit better.

And she says, what you have to do is identify what makes it unique to Newport and identify why the people that are paying this tax are paying the tax.

And uh that just kind of fortified this plan in my mind.

It's unique to Newport because we're surrounded three sides by water.

Newport is it's the attraction.

It's it's a it's a energy make uh sorry, uh um uh a revenue generator for the entire state.

Uh why are the people paying it, paying it?

Because they're investing into our community, they're investing in a community that's that's taken steps to protect their property values, to protect the future and and make it better.

So they're not, it's not like they're paying something for nothing.

They're paying into a community that's taking this seriously.

So uh that conversation with Amy uh only kind of regenerated the thought that yeah, this is the right idea and the right approach towards it.

So uh so I have another question.

Okay.

Um I and this is something for staff.

I'd like to know how many single family homes are in Newport, how many multifamily homes are in Newport, and how many Airbnbs.

That's relatively simple, right?

Yeah.

Last time I did just on the right around 400 uh registered short-term rentals.

As for the the breakdown of single family and multifamily, we can certainly uh we'll we'll be happy to get that for you.

Um we just don't have that on hand.

But okay.

I I think it's available, but it's just not, you know, at our fingertips right now.

But I would like to know that because you know, um people talk about you know that that we really don't have that many Airbnbs, and next thing you know, the house next to you, you know, you don't recognize and you wonder who's living there, and then you see different cars and all.

So you know, I I'd really be interested in that.

I you know we don't have enough re uh registered Airbnbs.

Right.

Right.

Yeah.

Um did you have anybody from uh any realtors chime in on your proposal or I did.

I well there may be some tonight that want to chime in, which is absol I encourage it because I find that uh when you hear a uh counterposition on on an item, uh it can actually maybe give you a solution that you didn't know was there.

Uh so you might identify something that we could uh either work around or enhance.

So every time I've had conversations, I felt like it it's gotten um the the project has gotten stronger.

Uh just this weekend, I had a uh I was on the phone for quite a while with a local realtor talking about this particular project, and they had concerns like uh Council and Pontitano had regarding, hey, what about the first-time home buyers?

Uh they were very concerned about um this is not a number, this is not money that's financed.

So this is this is funds.

If you're buying a second home in Newport and it's gonna be you're investing in a second home and your rent your uh you're going to the bank and I'm I'm coming to to pay off the loan or coming to to uh sign the papers, this is an additional cost that you can finance.

And that is a concern, and that's that's something that folks that are buying second homes or or investment properties will have to identify as this something they want to do or not.

Uh but it's not something that the folks that are new that they're gonna promise to live here that are gonna make Newport their home, they don't have to worry about that.

They don't have to worry about financing this extra bit of money.

Uh their their transactions will be just as they've always been.

It's only the folks that are buying investment property or property that's not going to be there, be somebody's long-term housing.

Mr.

Chair.

Councilman.

Um, do we have a guesstimate as to how much this might be able to bring in?

I do, yeah.

So I kind of alluded to it.

It's a it's a lot of money.

So uh uh one percent would bring in about five point six million dollars we're gonna last year's last year's numbers.

So again, the focus of this is this enabling legislation enables the council, enables the community to adjust up or just down.

We ask you ask for a number to so we're not enabled to charge any more than that, but the the communities themselves decide what that percentage is.

So as the need presents itself, you'll be able to dial it up or down.

Uh and with so one percent, five point six million approximately last year would have been affected by this.

That represents over five percent of what our expected uh our property tax revenue for next year contribution to the budget's gonna be.

So with one percent of this, it's the equivalent of an increase that we do not have to do not have to make to our uh property tax of over five percent.

So it's a way to avoid an over five percent raise.

Not that you may take that move, but uh that would be one option to pay for these things.

You could go to the state and say, hey, we've identified we have some special needs in Newport, where can we can we raise our taxes above the four percent cap?

And here's what we're gonna do, and we're gonna dedicate it for resiliency.

That's one approach to it, but this is a way to do that without raising uh affecting the burden on the property uh property tax.

