Council reviews real-estate conveyance and fair-share fees; affordable housing allocation to be revisited
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Summary
Finance staff presented the current balances and allocations for real-estate conveyance fees and fair-share development fees, and council members discussed continuing a one-year reallocation of conveyance-fee revenue to affordable housing and whether to make longer-term changes.
Finance Director Brian Sylvia reviewed fees that support open space, affordable housing and village infrastructure and explained the council's prior, one-year decision to apply a share of real-estate conveyance revenue to the affordable housing fund.
Sylvia said the audited fund balances as of June 30, 2024 were: open space about $1,441,030; affordable housing about $183,891; and village infrastructure about $38,009. He explained that the council last year redirected a portion of conveyance fees for one year to cover open-space debt service and to boost funding for affordable housing; that allocation was due to be revisited.
Why it matters: The real-estate conveyance fee and the fair-share development fees are locally controlled revenue streams that town leaders use to finance open-space acquisition, affordable-housing programs and village improvements. Council members asked whether the one-year change could be extended to avoid an annual rehearing. One councilmember suggested a nonbinding vote and then including the direction in the final CIP adoption.
Details: Sylvia gave numerical examples: of a typical $600,000 conveyance-year projection, $166,000 would go to the general fund, $208,000 to open-space debt service, and $226,000 to affordable housing in the current-year allocation. He said that once certain open-space debt service obligations end in FY 2026-27, the funds available for affordable housing would increase materially.
Next steps: Council members asked staff to include an alternate CIP slide showing a multi-year allocation that would maintain higher affordable-housing funding after open-space debt obligations expire. Staff were asked to consult the town solicitor and to bring a recommended approach for the final CIP adoption.