The Block Island Land Trust collected $669,109 in real estate transfer fees in September, eclipsing the previous record of $531,410, set in October 2004, and making August fees, at $464,888, slip from second into third place.
Since October 1986, the Block Island Land Trust has been authorized to collect a three percent fee on the sale of real property in New Shoreham. Funds collected are used to acquire, hold, and maintain open space, agricultural land, and coastal region property.
While August saw the highest ever price paid for a residential home on the island, at $6.5 million, the sales for September, totaling just over $24 million, include several residential homes sold for between one and two million, and one at $3,070,000. The sales also include easements granted to the Narragansett Electric Company ($239,068) and Deepwater Wind Block Island, LLC ($337,738), by the Town of New Shoreham, for which no transfer fees were collected.
At the Land Trust meeting on Thursday, Oct. 8, Treasurer Wendy Crawford was asked if this month was going to be “active” as well, and she responded that it was.
Scraggly trees
Although the motivation for investing in a home on Block Island may be