So yeah, so one percent of last year's revenues in on houses that would would have to pay into this, it's 5.6 million dollars for properties that are paying.

Um I'd like to take the does anyone in the public that would like to come up and make a comment or ask a question to uh staff or chief, please uh do so now.

Absolutely careful of the clicker.

Uh thank you, everyone.

My name is Tyler Bernardine.

I live at Six Curry Avenue in Newport.

I'm also the president of the Newport County Board of Realtors.

Um, I understand that this is very proprietary, which is why we're here at a workshop tonight.

Uh, and I agree with Chief Donnelly's intention here.

I think resiliency in the future, Newport is very important to invest in.

Uh, I appreciate his investment into putting this proposal together.

But but I do want to take a minute and take a step back and just I think that this is a much bigger decision than than what we are making this out to be right now.

Does it sound good on paper?

Sure.

Tax the second homeowners, uh, but but they're a very integral part of the fabric of our community as well.

From a commercial standpoint, if we're gonna do this conveyance tax, who's gonna want to buy a business here?

I know one person who does, which tends to ruffle a lot of feathers with the talk of monopoly.

But if you're trying to buy a restaurant, you're trying to buy a coffee shop, you're trying to buy a boat rental business, and you're a local, how does that affect you if you're gonna be burdened by this?

I'd like to introduce myself again as as the president of the Newport County Board of Realtors, which is an organization that's been around for 50 plus years supporting housing providers and home buyers.

And we would love a seat at the table, whether it's for this proposal or whether it's for any housing relating questions that you have in the future.

Like it's two teams working together towards a common goal here.

I think you guys are often faced with very adversarial groups.

Uh and I don't want to be that.

I want to extend a handshake and olive branch and just let you know if you have questions.

We have a great organization of over 600 local professionals that you can lean on.

Uh Chief Donnelly mentioned that this protects property values and improves fairness.

I I'd like to know how.

I'd like to see the data, and I'd be happy to show you mine.

Um, and there's there's a reason why this works in two of Rhode Island's most unique markets.

We're not Block Island.

We are not Little Compton.

How many annual sales are there on Block Island?

How many annual sales are there in Little Compton?

What are the schools look like?

My best friend grew up on Block Island.

He graduated with eight kids in his class.

My fiance's mother-in-law just retired as the postmaster.

Ironically, they do a census on Groundhog Day.

They had just over a thousand people counted this year.

What are their schools?

What are their fire departments and police departments look like?

Block Island happens to be volunteer.

75 to 90% of homes on Block Island or in Little Compton are second homes.

So that 5% tax, that works for them.

Not sure it would work so well here.

I think it's important to remember that the median sales price in Newport hovers at or over a million dollars.

So if you're buying a home here and you're putting 20% down, that's $200,000.

Then you have the cost of closing, working with an attorney, a home inspection, your closing costs if you're financing the loan.

So if you're putting 5% on that, that's an additional $50,000 that you have to come off of it.

Do I have permission to go a little bit longer?

I need about another minute or so.

Think about grandma Betty, who bought our house for a handshake and a bag of chips back in 1920.

She's paid it off.

She doesn't have a note.

She lives out on Ruggles.

She has an opportunity to pay for her kids' college education or grandkids, whatever it may be.

You're now alienating an entire buyer pool when she's ready to sell that asset.

Penalizing Newport property owners.

I think you're penalizing taxpaying citizens who are investing in Newport and people who want to be future homeowners here.

Think about the couple who's been visiting Newport for 20 years.

They're on the fire department in Medford, Massachusetts, and they want to buy a retirement home in Newport.

He's worked 30 years.

They've put money aside.

Do you think that's a reality that they can buy a second home to retire here now with this conveyance tax?

I certainly don't think so.

I think the resiliency of our city is a shared responsibility, whether you're part-time or whether you're year-round.

I think this affects everyone and the general ecosystem of our housing market.

Tax stamps have increased.

Taylor Swift tax for a certain threshold.

Now this is just another barrier for entry.

