Boston was hoping to send out property-tax bills this month with a bit of a break for homeowners. Only problem: state Sen. Nick Collins, who represents South Boston and Dorchester, managed to get any discussion of a bill to let the city temporarily set a higher rate on commercial property until at least Thursday.
At least five councilors - Ed Flynn, Erin Murphy, John FitzGerald, Liz Breadon and Julia Mejia - are signalling they are ready to give up and start assigning blame, through a request on tomorrow's agenda that a Council committee start an audit of how City Hall screwed up with "the failed property-tax reclassification home rule petition," an event they say the Wu administration failed to prepare for. They say they also want answers on what the administration will do now.
The council is also slated to vote tomorrow on a measure to re-apply a 35% break on whatever residential tax rate the city sets, for people who live in their own homes, for which the city does not need state approval.
Collins held up any Senate action on the proposal yesterday because he has suddenly become deeply concerned about Boston municipal finances, in a way he didn't seem to be during the several months that Boston city officials and local business groups were hashing out a deal on the issue. Maybe he was too busy fuming about people from East Boston daring to open bars in Andrew Square.
The reason it matters: State law lets cities set different tax rates for residential and commercial properties - up to a particular limit. The city has proposed a three-year plan that would let it set commercial rates a bit higher than it normally could because otherwise, homeowners will have to make up an anticipated drop in tax revenue from downtown office towers as they get lower assessments because their worth has dropped due to people continuing to work at home even as the pandemic has waned.
Under the proposal, the city would be allowed to set a commercial tax rate at 181.5% of the residential tax rate next year starting with bills going out this month, compared to the normal 175%. The rate would then decrease back to 175% over the following two years - with $15 million set aside in each three years to help small businesses, with less than 50 employees and $5 million in revenue, along with an increase in their exemptions for "personal property" - such as tables and chairs.
City officials say the decrease in downtown property values has been steep enough that owners of office towers could still see decreases in their tax bills, just not as much as they will if Collins succeeds in killing the bill. At the same time, the measure would mean the city's residential property owners could still see increases in their taxes, but not as much as if Collins gets his way.
When the City Council formally approved the request to the legislature for the change last month, only Collins's fellow South Boston resident, Ed Flynn, voted against it.
At the time, Flynn also raised concerns about municipal finances, saying city officials knew the collapse of downtown property values was happening months ago and should have started cutting expenses back then - except for police, which he feels should get more money to hire more officers.
Also tomorrow, the council will consider a request for a hearing on how to diversify city revenue, which has become increasingly reliant on property taxes over the past two decades. However, any proposals would not come in time to ease tax bills going out this month.