The woes in the office-property market will not be confined to owners of buildings and those who have lent to them. The fall in buildings’ value will also have an impact on the cities that rely on commercial-property taxes for a significant portion of their revenue.

And so, via Bloomberg:

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is seeking to raise commercial property tax rates to help protect homeowners from the brunt of the historic slump in office property values.

Wu has submitted a petition for a temporary increase of the city’s tax-rate ceiling for commercial properties relative to residential levies. The proposal aims to redistribute the tax burden while continuing to fully fund all city services, according to Ashley Groffenberger, Boston’s chief financial officer. The tax adjustment won’t raise additional revenue for the city.

In the report, it’s noted that Boston is unusually vulnerable in this respect, “with more than a third of its tax revenue tied to commercial property taxes,” which is far higher than in cities such as Chicago, Miami, New York, and Washington, D.C, where the corresponding portion is between 5 and 15 percent. On top of those percentages, however, should be added the knock-on hit to local businesses (coffee shops, sandwich places, and so on) from the decline in the number of workers going into the office.

But at least Boston is doing everything it can to attract people into the city (and, indeed, the office).

Maybe not.

WCVB (February 18):

Members of the Boston City Council are weighing the potential of congestion pricing as a means to reduce traffic and improve the quality of life for people who live in the Massachusetts capital.

Congestion pricing involves collecting a toll from people who drive into a metropolitan area or a particular section of that area. In addition, the price of those tolls could be higher for particular types of vehicles.

Well, at least the transportation system is in great shape, ready to welcome people who would otherwise have driven into the city.

Maybe not.

CBS (November 17):

 The MBTA says it needs $24.5 billion to fix the public transit system in Massachusetts.

It is a staggering number fit to fix the multitude of issues the MBTA admits need to be fixed system wide. On Thursday, the agency publicized the findings of its Capital Needs Assessment and Inventory. It’s a audit of sorts that happens every three to four years. It makes clear what assets the MBTA has and what investments need to be made to bring the system to a State of Good Repair. The estimated price tag of $24.5 billion is for repairs to stations, trains, tracks, bus garages, signal systems, and more.

To be clear, this is an estimated cost of repairs not improvements.