Wellfleet voters overwhelmingly approve tax hike to buy Maurice's Campground

WELLFLEET — Voters approved a debt exclusion Tuesday to pay for the bond to purchase Maurice’s Campground for $6.5 million by a vote of 583 to 247.

It was one of three ballot questions that passed in the Special Town Election during which 833, or 27% of the town's 3,071 registered voters cast ballots. 

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Voters also approved overrides to Proposition 2½ to fund $115,000 for a human resource director position and $225,000 to maintain and operate Maurice’s Campground for one year. 

Maurice's Campground purchased to add affordable housing

There was a lot of discussion about the purchase of Maurice’s Campground at the special town meeting on Sept. 10. The article to purchase the 21-acre campground and turn it into a site for affordable and attainable housing eventually passed by a two-thirds majority vote.  

Town officials had not calculated the override tax increase amount for property owners by the Times’ deadline. 

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The agreement with the campground’s owners calls for maintaining the site as a campground for six years in order to give residents time to find other housing. Town officials said it would take several years to get permitting, design and approvals for housing and wastewater treatment projects to be built on the property.

Question one, regarding assessing an additional $115,000 in real and personal property taxes to fund the human resource director position, passed by a vote of 487 to 340, or 58%. 

The question about assessing an additional $225,000 in real and personal property taxes to fund operational costs of the campground passed by 547 to 284, or 66%.  

Contact Denise Coffey at dcoffey@capecodonline.com. 

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