A South Boston senator on Monday delayed action on a controversial, time-sensitive Boston property tax redistricting bill, which is now on hold until after the deadline for action recommended by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.
After months of public and private discussions, Sen. Nick Collins of South Boston used a procedural maneuver available to senators to postpone the case until the next hearing, which senators had scheduled for Thursday. Other Democrats also expressed concerns about the bill on Monday.
Compromise language had been issued between the mayor’s office and business groups to temporarily reconfigure the way property taxes were divided between commercial and residential taxpayers, to avoid a large increase in bills for residents.
“Tax assessments are issued to property owners on January 1, but a lot of work goes into this. So so that our team can use this mechanism and prepare bills for that deadline and for the [Department of Revenue] certification and approval by the city council and all those steps, we should have this law signed by the governor within two weeks,” Wu said during a Nov. 20 hearing.
Two weeks from that date is Wednesday, December 4.
Collins said he was postponing the vote until the Boston City Council could hold its annual tax classification hearing on Tuesday. The hearing will also address diversification of the city’s budget – as an increasing reliance on property taxes over the past two decades has led to a situation where declining commercial values threaten to destabilize the city’s tax base.
“Most of this issue has been discussed with hypothetical numbers, because uncertified numbers vary,” Collins said during the session. “Tomorrow, the Boston City Council will hold their annual tax classification hearing. I hope that information will be made available to the council and the public so that we can get the full picture. If the members of the Senate and the voters we serve get that, we all deserve it.”
The city last week submitted to the Department of Revenue its property assessments, which will be used to calculate January’s tax bills, so Collins said he’s hopeful he’ll get a better understanding of what the “real ” [budget] gap”.
“I’m against the idea of doing anything without the facts. And I think we’ll hopefully get that tomorrow, at least from someone at DOR or the city, and understand what our budget gap is and how that can be reduced and is this the only tool? And I think if we don’t have that information, it’s difficult to make that decision accurately,” the South Boston Democrat later told reporters.
The mayor originally predicted that residential property owners could increase their taxes by as much as 33 percent in January, as commercial owners have seen a reduction in taxable values as fewer workers have returned to offices and some employers have reduced their footprints in the wake of the crisis. COVID 19. The mayor’s office recently cut that estimate to 28 percent — and other groups have smaller estimates of how much residents’ tax bills could actually rise in the new year without action on Beacon Hill.
“Our government has worked hard for months to provide all possible information and answer all questions about this matter,” a spokesperson for Wu said Monday. “Today is the first time we have heard about the Senator’s specific concerns, and we will continue to try to reach him to understand the information he is seeking. In addition to reaching a compromise consensus with business groups, we testified at multiple City Council and State House hearings, provided available data as finalized, held town halls across the city, and contacted every Senator multiple times to ask for their feedback and concerns. We will continue to prioritize all possible outreach on this short timeline before the tax laws need to be finalized to protect residents and stabilize bills for all taxpayers.”
Collins told reporters that he had not had a one-on-one conversation with Wu about his concerns but planned to talk to her later on Monday.
Sen. Susan Moran, a Falmouth Democrat who heads the Revenue Committee and has publicly remained silent on her views on the bill, spoke during Monday’s hearing to “provide context” on the bill and echoed the concerns of those who oppose the legislation.
“Boston’s commercial sector is essential not only to the city’s economic vitality, but to that of the state as well,” Moran said. “There is no doubt that the way we address this issue will set a precedent for municipalities across the state…Today’s vote is important not only for Boston, but for the entire Commonwealth. It affects our constituents who own businesses and real estate in Boston, and many municipalities are watching this to see how the legislature acts regarding changing the balance between the residential and commercial tax balance.
Moran cited business groups that have expressed reservations about the measure, including Tamara Small, CEO of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties of Massachusetts, Doug Howgate, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayer Foundation and Greg Maynard, executive director of the Boston Policy Institute.
“This is essentially seen as a kick against them when they are in trouble. This is only going to exacerbate the loss of value that property owners are experiencing,” Moran said, referencing a comment Small made.
Sen. Michael Rodrigues, a Westport Democrat who heads the Senate Ways and Means Committee, agreed with Moran that if the state allowed Boston to restructure its tax system, other municipalities would want to do so, too.
Rodrigues said he attended Monday’s Senate hearing to answer questions from senators about a $700 million spending bill.
“It’s kind of fun to observe drama, instead of looking up to my eyes like usual,” Rodrigues joked. “We let Boston people solve Boston issues. “I’m just going to continue to focus on the financial situation of the Commonwealth.”
He later added, “Boston is Boston, right? So the rest of the state always has an eye on Boston. I’m sure other communities will look at what the Legislature is doing for Boston and ask questions of their senators: Why can’t you do that for us too? So yeah, that’s always the case. Boston is Boston.”
The Massachusetts Senior Action Council has been pushing for the Legislature to pass the bill, and last week, advocates from that group tried to track down Collins in the hallways of the State House to talk to him about the bill.
Collins met with the group in the Senate reading room for about 90 minutes after Monday’s hearing. When asked how he defended his position to them, Collins said proponents were not aware of other options the city could take to keep their taxes from going up.
“They were not aware of the surplus in the city’s rainy day account. They also understand, I think, how we had to tackle our problems [state] budget deficit this year and what actions the governor had to take earlier this year,” Collins said, referring to the budget cuts and hiring freezes the governor implemented.
Collins also pointed to a supplemental budget for the City Council that would take $110 million from their rainy day fund to go toward a new housing program.
“This is an allocation that the city believes it should make. And so, if they’re considering taking a supplemental budget out of the rainy day fund to support a program, should they do that? Should they consider that to close a budget hole whose size we probably won’t know until tomorrow?” Collins said.
A reporter asked the senator if it was already too late to raise these concerns. The bill has gone through two public hearings, months of both public and private negotiations, and is battling the ticking clock to get tax bills out to residents before the end of the year.
“There have been concerns raised all the time,” Collins said. “We hope to hear more about the status of the city’s finances tomorrow, so to continue.”
If the tax reconfiguration bill becomes law, the City Council will still have to vote again to implement the new rate.
Download the FREE Boston 25 News App for the latest news alerts.
Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Tweet. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