I think it would be short-sighted.

I know that uh Mayor Holder mentioned this.

I think it'd be very short-sighted not to think that the state would come in and take a piece of that pie.

So we want to use that 5% as a number.

Do you not think the state's going to come in and say we want half?

We want two.

We want three points of that.

So how much money is actually going?

Is it that 5.6 or is that half?

And then is this worth it to turn off an entire buyer pool to this market?

Housing and rentals have long time been provided by second homeowners.

I own two rentals.

I rent them out year-round.

So I understand the need and the importance to advocate for year-round housing, probably more than anyone.

That's really all I have to say.

I just think this is a very, very big decision.

I think what Chief Donnelly has put together is very well intentioned in terms of resiliency.

I just think we need to think long and hard about the decision that we make because this is going to change the direction of how people look at housing and buying housing in Newport for generations to come.

Thank you.

Um, Tyler, I just have a question for you.

Um I mean, we know that uh investing in infrastructure and you know sustainability resilience is important to us.

Is there anything that you could think of that would um make this more palatable to realtors or to you know at all?

Do you think that yeah, I you know, I I'm not even looking at this from a professional standpoint.

I mean, obviously, I think it affects anybody who's involved in the housing trade.

How does this affect tradesmen?

How does this affect people who want to retire here?

How does this affect people who want a vacation here and want to own a piece of the pie in Newport?

I just think Block Island and Little Compton are such unique markets with 75 to 95% of these homes being second homes.

So that five percent works for them.

I don't think it's gonna work here.

You know, I think there's other ways to find these funds.

Um, but I don't think it's by penalizing people who want to call Newport home, whether that's now or whether that's in the future.

What about one percent?

I I I think we're throwing out very arbitrary numbers with that.

Well, I'm just asking, I mean, is I I think five percent is a lot.

I mean, I do, but I so I'm just wondering, you know, what do you think about other barrier for entry?

I think it's a starting point, and if this is gonna be an inevitability, I think one percent is certainly more palatable than five percent.

You know, that's 10 grand on a million dollars, not fifty thousand dollars.

So if somebody's buying a million dollar home, is it conceivable that they have an extra 10 grand that they can put towards a a kid uh resiliency fund, a sustainability fund?

Not only are you investing in Newport, you're investing in Newport's future.

Sure, but 50,000, that's not a financeable cost that's now due at closing on top of 200 grand that you're putting down if you're financing uh an 80% LTV.

That that's a tough pill for a lot of people to swallow.

And I think that would turn a lot of people off to our community.

I think that would send a lot of people to Narragansett to South Kingstown to Middletown to Portsmouth to other coastal communities.

You know, I I think it's great that we want to prioritize year-round newports.

I am a year-round Newport resident.

I I'm going to raise my children here.

I'm very excited about that.

But I think it's it's easy to say let's tax the second homeowners on paper rather than really understanding what that means.

Do you as you mentioned it?

Um as a reeler, you have any concrete numbers or evidence that this would hamper that market, as you say.

I mean, I'm happy to put together a pro forma.

You know, I'd love to have a seat at the table when it comes to working um uh on projects, whether it's this project, whether it's a future project, but I think that's meaningful data from a housing organization that's available at your disposal.

You know, Newport County Board of Realtors has been around for 50 years.

We have over 600 members between licensed real estate agents, real estate brokers, vendors, contractors, painters, home inspectors, whoever it may be.

Um so I'd be happy to to put something together for the council to review.

Yeah, I mean, this is part of like the whole discussion of why why we need to do this because we need to this is not just a hey, let's just have a vote and take and run.

I mean, we could do this for one year and see what happens for the course.

But um, but no, it's it's it's important to have these these conversations and both sides get educated.

Um I mean uh as a lay person right now.

Do I think it's a bad thing to go after a second uh the second home buyer and maybe and maybe start to punish that market a little bit?

I don't because that would maybe open the opportunity for first year or first time home buyers or not your first time homebuyers, but anyone that wants to live here year-round, that opens up the market for them, and that's what I want to see.

