Boston fiscal watchdog off base in pushing cuts over tax hike

I’d like to think the Boston Municipal Research Bureau does not intend to protect large commercial real estate interests at the expense of Boston’s most vulnerable residents.

As a former boston city council ways and means chair, i was disappointed to see the boston municipal Research bureau’s misguided advocacy for city budget cuts (“watchdog: city should pick spending cuts over commercial tax hikes,” business, may 3).

As the bureau knows, boston’s total tax levy on all existing property can increase by only 2.5 percent a year — far less than values have soared over recent decades. So in real terms, if the city gives up a portion of what state law allows it to collect in any given year, then in practice it also reduces the city budget by that amount for every year thereafter. That’s the real way to lose billions of dollars fast and to undermine rating agency confidence in boston’s revenue stability.

Even if the city made spending cuts, as the bureau suggests, the fiscally responsible move would be to redirect any savings into long-term pension and other post-employment benefit liabilities or into infrastructure investments, not to partially forgo tax collection. we steward a city soon to celebrate its 400th birthday; mayor michelle wu is rightly considering boston’s long-term financial health with a smart temporary adjustment. i am sure the boston municipal Research bureau does not intend to propose a fiscal spiral for the city. As leader of the boston housing Authority, i’d also like to think the bureau does not intend to protect large commercial real estate interests at the expense of boston’s most vulnerable residents. middle-class bostonian homeowners and much-needed housing production would suffer without the mayor’s temporary tax shift proposal, and low-income bostonians would be immediately hurt by budget cuts.

boston is one of the wealthiest but most unequal cities in America. The only commercial owners paying more under the mayor’s proposal would be those whose values are stable or increasing. when my grandfather, john bok, chaired the boston municipal Research bureau, he believed it could be a vehicle for boston’s wealthiest to work in the interest of the city they love, not one to safeguard their own investments at the city’s expense.

KENZIE BOK Administrator and CEO Boston Housing Authority Boston