With property tax and mayoral election debates already underway in Boston, a top business leader plans Tuesday night to urge Mayor Michelle Wu and the City Council to slow spending growth and tap reserves for strategic priorities without implementing budget cuts.
“We don’t have time at the city level to play games,” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said on GBH’s “Boston Public Radio” on Wednesday.
Despite compromises struck between the city and stakeholders, Spilka said she has “heard clearly that there currently is not sufficient support for this proposal.”
Sen. William Brownsberger, who represents parts of Boston and is the number-three Democrat in the Senate, called for the bill to be laid aside and for Boston to finalize its property tax rates without any shift.
Business organizations urged Beacon Hill legislators to pause approval of a new property tax structure raising rates on commercial properties in Boston following the release of new assessment data.
A Boston senator delayed action on a controversial home rule petition for the second time this week, pushing consideration off after new data emerged about the city’s property tax outlook.
Boston City Hall’s assessing chief on Tuesday voiced an ever-tightening timeline for Beacon Hill to act on the city’s property tax plan, while also declining to share data that some skeptical officials have said could be key to moving the needle on the controversial bill.
A senator from South Boston delayed action Monday on a controversial, time-sensitive Boston property tax reclassification bill, which is now on ice until after the deadline for action recommended by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.
From new VPs to fresh project managers, see who’s been hired, promoted and honored: It’s our weekly Personnel File roundup.
The House of Representatives on Monday approved the city of Boston’s request to temporarily reconfigure the way it splits property taxes between commercial and residential taxpayers.
Next time it may not be so easy for Boston’s mayor. And given current market trends, not only will there almost certainly be a next time, and it won’t be long in coming, either.
The deal between Mayor Michelle Wu and four business groups will see commercial property tax rates rise, but not by as much as previously feared.
Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn dramatically scuppered attempts to bring a last-minute compromise on city commercial property tax rates up for a vote Wednesday afternoon. Councilors plan to meet Friday to take another vote.
Boston commercial property tax rates will be going up next year to help ease homeowners’ tax bills, but not by as much and not for as long as business groups had originally feared.
A business coalition offered a compromise deal Friday that would have seen property taxes on commercial buildings rise, but by less than what Boston’s mayor wanted.
It’s been Beacon Hill’s favorite buzzword for the last few years and “has been kind of discussed to death,” as one policy expert put it, but a discussion among business leaders Wednesday put a fine point on the complexity of the competitiveness conversation.
Developers and real estate executives weren’t tapping furiously at their keyboards and burning up my phone line in praise of the mayor’s announcement of a $100 million “Housing Acceleration Fund.”
The two sides warring over Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s property tax shift proposal huddled in Senate President Karen Spilka’s office Thursday afternoon, but emerged with no sign of an agreement.
Sources say the side-meetings grew out of concern about the slow pace of the task force and frustration with the Healey administration’s push for a “tool kit” of revenue options rather than a curated list of preferred options.
A cohort of regional chambers of commerce pressed top Beacon Hill Democrats Thursday to strike a deal on a pared-back economic development bill, warning inaction on the stalled package could harm Massachusetts’ competitive edge.
