Boston Council Hears Four Property Tax Relief Dockets Amid Senior, Labor Outcry

BOSTON — January 27, 2025 — Boston City Council holds packed joint hearing on four residential property tax relief dockets. Council Members Brian Worrell and Gabriela Coletta Zapata co-chaired the January 27 session covering a petition to raise the residential exemption, Mayor Michelle Wu's new home rule petition for tax relief, a hearing order on the assessing process, and a good landlord tax abatement proposal. Evelyn Cobb of the Boston Chapter of Mass Senior Action Council told the committee some members saw tax bills more than double and called for raising the senior exemption income threshold to between 60 and 80 percent of Area Median Income. Larry Calderone, president of the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association, said his 1,600 city-resident members were seeing increases of 10 to 20 percent while "big businesses are getting a tax break." Council Member John FitzGerald, co-sponsor of the assessing-process docket, said constituent calls about valuation discrepancies revealed a $269,000 gap between the lowest and highest assessed values among 22 units in a single condominium complex of comparable size and age.