Towns need more, and the Senate may have its own answer to the Boston tax battle

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'Twas the month before January, when all through the Hill

Not a lawmaker was stirring, though some nudged a bill;

The tax bills were coming, all shiny and red,

And Boston homeowners worried about what lay ahead.

The Senate pulled long-stalled "tax shock" proposals (S 1933 and S 1935) out of a joint committee deep freeze, routing the bills offered by Sens. William Brownsberger and Nick Collins directly to Senate Ways and Means. The move signaled that the Boston-area senators have ideas of their own, and are not just standing in the way of Mayor Michelle Wu's approach to address projected 13% property tax increases for homeowners.

The bills would allow municipalities to design targeted, locally funded tax credits in years when residential levies spike by more than 10%, or for particularly vulnerable groups like seniors or MassHealth enrollees.

The House last year lined up solidly behind Wu's home rule petition to temporarily shift more of Boston’s property tax burden onto commercial owners. This session, the Senate won't even let the mayor's bill in.

So the standoff persists. Senate leadership seems interested in a statewide bill while House leaders bristle that the Senate is "playing games" and leaving the mayor's petition "rotting away" without a hearing.

And in the middle sit thousands of Boston homeowners counting down to January, along with commercial property owners watching valuations sag and wondering about city revitalization efforts. A five‑story, 58,000‑square‑foot office building in downtown Boston just sold for about $9.2 million — less than half its 2021 sale price — highlighting how commercial values have softened, potentially weakening the tax base that funds local services and shaping the stakes of this tax fight.

Minority Leader Bruce Tarr said the Legislature should focus on relief tools that soften shocks, not structural shifts that could spook businesses or trigger statewide chain reactions. He argued the Brownsberger-Collins bills could help residents "all across the commonwealth," and drew a bright line between Wu's proposal and the Senate's tax-reduction effort.

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The Legislature isn't the only player with ideas about how to fix municipal finances.

The Massachusetts Municipal Association dropped a thick wish list Thursday, urging lawmakers to rethink both revenue and restraint. Their headline request — a $351 million jump in unrestricted local aid — was calibrated to both symbolism (351 cities and towns) and math (a return to long-eroded state-local funding ratios).

The MMA also wants to retool Proposition 2½, the 1980 law that limits how fast property tax levies can grow. Their recommendations include phased-in overrides to avoid the long-feared "tax shocks," permission to tie levy growth to inflation, and new local-option taxes. Their October report warned that Prop 2½ may now be "too restrictive" for communities squeezed between rising costs and voter skepticism.

Tarr and others waved the caution flag.

Weakening Prop 2½, he said, risks undermining the very fiscal discipline that has kept communities on stable footing for decades.

Brownsberger sounded wary as well, noting that while municipal aid is a perennial priority, this is "going to be a tough year."

And that brings Beacon Hill's tax relief debate into sharper focus: municipalities want more flexibility and more help from the state; homeowners want tighter caps and fewer spikes; businesses warn against shifts that could deepen a fragile market; and lawmakers are caught threading the needle between competing pressures.

Even as the property tax fight rages, another affordability crunch is building just offstage.

More than 10,000 Massachusetts residents have dropped their Massachusetts Health Connector plans during open enrollment — double last year's pace — as enhanced federal Affordable Care Act subsidies approach their Dec. 31 expiration.

Connector Executive Director Audrey Morse Gasteier warned that hundreds of thousands could face higher premiums or lose coverage altogether if Congress fails to extend the Biden-era credits.

The U.S. Senate rejected competing proposals on how to respond: a Democratic bill to extend the enhanced subsidies for three years and a Republican alternative that would have created new health savings account payments. Both failed to get the 60 votes needed to advance, effectively leaving the enhanced credits on track to expire at the end of the year.

With Congress unlikely to act again before year's end and open enrollment still underway, Massachusetts officials say residents should explore options now — even as thousands face higher out‑of‑pocket costs and potential gaps in coverage when the new year begins.

Not all of this week's news was fiscal triage.

The Cannabis Control Commission finally approved long-anticipated regulations for social consumption sites — lounges, events, and hospitality businesses where adults can legally consume marijuana products together.

The rules, nearly a decade after voters approved the concept, launch Massachusetts into "a brave new world," as Chair Shannon O'Brien put it.

Municipalities must opt in, and the first sites may not open for 12 to 18 months, but the framework is set: three license types, strict public safety plans, impaired-customer protocols, THC inhibitors on site, and a ban on alcohol in the same consumption area.

The commission pitched the move as honoring the will of the voters (the voters of 2016, that is) and an economic opportunity, potentially drawing tourists and widening participation in the legal market. Local leaders from Cambridge to Worcester have already signaled interest.

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The MBTA is preparing to close the book on a 19-year federal settlement that reshaped every corner of the system for riders with disabilities. With 83% of stations now accessible, elevator uptime at 99%, and major Green Line upgrades on deck, court-appointed monitor Judge Patrick King will step aside, transferring oversight to the Riders' Transportation Access Group.

It's a milestone few imagined in 2005, when elevator outages were routine and bus operators secured wheelchairs on moving vehicles less than 10% of the time.

The MBTA framed the transition as both symbolic and practical: riders who have fought hardest for accessibility will now guide its future. As General Manager Phil Eng put it, the upgrades have made the T "a system available for future users and future needs."

Taken together, the week's developments show a State House pulled between long-term reforms and short-term crises, between pressures from town halls and pressures from Congress.

For now, homeowners in Boston and across the state are still waiting — for subsidies to be extended, for tax bills to be softened, and for lawmakers to bridge divides and come up with solutions. And with the holidays approaching and formal sessions on pause, it seems the only thing moving fast is the countdown to January.

THE SUNDAY SHOWS

KELLER AT LARGE: 8:30 a.m., WBZ-TV. The station is running an encore edition of the show hosted by political analyst Jon Keller. The guest is GOP gubernatorial candidate Brian Shortsleeve. They discuss his candidacy, development of new housing in the state, and his opposition to new taxes

@ ISSUE SIT DOWN: 9:30 a.m., NBC 10. Reporter Matt Prichard interviews Gov. Maura Healey.

ON THE RECORD: 11 a.m., WCVB. The guest is Rep. Katherine Clark.

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