It’s an increasingly sharp-elbowed approach by the recently reelected mayor, who has watched with evident frustration as her legislation has stalled in the state Senate three times since last June.
For nearly two years, Wu has been advocating for the Legislature to approve a proposal that would allow her to temporarily shift more of the city’s property tax burden onto commercial real estate to mitigate double-digit tax increases for residential property owners. Last year, the proposal died in the Senate even after Wu spent months conducting town halls on the subject, speaking w…
It’s an increasingly sharp-elbowed approach by the recently reelected mayor, who has watched with evident frustration as her legislation has stalled in the state Senate three times since last June.
For nearly two years, Wu has been advocating for the Legislature to approve a proposal that would allow her to temporarily shift more of the city’s property tax burden onto commercial real estate to mitigate double-digit tax increases for residential property owners. Last year, the proposal died in the Senate even after Wu spent months conducting town halls on the subject, speaking with lawmakers, and negotiating a compromise deal with business groups who originally opposed her plan.
Wu is digitally savvy, and she has considerable political capital after winning reelection in a landslide this year. Still, it’s looking increasingly unlikely that her lobbying efforts will succeed on Beacon Hill. Though the House has passed Wu’s proposal in the past, key Senate leaders, including several in the Boston delegation, indicated they still do not support Wu’s tax plan.
“The City should have engaged with the Senate on these options well before now,” Senate President Karen Spilka said in a statement Monday. She added that “the Senate is deeply committed to making Massachusetts more affordable and there are many ways to provide meaningful relief.”
In the last week, ahead of a Wednesday deadline for the City Council to set next year’s property tax rates, Wu has deployed seemingly every available tool in her arsenal to step up the pressure on state senators to advance her bill.
Wu posted a TikTok-style explainer video on her social media channels, urging residents to contact their state lawmakers directly to** **demand they pass her legislation. Over the weekend, she solicited questions about the bill for her Reddit thread, in which she blamed state Senator Nick Collins of South Boston for killing the legislation last year.
Wu announced last week that come January, the average single-family home owner will be facing a 13 percent, or $780, year-over-year increase in their property taxes if state lawmakers do not pass her legislation. That’s after homeowners already weathered a 10.4 percent year-over-year increase, on average, in property taxes this year. Meanwhile, the average high-end office building can expect a 4.4 percent reduction — about $210,000 — in its tax bill, Wu said.
In a social media video, Wu did not mince words.
“That is outrageous, and entirely preventable if the state acts,” Wu said. “Special interest groups and those in their pockets spread disinformation about the projected tax increase last year. They said it wouldn’t be that bad: They couldn’t have been more wrong. . . . We need your help now.”
On Monday, leaders of several local unions held a City Hall press conference rallying support for Wu’s effort. Many said that without action from the State House, their members would face crippling tax hikes.
“Like so many Boston residents, our members are feeling squeezed. Rising property taxes combined with the cost of living have made it harder for our members to live in the community they serve,” said John Killoy, a membership mobilization specialist with AFSCME Council 93, which represents thousands of city workers.
At a City Council hearing on tax rates Monday, several of Wu’s allies showed palpable frustration with Beacon Hill’s inaction.
“This is going to hit young families and seniors in my district, and I think that anyone who’s not upset about this and upset about the Senate, completely honestly, they are not representing Boston,” Councilor Sharon Durkan said.
The council — whose last meeting of the year is scheduled for Wednesday — must vote on the residential exemption amount and approve property tax rates this week, to give city staff enough time** **to print and mail out bills by Jan. 1. That means that even if the Legislature acts later this month, it may be too late to stave off the increases.
Collins and William Brownsberger, two key state senators whose districts include parts of Boston, reiterated Monday they oppose Wu’s proposal and favor other approaches to limiting tax bills.
Collins said the timing of Wu’s renewed push — after the Legislature finished its formal business for the year — “does not show a serious effort to advance legislation.”
“It looks like setting up a fight and preparing to point the finger when tax bills go out in January,” Collins said.
Even if they did support Wu’s pitch, it may be too late. Brownsberger said** **it’s unrealistic to expect state lawmakers to pass Wu’s plan before the council has to vote to set property tax rates on Wednesday.
“If the city wished to work something out with the business community and persuade the Senate to adopt this legislation, the time to do so was approximately six months ago,” said Brownsberger. “How do you do something this big in two days? It doesn’t really happen.”
More than 70 percent of the city’s $4.8 billion budget is funded by property taxes.** **But in the wake of COVID-19 and amid the rise of remote work, commercial property values in Boston have declined overall, forcing the city to collect more in property taxes from residences to avoid a drop in revenue.
In 2024, residential property values increased by 3 percent while commercial property values decreased by 5 percent. On Friday, the Wu administration confirmed the state had officially certified the city’s property valuations, which showed that trend had continued — residential property values went up by 2 percent, while commercial values dropped by 6 percent.
Boston already uses a split tax rate to minimize the tax burden on homeowners, by taxing commercial properties at 175 percent the residential rate, the highest allowed by state law. Wu’s proposal would temporarily raise that ceiling, before returning to the current split over several years, to ease the transition to higher property taxes for homeowners.
Without any action from Beacon Hill, the council is expected to vote to set the maximum residential exemption allowed by state law, or 35 percent, and the maximum tax rate split.
That would raise the residential property tax rate in January from $11.58 per $1,000 in value, to $12.40, city officials said Monday. The commercial rate would increase from $25.96 per $1,000 in value, to $26.96.
Niki Griswold can be reached at niki.griswold@globe.com. Follow her @nikigriswold.