You know, especially if they're working in Newport and as opposed to just coming here and uh you know spring summer, but that's how I look at it.

Yeah, and I I you know I think we want everyone to win.

I would I took the elevator up with uh councilwoman Smythe earlier, and it's you know, these and and Chief Donnelly said it earlier too.

It's it's important to hear both sides of of the podum, you know, because that's what brings people together, that's what shares ideas, that's what puts thought patterns in place that may not have been there, you know, and it starts meaningful conversation towards an eventual goal and an eventual resolution, whatever that looks like.

I I won't lie to you.

I'm I'm surprised you didn't hear you're not here with an army right now.

That makes two of us.

I thought I thought I was I was walking in here tonight going this is gonna be crazy.

said it earlier too it's it's important to hear both sides of of the podum you know because that's what brings people together that's what shares ideas that's what puts thought patterns in place that may not have been there you know and it starts meaningful conversation towards an eventual goal and an eventual resolution whatever that looks like I I won't lie to you I'm I'm surprised you didn't hear you're not here with an army right now that makes two of us I thought I thought I was I was walking in here tonight going this is gonna be crazy but no that's uh but again that's when the vote comes you know well that time or hopefully the next the next conversation wherever is there'll be more of a and and again it's we want good I I can't stand you know when I get these notices about you know the social media people just come up oh they see something and it's like that's this is crazy they're always coming after our money and it's like no like first of all read what we're trying to do or you know or what the what what's in front of us get the information correct and then ask questions and have a conversation as I don't understand why people are are so afraid to do that so I appreciate you coming up here and and saying what you're saying for sure so plus any vote we take would be to send it to the legislature for approval so it's not like we can just uh make this happen on our own so it would take some time oh absolutely I I completely understand and and like I said I don't think that we're a pitchfork in and torch organization you know we want to be a sounding board we want to be a resource we want to be able to provide meaningful data for for the council to consider yeah these are very important decisions um I just I just don't think we're talking about how much of a decision this is the um board of realtors discussed any alternate option for the city to be able to fund this resiliency fund instead of going in this direction well this all happened very quickly um and you know I think it's a it's great that we're having the workshop tonight uh but I haven't haven't sat down with the the executive board or or really spoken too much about membership about alternative options here.

Okay thank you and then uh I'm gonna say this the other thing to keep in mind you know when we when we're talking to people in the real estate market and realtors at some point if we don't do something soon you're not gonna have much of a market to sell because there's gonna be you know you look at places like the point section that's you know that's uh gonna be in crisis uh at some point obviously cliff walk and and in those places we've seen that firsthand so um and then it's not just the coastal erosion stuff it's the flooding of just low lying neighborhoods you know um we do I know uh Ellen she can sit here probably all the rest of the night and talk about the issues that they have the parts of the north end so um you know when we do hopefully get a chance to come back again and have another discussion let's uh let's make sure we're we're looking at at all properties and and all issues and that the bottom line is how do we protect what we have here in Newport and not just worry about you know the money's going into people's pockets or people that that can that can save money so it's about again we're we're in this place this council and I even our last council we're here and making these decisions because no one wanted to do it for the last few decades.

And it's it's uh except for Gene of course the thickest skin in Newport Rhode Island but again we're here because we a lot of things have been pushed because people were either afraid to make a make a tough decision and and now we're we're faced with these with these different uh infrastructure issues so at some point somebody's gonna find you know find money to to fix these issues.

Yeah no I I couldn't agree more and like I said at the beginning when I sit up here I think resiliency is extremely important so is sustainability I think investment into this proposal and investment into the future of what Newport looks like in 10 15 20 25 years is essential so that that's not lost on me.

I mean I was just thinking it sort of to just to piggyback on yours is that you know 10 let's say 10 years from now and you know we're really struggling with seawalls and let's say you know cliff walk and and people say well why didn't they why didn't somebody do something 10 years ago you know so I I that keeps coming back to my my mind that we um somehow we have to do something to be more self-reliant because the state is not of any help to usually so um thank you thank you very much thank you thank you Mr.

