Why Wu didn’t pursue tax override amid tough budget cycle

20 years ago, MA mandated residents to buy health insurance or pay a tax penalty. Unaffordable healthcare inflation followed along with new mandates, rising premiums, fewer choices & increased provider payments without real transparency or efficiency standards. Taxpayer costs soared; working family income growth suffered. Small businesses & their workforces have consistently faced annual double digit premium increases. Healthcare cost reforms are long overdue.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has called Proposition 2 ½ – the state law limiting how much property tax revenue cities and towns can collect – a “tight belt,” if not the tightest, on municipal finances.

But while she has remained a staunch critic of the law, she isn’t looking to place an override on the ballot, which would have been a first for Boston.

Property taxes – which the city budget heavily relies on – are “already too high” for residents and they’ve been “going up for too many years in a row at an unsustainable rate,” she said at a Wednesday briefing on her proposed $4.9 billion budget. “And so to ask for an additional increase on the ballot is not something that we would pursue unless there were truly no other option.”

The Massachusetts Municipal Association, which represents city and town officials, said in a recent report that most are at or near their limit of revenue they can collect under Prop 2 ½, and they’re not allowed to collect their own local sales and income taxes. (Wu has also criticized Beacon Hill for blocking bills that would give cities and towns more control over taxes, and particularly the Senate for killing her legislation to shift more of the burden to commercial properties to avoid a residential spike.)

Approved by voters in the 1980s, Prop 2 ½ “was not put into place with high inflationary and high double-digit health care cost growth” now slamming Massachusetts cities and towns, Wu told reporters last week, as she prepared to release her fiscal 2027 budget proposal.

But the law’s defenders say the law is working as intended and call it a taxpayer-protection measure. “Property taxes have risen significantly over the past 40 years, but without Proposition 2 ½, Massachusetts property tax bills would only be more burdensome than they already are,” according to the conservative Tax Foundation, based in D.C..

Voter-backed overrides are allowed under the law. In neighboring Brookline, municipal leaders are joining their counterparts in a mounting number of other communities this year asking for an override, to the tune of $23.25 million. A local news outlet, Brookline.News, said by dollar amount it’s “the largest override request in state history.”

Overrides have their drawbacks, as the MMA noted in its report, since they need a “lengthy public outreach campaign with real costs and uncertain results,” and they’re usually a “short-term fix for what is often a deeper mismatch between the services residents desire and the city or town’s restricted ability to raise sufficient revenue.” Suburban towns have seen the most success in recent times.

While Brookline has had more than several overrides in its history, Boston has never sought one. Asked Wednesday why her administration declined to pursue one as officials pulled together a city budget that is a 2.1% increase over the previous year, or roughly $99 million, Wu called an override request a “last resort.”

The city still has options, “even with the current fiscal year and needing to close the deficit that has been caused by historic snowfall and health insurance, we have built up healthy reserves to be able to do that, and we've been working with our departments to find savings wherever possible,” she said.

Whenever I’ve written about Prop 2 ½, the inbox overflows with reader emails. What’s your take on what Mayor Wu said when I asked about the emphatic avoidance of an override? Send it along here: [email protected].

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HAPPENING TODAY

8:00 | U.S. Rep. Richard Neal will address the Norman Rockwell Museum's annual business breakfast. | Norman Rockwell Museum, 9 Glendale Road, Stockbridge

9:00 | The MBTA Audit and Finance Subcommittee meets. | State Transportation Building, 2nd Floor, 10 Park Plaza, Boston | More Info

9:00 | The Commonwealth Coalition for Democracy and Safe Energy urges lawmakers to uphold Chapter 503 of the Acts of 1982, the voter-approved law that requires a statewide vote of support for any new nuclear power development in Massachusetts. Gov. Maura Healey and the House have supported a repeal of that law to promote small modular reactor technology that is being developed as a clean energy source. | Grand Staircase, State House Boston

9:45 | House Speaker Ron Mariano speaks at a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce forum. After Mariano's remarks, he will take part in a Q&A with chamber president James Rooney. | Fairmont Copley Plaza Boston, 138 Saint James Ave., Boston

1:00 | Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, House Ways and Means Chairman Aaron Michlewitz and Rep. John Moran make an announcement "in support of ongoing initiatives to end outdoor substance use in neighborhoods of Boston and connect individuals with treatment and recovery programs," the mayor's office said. | The Base, 150 Shirley St., Roxbury

7:00 | Auditor Diana DiZoglio speaks at the Greater Newburyport Chamber of Commerce Legislative Dinner. | Mission Oak Grill - Newburyport, 26 Green St, Newburyport

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Library Director, City of Newton
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PRO-MARKEY SUPER PAC WADES INTO PRIMARY

A super PAC advised by the man who managed Ed Markey’s first-ever campaign for Congress is up with an ad hitting Seth Moulton, the fellow Democrat challenging Markey’s hold on a U.S. Senate seat.

