Mayor Wu said today she'll ask the City Council to ask the state Legislature to increase commercial tax rates over a three-year-period to help ease the tax burden on homeowners - and hopes that now that homeowners have actually gotten their tax bills, state Sen. Nick Collins of South Boston might change his mind about letting his constituents get walloped. Read more.
The South Boston state senator once again used a parliamentary procedure to keep the state Senate from voting on a measure that would let Boston temporarily increase the property-tax rate on commercial property higher than otherwise allowed, which, if he doesn't change his minds, means the City Council will have to set tax rates on Wednesday that will mean tax hikes of between 10% and 14% for residential property owners, the State House News Service reports.
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. Read more.
In an emergency Zoom meeting this morning, the City Council agreed to hold a public hearing before voting on a proposal to potentially increase taxes on commercial properties over a three-year period to help cushion the blow on residential property owners from expected large decreases in the value of downtown office buildings because many have higher vacancy rates as a higher percentage of workers continue to stay home in the aftermath of Covid-19. Read more.
CommonWealth Beacon reports that under a compromise with city business organizations, the city will seek state approval to raise the tax levy from commercial properties higher than otherwise allowed for three years to help shield residential property owners from some of the shock of upcoming property re-assessments, expected to show a significant drop in commercial tax revenue due to continuing effects of fewer people returning to work downtown. Read more.
Scott Van Vorhis reports a possible deal between Mayor Wu and the heads of area businesses and local commercial property owners on a plan that would let Boston temporarily increase taxes on commercial property to minimize the amount city homeowners would see their bills go up because of the Covid-related decline in property values downtown - just by a smaller amount than Wu had originally proposed. The move still needs the approval of the legislature and governor.
The State House News Service reports Mayor Wu is continuing to push for the state Senate to approve a measure that would let city assessors temporarily increase the total amount they can level in taxes on commercial property as a way to help reduce impending increases on residential property. Read more.
The Boston City Council today approved a request to the state legislature for permission to temporarily increase commercial tax rates to try to shield homeowners from a potentially huge increase should downtown office-building assessments collapse as many workers continue to stay at home. Read more.
CommonWealth Beacon takes a look over disagreements about how the city should deal with a declining office-space market - and the resulting potential loss of property taxes.
Mayor Wu said today she will seek state legislation that would let the city tax owners of commercial and industrial property at a higher rate for four years, should official assessments being conducted this year show a precipitous drop in the assessed value of downtown office space in particular due to work shifts caused by the pandemic. Read more.
City Councilor Mark Ciommo (Allston/Brighton) and Mayor Walsh are proposing a measure that could save the average Boston homeowner $300 a year in property taxes, which the city says it can pay for thanks to the local construction and real-estate boom. Read more.
In addition to four statewide ballot questions, Boston voters are deciding whether to add a surcharge to property tax bills to pay for more affordable housing and improvements to local parks and historical sites. Read more.
City Councilors Andrea Campbell (Roxbury) and Michael Flaherty (at large), say that for an average of about $23 per resident a year, Boston would be able to build more housing for people being priced out of the city - and help upgrade city parks and historic sites. Councilor Bill Linehan, however, is not sure he buys it. Read more.
City Councilors Michael Flaherty (at large) and Andrea Campbell (Dorchester) want to ask voters to approve an increase in local property taxes to help pay for construction of affordable housing and buy and maintain open space. Read more.
City Councilors Bill Linehan (South Boston, South End, Chinatown) and Steve Murphy (at large) will try once again to persuade the state legislature to let Boston residents over 55 who meet certain income requirements defer parts of their property tax until they sell their homes.
Linehan says the matter is even more urgent now that the city has come out with revised property assessments, which he said are really hitting long-time residents of his district hard - he said he himself has seen his quarterly tax bill rise $200 due to the latest assessments.
Councilor Bill Linehan (South Boston, South End, Chinatown) tomorrow asks the City Council to consider a proposal that would let people over 55 who have lived in their homes at least ten years defer payment of their city property tax until they sell the property or die.
In his request for a hearing on the matter, Linehan says the measure would let longtime residents stay in their homes even as their property taxes skyrocket due to the effect of the well off snapping up all the properties around them at ever escalating prices.
City councilors Steve Murphy (at large) and Bill Linehan (South Boston, South End) today will propose setting a limit on how much a homeowner's property taxes can rise from one year to the next.
The two argue that residents in areas undergoing gentrification are being unduly burdened by the fact that as foreclosed and distressed properties get renovated, their property values - and so their property taxes - are going up too fast. In a request for a hearing on a "circuit breaker" provision, they add:
Chris Faraone examines the implications of Boston's heavy reliance on the property tax for income.
At least, when it comes to reimbursing Boston for city services.
A new report by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in Cambridge looks at "payments in lieu of taxes" negotiated between some municipalities and their non-profit, non-property-tax paying landowners. Boston collects more of these payments than any other city in the country (and Massachusetts has much more cities collecting them than any other state), but because they're negotiated separately, the amount each local institution pays varies considerably.
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