Empty office buildings are causing commercial property values to plummet and creating a revenue vacuum that without action, would fall on Boston homeowners.
The City of Boston's House-approved bid to temporarily shift some of its property tax burden onto the business sector continues to stall in the Senate, where the top Democrat has raised questions about support for the bill and members gave a markedly muted response this week to an informal State House News Service poll asking for their thoughts on it.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has framed her plan, which has garnered extensive media coverage since she proposed it in April, as necessary to avoid a potential 33% hike in residential tax bills. But South Boston Sen. Nick Collins pointed Thursday to the city's hulking rainy day funds as a way to smooth out the tax burden and said he has heard "so much opposition" to the mayor's idea.
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Given 48 hours to weigh in on the bill during the light-duty August recess, only nine of 40 senators or their staffs replied to the News Service's inquiry, which asked whether lawmakers support allowing the City of Boston to temporarily shift its tax rates or whether they have concerns about the bill.
Of those nine, three said there were "concerns" around the home-rule petition, two indicated they were open to considering the proposal, and Senate President Karen Spilka's office issued a new statement saying that she was "open to continuing conversations" with City Hall.
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Three offices, those of Sens. John Cronin, Pavel Payano, and Michael Rodrigues, expressly declined to comment on the bill in response to the News Service's question. Rodrigues chairs the Committee on Ways and Means which has held jurisdiction over the proposal since Aug. 5.
The lack of participation in the News Service's poll, which provided two days for a response, could indicate that senators are undecided on the subject or that they do not wish to wade into a local matter that ballooned into a war of words between Wu and Spilka. Or, the silence of a majority of offices could also be a symptom of lawmakers' traditional August vacation month.
Wu knocked the Senate on WGBH's "Boston Public Radio" earlier this month, saying that if the bill is not enacted, "every single resident in the city of Boston will know that their taxes are going up because the Senate did not vote through that last step."
A Spilka spokesperson shot back with a pointed critique of the bill: "Blaming the Senate may be politically convenient for the Mayor, but it does nothing to improve a policy proposal that has been widely questioned by fiscal watchdog agencies and could do serious damage to Boston's economy."
The president "has received no indication that there is sufficient support among Senators for this policy proposal to move forward," the spokesperson said at the time.
In the post-July season of informal sessions, "sufficient" support can generally mean the ability to pass a measure without a single lawmaker objecting to its progress. Then again, few senators attend informal sessions, which typically unfold without a quorum present.
Collins, one of three to indicate reservations about the bill's advancement, cited concerns about it from the business sector.
"We're still hearing a lot of concerns that the legislation hasn't changed, that has had so much opposition from the retail community, business community, and folks in general," Collins said Thursday, "about taxes [going] up while the rainy day funds in Boston are double what they need to be, according to Moody's."
Sen. Michael Barrett of Lexington "has serious concerns about the bill," his communications director, Ethan Raye, told the News Service.
And Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr of Gloucester "has concerns around this topic," communications director Jessica Margiotta said.
In a fresh statement this week, Spilka's spokesperson said, "Mayor Wu and the Senate President spoke last week about the proposal. The Senate President and the Senate are committed to creating good and smart policy, and to that end, remain open to continuing conversations with the City of Boston and other stakeholders."
The petition was filed for the City Council's consideration on April 1, reported out of the council's Government Operations Committee on June 5, and was passed the same day on an 8-4 vote. It was presented before the Legislature on June 18 by Rep. Rob Consalvo of Hyde Park as H 4805 and drew no cosponsors.
"I want to emphasize that we're not trying to increase the amount of taxes that businesses will pay," Wu told the Joint Revenue Committee at a State House hearing in mid-July. "Overall, business taxes will still go down under the proposal that we're putting before you. But we're just making it so that it's not going down by as much as it would have otherwise, because we want residents not to go up by as much as they would have otherwise as well."
The Revenue Committee advanced the bill on July 25, but co-chair Sen. Susan Moran has for weeks declined to discuss it or her position on it, with aides saying earlier this month that she was unavailable for an interview. Moran did not response to the News Service poll.
A redrafted version emerged from the House Ways and Means Committee and cleared the House on July 30, the penultimate day of formal sessions, on a nearly party line vote of 133-24. In the Senate, Democrats hold 36 seats compared to four for Republicans.
It stalled in the Senate, with Spilka using it as evidence in a dispute with House Speaker Ronald Mariano about late-session priorities.
Parts of Boston are represented in the Senate by Sens. Liz Miranda, Lydia Edwards, Michael Rush, William Brownsberger, Sal DiDomenico, and Collins. None of Boston's five other senators replied to the News Service within the two-day window provided. Edwards is currently away on training with the National Guard.
Sen. Patricia Jehlen of Somerville was one of two senators to offer open-minded or optimistic comments about Boston's bid to shift its tax rates.
"I support communities finding tools to manage the unique issues they're facing," Jehlen said. "I hope a resolution can be found that can deal with needs of homeowners, businesses, and the city."
Sen. Michael Moore said he supported the concept of municipal free will, but held off on making a "judgment" just yet.
"Given the lingering uncertainties regarding exact details of the City of Boston's home rule petition and the handshake commitments made by Mayor Michelle Wu to change its implementation, I will reserve judgment until this bill is brought before the Senate. That being said, I believe municipalities should have the ability to make policy changes that will work best for them. If the community has put this policy through its standard legislative process, I don't see a reason why the state government should stand in their way," the Millbury Democrat said.
