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Boston Mayor Michelle Wu suggested Monday that she hasn’t heard much feedback from Beacon Hill about the latest version of her property tax shift plan, just before a City Council committee hearing launched City Hall’s third attempt at getting a home rule petition through the Legislature.
Wu filed a new tax relief package Jan. 13 to offset increases residents saw in tax bills sent this month, after the Senate last year killed a compromise bill the mayor had negotiated with business groups in an attempt to temper the spikes. The new version would return to the terms of that compromise, which would shift more of the tax burden onto commercial property owners to mitigate the increases for residents. It also opens the door to the city providing residential rebates if no agreement is struck by March.
The City Council Committee on Government Operations and Committee on Ways and Means held a hearing on the mayor’s updated proposal Monday afternoon, which Wu mentioned during a virtual appearance on GBH Radio’s “Boston Public Radio.” The full council meets Wednesday.
“If the City Council moves this forward, back up to the State House, then we will have an opportunity to advocate once again, to the House and the Senate. Last time, every entity passed this multiple times, except for the state Senate, where it was blocked by one senator, given the quirks of being in informal session in that time of year. So we’re now back in formal session, we’ve added provisions around senior tax relief, maintaining the small business protections as well, and offering an option for rebates … so we put everything on the table,” Wu said. “There’s still time, and we hope to deliver this relief now that everyone sees just how harmful this shock has been to residents.”
Boston Democrat Sen. Nick Collins was the first senator to try to publicly halt Wu’s earlier version of the legislation in the Senate, but Democrat Sen. William Brownsberger of Belmont, who represents part of Boston, also said he had “strong reservations about this proposal to alter the rules in an ad-hoc manner.” Senate President Karen Spilka said last month that she had “heard clearly that there currently is not sufficient support for this proposal.”
The mayor was mum Monday when asked if she had heard from the Legislature about the prospects of her refiled legislation.
“We’re still working through the process. I mean, I think in general, different entities want to see others take it up first,” she said. “And so we’re working through the City Council piece once again, and hope for swift action there, because in order to implement the compromise that we had struck for this current tax year, it has to be done before bills go out in April.”
