A Suffolk Superior Court judge signalled on Wednesday that he is inclined to allow a class-action lawsuit to proceed against the City of Boston, which alleges that municipal assessors systematically inflate the property values \u2014 and therefore the tax bills \u2014 of commercial landlords who file abatement challenges.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Judge Peter Krupp stopped short of ruling, saying he would take the city’s motion to dismiss “under advisement,” but pushed back firmly against Boston’s central argument that the case belonged before the state Appellate Tax Board rather than Superior Court.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“This is a challenge, not to a particular abatement, but to a manner of doing business \u2026 in terms of the assessments with regard to parties that have sought an abatement,” Krupp said. He added that a declaratory and injunctive resolution of the “overarching issue” would serve the interests of all affected taxpayers.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The judge also raised the question of deterrence. “You don’t think it chills the opportunity of every taxpayer or owner to seek an abatement if the city has a policy of artificially increasing the assessments of those properties where there was an abatement sought?” he asked city attorneys seeking dismissal.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The lawsuit was co-filed last December by Sullivan & Worcester and Pioneer New England Legal Foundation on behalf of 148 State Street<\/strong>, a downtown commercial property. Plaintiffs’ attorneys argue the alleged overassessment practice is widespread, retaliatory, and unconstitutional.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n “It is a retaliatory scheme,” said Nicholas O’Donnell, an attorney with Sullivan & Worcester. “The question of law here is, can the city retaliate against those who exercise their First Amendment rights to challenge a property valuation?”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n O’Donnell alleged that Boston is attempting to isolate commercial landowners individually rather than face a collective legal challenge. “This is a city that’s kind of developing a record for retaliation, and it’s hard to stand up,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Frank Bailey, president of Pioneer New England Legal Foundation and a retired U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge, estimates that as many as 200 commercial properties<\/strong> were overtaxed under the alleged practice during fiscal years 2024 and 2025<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n City attorney Thomas Broom argued that the lawsuit pertains only to a single overvaluation claim for 148 State Street, and that the plaintiff had not exhausted the available administrative remedy of filing an abatement before the Appellate Tax Board.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n However, Broom appeared to concede that the alleged practice could be found unconstitutional, outlining a scenario in which the Appellate Tax Board rules against the city \u2014 only for Boston to repeat the conduct the following year. “Then that would probably be an appropriate case for extraordinary relief,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n O’Donnell called the statement “astonishing.” “No one should have to go to the ATB to be told that retaliating against someone for filing an abatement proceeding is unconstitutional,” he said. “That’s a self-evident statement.”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The lawsuit arrives at a precarious moment for Boston’s public finances. The city is working to close a $48.4 million budget shortfall<\/strong> by 30 June, the end of fiscal year 2026. Mayor Michelle Wu has proposed a $4.9 billion budget for FY27<\/strong>, representing a 2.1% increase \u2014 the lowest rate of growth since the Great Recession in FY10.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Declining commercial property values, driven by persistently vacant office space, compound the pressure. One City Hall watchdog has projected a potential $1\u20132 billion budget shortfall<\/strong> over the next five years. A successful lawsuit requiring restitution to overtaxed properties would deepen that fiscal strain considerably.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Despite reportedly agreeing in private settlement negotiations to discontinue the alleged overassessment practice, Mayor Wu’s office has publicly dismissed the allegations as “baseless and full of misinformation.”<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n “I think the city is trying to walk a fine line in terms of admitting whether or not it has done this,” O’Donnell said after the hearing. “We’re quite confident the facts show that it did, and they can speak for themselves.”<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Boston Faces Court Scrutiny Over Alleged Retaliatory Commercial Property Tax Inflation A Suffolk Superior Court judge signalled on Wednesday that he is inclined to allow a class-action lawsuit to proceed against the City of Boston, which alleges that municipal assessors systematically inflate the property values \u2014 and therefore the tax bills \u2014 of commercial landlords […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3666,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-popular"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nCity’s Defence \u2014 and a Telling Admission<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
Financial Stakes for a City Already Under Fiscal Pressure<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n