Nantucket advisory panel reviews residential tax exemption, eyes summer meetings with assessor

NANTUCKET -- June 27, 2026, Nantucket's Advisory Committee of Non-Voting Taxpayers voted to overhaul its public outreach and opened a formal review of the town's residential tax exemption at its June 27 meeting. Chair Peter Halley reported that Town Manager Libby Gibson, who received more applicants than open committee seats for the first time in the body's history, has offered staff support for social media, newsletters, and a website upgrade. Committee members Steve Perlman and Patty Deuster said they are pursuing a regular column in island media outlets and exploring AI-generated meeting synopses as outreach tools, with the Civic League's mailing list of several thousand contacts as a starting point. On the tax exemption, members reviewed assessor data showing 2,341 qualifying resident exemptions averaging $2.2 million in assessed value, and debated whether to advocate for changes before the Select Board sets the exemption level later this year, currently at 25 percent, with Massachusetts law now allowing up to 50 percent. "What would be persuasive to me is if someone said, given the realities of the island, there are people in homes that cost a million and a half dollars and they're really struggling," said a member identified as Eric. The committee rescheduled its next meeting from July 11 to July 18 and set summer dates of August 1, 15, and 29, with the town assessor targeted as a speaker.