


Senate President Karen Spilka and Mayor Michelle Wu plan to meet Thursday afternoon to discuss a controversial proposal that would shift some of the property tax burden onto the city’s business community, according to a source with knowledge of the meeting.
Spilka and Wu initially traded barbs over the fate of the bill after senators did not act on it before the end of their formal business over the summer. But weeks later Spilka indicated she was “open to continuing conversations” with City Hall on the measure.
That conversation, which was first reported by POLITICO Massachusetts, between Spilka and Wu is scheduled to take place Thursday alongside other senators from Boston and members of the business sector, according to the source.
“It’s happening and it’s about time,” the source told the Herald on the condition of anonymity to discuss details of a private meeting. “If implemented, it will be detrimental to the competitive standing to businesses large and small in Boston.”
A spokesperson for Spilka declined to comment on her private schedule.
The compromise was left hanging in the Senate as the legislative clock ran out of time.
That prompted sharp comments from Wu, who said during a radio interview that “if this does not happen, every single resident in the City of Boston will know that their taxes are going up because the Senate did not vote through that last step.”
In turn, Spilka said that “blaming the Senate may be politically convenient for the mayor, but it does nothing to improve a policy proposal that has been widely questioned by watchdog agencies and could do serious damage to Boston’s economy.”