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A Suffolk Superior Court judge let a lawsuit move forward that alleges retaliation by Boston officials by increasing commercial property tax assessments.
In a ruling issued Monday, Judge Peter Krupp said he will allow the lawsuit to proceed to “at a minimum, some limited discovery” about the practice of increasing assessments on commercial property owners who filed appeals with the state Appellate Tax Board.
“Plaintiff alleges that at least 60 commercial taxpayers have been subject to the Add-Back Policy. As importantly, the mere existence of the Add-Back Policy plausibly chills all commercial property owners from exercising their right to seek an abatement,” Krupp wrote in the ruling.
The plaintiffs, a downtown office building owner, are seeking damages and claim violation of their First Amendment rights.
The Pioneer New England Legal Foundation, which along with attorneys at Sullivan & Worcester represents the owners of the 148 State St. office tower, estimates approximately 60 property owners saw their assessments increase in fiscal years 2023, 2024 and/or 2025 under the disputed practice.
During oral arguments at a hearing in April, the city’s attorneys argued the case should be dismissed because the plaintiffs haven’t exhausted their administrative appeals through the state board.
But Krupp appeared open to the argument that the city infringed on property owners’ free speech if plaintiffs can prove that the city inflated assessments on the property owners who sought abatements.
In the ruling, Krupp noted that the chairman of the Board of Review of Boston’s Assessing Department admitted “the City ‘stabilized’ the assessed value of those properties with open [Appellate Tax Board] appeals ‘to align with’ their assessed value in ‘previous years,’ ‘until we can come to an agreement on what the fair market value is.”
The ruling affirmed taxpayers’ right to seek court intervention if a municipality engages in a “grossly nonproportional assessment scheme,” Krupp ruled, citing previous court rulings.
A message was left with Mayor Michelle Wu’s office seeking comment.