Chair I have another I have a question sure um I want to ask staff currently is there an excise tax when you sell your house and if so how what what's the percentage?

We used to call them it's called stamps.

I know.

I know.

Um who pays it?

Celadone.

That's what I thought.

So we'll get them coming and going, right?

Um, I was just wondering if if maybe this is an opportunity to re-engage an ad hoc tax commission to find out if they can maybe strategize or brainstorm a way of being able to implement this and work with the real estate industry so that it doesn't have the greatest impact to what they're trying to do, but it helps us to achieve what we're trying to do.

More interviews.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Come on.

I know you miss them.

We can make it a permanent Tuesday-Thursday thing.

Uh Chief Don't show that you've been basically but like the sponsor of this.

What in your mind uh is a time frame?

Or is there one that we look at?

As I started out, this is just an idea, proposal to bring before you all.

And you're in the driver's seat on this.

Uh you are the policymaker.

Uh we are just bringing this forward.

If you wanted to see this happen this year, uh with your support, it wants you to work all the bugs out.

Uh you would pass a resolution, bring it to the uh send a resolution of support to the general assembly.

Uh there was a Senator Oyer had suggested that hey, if we were getting it in by Friday, that'd be great.

But let's pump the brakes, let's have a discussion, let's try to let's talk about it.

This isn't the thought.

The idea of this is not to be you over the head and force you to do anything at all.

It's just to present an idea.

I think uh as I got started, we heat we listen.

You you may think um I'm playing video games on my phone during the council meeting, but for the last two years, do we hear the council say we have to come up with alternative funding sources?

We have to shit stop the burden on the on the property taxpayers.

We have to protect the year-round residents.

I hear that, and if the last two years, while this has been in the back of the the process of thinking of this plan, I think every time, gosh, they're talking about this.

They you know they're talking.

So I think now we're um the time frame on this is at your time frame.

You decide you you decide this is something you can support, uh, then this is on on you all.

If uh this is just getting the idea in front of you, starting the conversation.

Uh that's that's what this is all about.

Uh if you could get it through, if you chose that it had enough uh interest and you wanted to get it to the General Assembly this year, that could be done.

There's a fast track system that takes place when it goes into the Senate and the House at the same time, and they're looking at the bill at the simultaneously, and there's no catch-up that has to take place.

If that doesn't happen, it can go because it has to do with revenues for a community for municipality, it can go in later in the season.

And then and if you're if you support it, if you're behind it, uh then that's something that could take place later in the season.

Uh the intention here is not to hold a knife to your throat at all.

This is uh, and again, I apologize that that um uh the legislative goal setting because it could have seemed almost like gosh, this is an ambush, we're gonna do this right away.

Not the case.

This is just bringing a concept to you all.

Uh you all the ones that will decide the policy that the city puts forward.

This is just inspired by your charge.

We have to find alternative ways.

We have to find a way that's not a burden on the property taxpayer.

And we see that the the process of trying to protect those that live here year-round, uh reinforced almost every council meeting.

So this is just an one option uh as a possibility to uh to address a very serious concern, uh the the resilient sustainability.

Uh there's uh there's numbers of how many properties in the points section that used to be above the mean time tide rate, but are now one of that three square miles that are below uh sea level that uh council and Ponatama talks about.

Uh with time, that numbers that percentage is only going to increase.

1.5 foot tie rate uh tide raise or ocean raise between now and 2020, excuse me, 2060.

It's it's baffling.

You know, imagine how the effects of that.

If we take the steps now, work together to take the steps now.

Uh let's work to make Newport more resilient and keep Newport what it is and make it even better by being uh by being better protected.

So time frame, a long answer.

Sorry, you have your short question, I give you a long answer.

Um, it's up to you all.

I'd love to see it.

I'm passionate about this, so you probably can tell.

I'm kind of holding back a little bit.

Uh, but the uh it's up to you all to decide if you go forward with this.

This is just a concept that's being brought for discussion.

