Boston Council Hears Case for Five-Year Commercial Tax Shift to Protect Homeowners

BOSTON — May 30, 2024 — Boston City Council committee holds second hearing on Mayor Wu's five-year property tax reclassification proposal. The Committee on Government Operations, chaired by District 1 Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata, convened Thursday to gather public input on Docket 0642, a Home Rule Petition that would lower the residential share of the city's property tax levy from 50 percent to 45 percent of full valuation while raising the commercial share from 175 percent to 200 percent — a shift Mayor Wu's administration says would prevent residential tax bills from rising by as much as $900 per quarter. All public testifiers at the opening of the hearing backed the measure, including Shirley Jones, president of the Meeting House Hill Civic association, who said a sharp tax hike would force her to raise rents on her tenants, and Tom Kuna, chair of the Charlestown Neighborhood Council, who called a Boston Municipal Research Bureau projection of a potential 16.5 percent residential increase "scary." Coletta Zapata said she supports protecting house-rich, cash-poor residents and seniors but flagged concern that the added commercial burden could harm small businesses still recovering from pandemic-era vacancies.