Boston Panel Reviews Annual Property Tax Shift, No Objections Raised

BOSTON — December 5, 2023 — Boston's Ways and Means Committee advanced the city's annual property tax classification docket for fiscal year 2024, which would maintain the maximum commercial levy shift and extend the residential exemption to save qualifying owner-occupants roughly $3,456. City Assessing Commissioner Nick Arnello told Councilors Brian Worrell, Gabriela Coletta Zapata, Sharon Durkan, and Council President Edward M. Flynn that the dual-rate system reduced last year's residential rate to $10.74 per $1,000 of assessed value against a blended single-rate equivalent of roughly $14. Arnello cautioned that softening commercial real estate values from 2023 transactions won't appear in city rates until fiscal year 2025 rate-setting, warning that a residential-commercial value imbalance acts "like a seesaw" that can push residential rates upward. Flynn raised concerns about reduced downtown office occupancy and its potential impact on basic city services. No vote was taken; the hearing adjourned with no councilor opposition to Docket 1794.