And I very much respect and appreciate the opportunity to have this discussion.

Uh Council Comps of Orbang, welcome.

I can start from the beginning.

Thank you, Council.

If you like apologize, I go back a conflict, but I have been live streaming this uh with great excitement.

Um this is more of a procedural question.

We talk about the politics of getting things passed to the General Assembly.

Newport is blessed to have both the chairs of house finance and Senate finance.

Um have they indicated a willingness to be the primary sponsors for these bills or at least a secondary sponsor to uh the legislators uh previously mentioned.

Yeah, who we have that is that is sworn in to be a part of the team and uh representative Lauren Carson has been a part of the uh the planning of this generation of this plan for the last six months.

So she's well prepared to sponsor it in the in the house and Senator Oyer's prepared to sponsor it in the Senate.

Uh I haven't talked to the other representatives uh it about this topic.

Uh again, this is the first opportunity to talk to you all to get you on board and and with you'll uh this body will have a chance to digest it.

Uh so yes, we'll have some support.

Uh and you can you all can decide if you're behind it and want to go forward with it at some point, whether it's this year, next year.

Uh the need's not going to go away.

Thank you for your car.

Thanks.

Any other uh public comment?

You know, I I would you know the when it was mentioned about the power grab.

I am very concerned about the power grab.

Um currently in the budget, uh the governor's budget.

Um they won half the cruise ship tax increase.

I was up there twice promoting it, and then we had another person go up, another counselor last year, and he was successful.

It's really painful to know how much work people do to get something and have them come in.

The Rhode Island Foundation has put out something on the schools, and they're talking about uh changing the reimbursement to the East Bay community.

That's Bristol, Tiverton, Little Compton, Middletown, Newport.

You know, because our medium income and yet we have the highest population of um housing for those that need it, affordable housing.

So something's not working for me here to see people work so hard to get something, and then somebody from the state or somebody from elsewhere wants to grab a piece of it.

If you haven't read the Rhode Island Foundation reimbursement plan or whatever it is for schools, I'd suggest you read it.

Um and I truly hope um these power grabs don't come to pass because people have worked very hard on the council and in administration over the years.

Yeah.

Mr.

Rice, you want to come on.

I mean, just get my two cents or thin.

Uh I I haud the chief.

I think it's uh excellent that uh idea.

I can't speak to the numbers and the uh uh the process.

Uh but the process is good, at least it's opening, it's making people think about uh we don't do much of that.

Uh and I'm I'm struck by how many studies we do fund, but we don't fund any studies on how to make more money for the for the uh uh we should be able to should be more active.

Uh my my two cents worth is I I still think you can tell the roads.

Uh you're gonna probably have to dig up Bellevue anyway uh in the near future.

Uh put the wires in and uh so uh we can use easy pass on uh on Bellevue and have a fun source.

At least you'd be paying for something that you're you're fixing, collecting money on works in New York.

Uh that's that's been semi-successful, it seems like so.

I think uh you need to widen the widen the uh uh publicity about the thing.

And this is the the first thing I've I've heard about for uh increasing uh revenue uh this cycle need to do more uh should be kind of bombarded by ideas and uh plan uh if there isn't a financial planning uh revenue planning uh committee there should be we need money we ain't got it.

Thank you, Mr.

Rice, appreciate it.

All right, any other last one more?

All right.

Let's say your name and address, please.

Um Casey Tremper.

I live at 13 Baview Ave apartment one.

Um and I just want to say that I have been a um full-time butt renter for five and a half years now.

Um and this presentation kind of just gave me hope that maybe someday I could own property in Newport in that um uh like I like the exemption aspect as and it's really difficult to buy anywhere right now.

Um, and that's something that I'd love to do.

And it's really felt like having to choose between living here and being a part of what's going on in the city uh and owning a house.

Um so that was really cool, and um I think postal resilience is extremely important.

So thank you very much for this.

Thank you so much.

Uh any last comments from the council?

All right.

Well, thank you all so much for coming tonight.

See you next time.

Thank you.