Nantucket Finance Committee Backs $7 Million Employee Housing Article in 5-4 Vote

Finance Committee · Meeting of March 5, 2026

Nantucket's Finance Committee narrowly recommended a $7 million municipal employee housing article and unanimously backed a $44.8 million sewer extension project at its March 5 meeting. The housing vote passed 5-4, with members including Anthonie Goudemond and Jeremy Bloomer dissenting on the grounds that no firm construction bids are in hand, bids are expected April 10, less than a month before the May 4 town meeting. The article would fund one duplex and one single-family home on Waite Drive, yielding seven bedrooms for three units, intended to replace expiring private leases that currently house town employees at rents as high as $10,000 per month for a three-bedroom.

The committee unanimously endorsed the Somerset area sewer project, which covers 440 properties and qualifies for 0 percent state financing on $36.8 million of the total; failure to appropriate at town meeting would forfeit that slot and could add $8.2 million or more in interest over the project's 20-year loan term. The town has already spent $3.3 million of a prior $6.4 million appropriation, including $2.7 million to acquire the Bartlett Road pump station site.

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Source: the Finance Committee meeting of March 5, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.