The controversial property-tax shift bill that has driven months of debate will not receive a vote in the Senate, the chamber’s top Democrat announced Monday night, hours after the bill had been derailed.
Senate President Karen Spilka released an evening statement confirming that she will not bring the House-approved Boston property tax shift proposal to the floor for further debate.
Despite compromises struck between the city and stakeholders, Spilka said she has “heard clearly that there currently is not sufficient support for this proposal.”
“As this compromise legislation has progressed through the Senate, the Department of Revenue recently released new certifications of data submitted by Boston that predicted a much more modest tax increase for residents than previously presented by the City,” Spilka said in a lengthy statement released around 8:15 p.m. Monday. “This new understanding has left stakeholders and Senate members with serious concerns about the bill’s impact on the competitiveness of the state as a whole. Many in the Senate believe that this proposal tips the scales too far in one direction, with a stalled economic recovery in Boston as an unfortunate potential outcome.”
Spilka said the Senate is “acutely aware” of affordability issues statewide, and pointed to this session’s housing and tax relief laws as ways the Senate helped protect its “most vulnerable residents.”
Boston Sen. Nick Collins on Monday delayed action on the bill for the third time . Collins said the negotiations that led to the revised property tax bill were based on “false information,” pointing to Department of Revenue property tax valuation data certified last week that he said proves “the sky isn’t falling” in Boston.
Collins said the data the city submitted to the DOR is “materially different” than what city officials presented at a stakeholder meeting weeks ago; he blamed the city for the “unfair characterization that they were waiting on the DOR” for data, when officials didn’t submit city data to the DOR until the day before Thanksgiving.
Collins called the city’s pleas for the shift a “campaign of fear and manipulation.” Belmont Sen. William Brownsberger, a Democrat, said he has “always had strong reservations” about the measure, and suggested the city move forward setting its tax rates without the shift. And Republican Sen. Peter Durant of Spencer said that while his district is far from Boston, “as the city of Boston goes, so does the rest of the state.”
Boston Sen. Liz Miranda backed the bill on the Senate floor on Monday. She said the bill will help protect low-income seniors and the city’s most vulnerable homeowners who “can’t afford a property tax increase of any percent.” Miranda honed in on the long-term impacts residents could see over the next three years.