The Commonwealth Together PAC has George Bachrach, former president of the Environmental League of Massachusetts, as a senior adviser. Its ad, released Wednesday, is the first volley in what’s expected to be a multimillion dollar effort to boost Markey and slam Moulton. A spokesman said campaign finance filings later this month will show 1199 SEIU and the Massachusetts Teachers Association are among the major donors that helped to raise $1 million in this year’s first quarter.

In a release, spokesman Andrew Farnitano said the ad will air on TV, digital channels and social media as part of a “six-figure media buy.”

Moulton voted last June for a resolution that “thanked ICE,” the immigration agency, the ad said, and pointed to his criticism of Medicare for All, the Green New Deal and Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s proposed tax on “ultra-millionaires.”

Moulton’s campaign, advised by Doug Rubin, said in a statement that Markey is “resorting to misleading attacks against his progressive challenger to prop up his failing campaign.” Moulton is “one of the fiercest critics of ICE,” the campaign added.

“Senator Markey’s decision to cling to power at all costs rather than mentor new leadership shows his priority is his own seat, not the future of our party,” the campaign said.

2026 CAMPAIGN FIX

ROLLINS PULLS PAPERS: Rachael Rollins, the former federal prosecutor driven to resign her post after an ethics scandal, appears to be eyeing another run for Suffolk DA, the job she previously held. After Rollins teased a “major announcement” for Wednesday, she posted about a podcast she helped launch called “Ball and Order.” Hours later, she pulled nomination papers for the Suffolk DA job, and she was spotted at the 21st Amendment bar on Beacon Hill. (Just 1,000 signatures are needed for the ballot.) Incumbent DA Kevin Hayden is running for reelection, and another candidate Linda Champion, has also jumped into the race. – Boston Globe

DECKER’S FUNDRAISING SPREE: Rep. Marjorie Decker, facing a rematch with 2024 challenger Evan MacKay, was the top fundraiser among all House candidates in March. She pulled in more than $54,000 from the CEO of Planned Parenthood, top lobbyists and people in the biotech world. – State House News Service (gift link)

FROM BEACON HILL

PENSION PLAY: David Nangle, the former Lowell state representative, is looking to get his pension back. He has asked a judge to reverse the state retirement board’s decision to take away more than $800,000 in payouts, arguing that his convictions were not directly tied to his job as a state rep. Nangle has been back on Beacon Hill working to stop internet gambling legislation. – Boston Globe

SOLAR STRUGGLE: The Supreme Judicial Court heard arguments surrounding the construction of more than 12,000 solar panels in Petersham. The case boils down to a battle between an energy project developer and a municipality with 1,200 people. – CommonWealth Beacon

FRANKLIN PARK STADIUM: The two camps arguing over a $325 million overhaul of Boston’s White Stadium in Franklin Park faced off in front of the Supreme Judicial Court. Opponents claim the project privatizes the stadium, while supporters say it will remain a home for Boston Public Schools athletics while also hosting a professional women’s soccer team. – GBH News

NEWS NEXT DOOR

AG INVESTIGATION IN LAWRENCE: State Police executed a search warrant in Mayor Brian DePena’s office Monday as he faces allegations that his office is secretly recording conversations inside City Hall. Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office confirmed an investigation is underway. – WBUR

BANK EXPANSION: M&T Bank, which is based in Buffalo, is growing its Boston office. Located inside Boston’s Winthrop Center tower, the bank plans to add office space as well as hire up to 75 more employees to their current 170-person headcount. – Boston Business Journal

POLICE ACADEMY: The State Police has paid more than $600,000 to the International Association of Chiefs of Police for a “comprehensive assessment” of its academy after the death of a recruit. The review is still ongoing a year later. – MassLive

QUINCY AUDIT: Quincy councilors are seeking an audit after a former elder services director defrauded the city. The director was fired in May 2024 and pleaded guilty in federal court last month. – Patriot Ledger

NO TICKET: Some soccer fans had trouble obtaining $80 train tickets to Gillette Stadium for this summer’s World Cup games, as the ticket-buying app kept offering up “Registration Failed” messages. – CBS Boston

Join legislators and thought leaders for a timely forum on the AI revolution in Massachusetts. Explore the challenges and opportunities of AI policy on Thursday, May 7, at the MCLE (Boston). RSVP!

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