A Message From Senator Collins Regarding Property Tax Bills

[Rodney Singleton]

Neighbors,

This is a message from our D7 neighbors in the South End that applies equally to homeowners in Roxbury. 

-Rodney

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Bullock, Jaycee (SEN) <Jaycee....@masenate.gov>
Date: Fri, Jan 10, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Subject: Re: A Message From Senator Collins Regarding Property Tax Bills

Dear Claremont Neighborhood Association,

 

Please see the following message from Senator Collins. As District Director, please let your members know that they can reach out to me with any questions or assistance.

 

I am reaching out with information regarding your recent tax bills, as some of you may have seen an increase in your bill. 

 

If so, you have a right to be upset with your tax bill, but your ire  should be directed at City Hall. 

 

Please read my Op-Ed which explains the truth about Mayor Wu’s failed tax scheme here.

 

The truth is your tax bill went up in part because of the City’s exponential debt accumulation and spending increases.  

 

Increasing the tax rate coupled with a major increase to the assessed value of your home unilaterally by the City of Boston Assessing Department is what you are seeing on your bill. You can see the difference by typing in your address on the Assessor Department’s Online assessing tool. 

 

Most homes assessed values went up about 10% and that is unfair. That plus an increase in the tax rate of 10.5% by the Mayor and approved by the City Council, was slightly more than the last few years. But combined, it is a major jump. The Assessing Department also charged people double in the first 2 quarters and that is also unfair. 

 

The good news is that there is a solution to lower your tax bill. That is why I am encouraging homeowners to follow the advice of Secretary Galvin and file for an abatement by February 1st.

 

Please see the City of Boston’s Assessing Department’s site for applying for an abatement. 

 

In addition, I am also encouraging homeowners to contact the Mayor and City Council to put the participatory budget surplus toward residential relief. 

 

If you need any assistance with your application, please do not hesitate to contact my office. 

 

 

Sincerely,

Sincerely,

Jaycee Bullock

District Director

Jaycee....@masenate.gov

 

Office of State Senator Nick Collins

First Suffolk District

State House, Room 312

(617) 722-1150

 

[Mark Martinez]

Echoing Gerri, this is a hollow attempt by Nick Collins to avoid responsibility for torpedoing the one shot the city had at providing relief for homeowners. Everyone loves to say the city should just "cut the budget" but nobody seems to have answers as to where you would cut. Collins' one "big idea" is to cut funding for the BlueBike program, as if that's going to solve all of our problems. If the city starts to cut services, we know who is going to suffer the most (hint: it's not rich white residents or the neighborhoods they live in).

There were three options on the table: 

a) dramatic cuts to city services 

b) forcing homeowners to bear the brunt 

c) asking large businesses and real estate for a moderate increase in their tax burden while simultaneously providing more relief to small businesses. 

It is shameful that an elected official would choose one of the first two options. Also worth noting that the City and the major organizations came to an agreement on the tax proposal and that Nick Collins delayed this proposal by weeks in the Senate (after the House already passed it twice) in order to give business groups enough to renege on the deal they made. Now whether he did this because of the $25,000 in donations from the real estate industry in the months leading up to the vote in the Senate or so that he can create an issue for his buddy Josh Kraft to run on, I couldn't tell you - but it certainly wasn't because he cares about the residents of Boston that will be most harmed by this increase. 

To be clear, I have been a very vocal critic of Mayor Wu when it was warranted - this is not one of those times. She worked hard and in good faith with the business community to come up with a plan to spare the most vulnerable among us from increased tax bills or reduced city services and it's a shame that bad faith actors prioritized their wallets and political allies over hard working Bostonians and then do some song and dance after to distract from being held accountable for their actions. 

Thank God we are represented by Liz Miranda who fought for this proposal and not this other guy. 

-Mark

On Sun, Jan 12, 2025 at 6:22 PM joyce.stanley1106 <joyce.st...@gmail.com> wrote:

The reason the taxes are going up is that she has not reduced her budget to match the amount she is allowed to raise by law. The huge raise she and the city council gave themselves last year didn't help. 

Firmer Mayors with this problem put salaries on hold or reduce each department'ts budget by an equal percent. 

Now we have to pay for her inability to budget. 

Joyce

Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device

-------- Original message --------

From: Gerri Hines <gsh...@gmail.com>

Date: 1/12/25 5:54 PM (GMT-05:00)

To: Rodney Singleton <rodne...@gmail.com>

Cc: Highland Park Neighborhood Watch <highland-park-ne...@googlegroups.com>, Highlandparkboston <highlandp...@googlegroups.com>, Boston District7 Advisory Council <boston-district7...@googlegroups.com>, "Collins, Nick (SEN)" <Nick.C...@masenate.gov>, Jaycee....@masenate.gov

Subject: Re: A Message From Senator Collins Regarding Property Tax Bills

Thanks but I don’t know how we can take seriously this missive attempting to evade responsibility for the failure of Mayor Wu’s tax plan.  That plan would have spared a lot of homeowners the tax increases they may now face.  Abatements have always been available so that’s not an answer to the problem. Shame on him.

Gerri Hines

On Jan 12, 2025, at 12:32 PM, Rodney Singleton <rodne...@gmail.com> wrote:



<image.png>

Sincerely,

Jaycee Bullock

District Director

Jaycee....@masenate.gov

 

Office of State Senator Nick Collins

First Suffolk District

State House, Room 312

(617) 722-1150

 

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[Rodney Singleton]

I respectfully disagree with Mark and Gerri, and agree with Joyce.

Nick Collins never picked choice a or b. He rightly slowed the process of the bill to get needed financial numbers and clarity of what the actual costs to everybody would be. To many, that is what responsible government does, and I appreciate him stepping up to what was a very unpopular, and difficult task and position. Through his actions, we discovered the sky wasn't falling, as indicated by the Wu administration. The consensus on Beacon Hill was that the sky wasn't falling either, and that consensus was much larger than one man, Senator Nick Collins.

As Joyce states, this is an issue of budget, where the Wu administration's budget is wildly out of control.

Case in point: White Stadium.

Wu has come out publicly and said whatever the costs accrue at White Stadium, the city of Boston will pay half of the cost. To date the costs have escalated from $50 million to $91 million and climbing. And we know restoring what has been neglected since I was a boy at White Stadium would require roughly in the neighborhood of $10-$15 million dollars. But that's what we have been asking for: just restore the stadium!

We didn't ask the city to give White Stadium away to private interests. We didn't ask to have a soccer league here either, with all the noise, traffic, jumbotrons, and beer gardens. We didn't ask to have 145 mature trees cut down in a park that was meant to serve all in a restful, healthful, and contemplative way.

And to rub salt in the wounds a bit more, the city is only committed to 13% - 17% utilization of workers of color and businesses of color (MBE) for their share of the project. What happened to equity, Mayor Wu?! 

We didn't ask for any of this at White Stadium, but come hell or high water, we're all going to pay for it, despite the critical financial position we find ourselves in. It shouldn't surprise us that other communities didn't support Wu's TAX plan, because our spending as a city is irresponsible at best, and at its worst reckless.

-Rodney