【中美创新时报2024 年 12 月 24 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）由于房主将在 1 月份大幅增加房产税，波士顿市长吴弭（Michelle Wu）对商界推动考虑在未来几年将房产税提高到低于州法律允许的最高金额的提议泼了一盆冷水。《波士顿环球报》记者Niki Griswold对此作了下述报道。
吴弭一直受到商业利益的压力，要求她更加注重随着时间的推移收紧城市支出，但在接受 《波士顿环球报》的一次广泛采访时，市长指出，她已经预计明年的预算增长会放缓。她补充说，每年任何低于最高房产税增幅的措施都会导致城市服务遭到破坏性削减。
市长还回顾了过去三年来她执政的成功和失败，并在准备于 2025 年启动连任竞选之际，向选民预告了她的竞选策略。
“我们解决的很多领域都是长期存在的难题，我为我们取得的进展感到自豪，同时也认识到还有很多工作要做，”吴弭说。
吴弭在年底遭受了重大损失，因为她的房产税提案夭折了，该提案本可以通过暂时将更多的城市房产税负担转移到商业房地产上来缓解住宅税的急剧增加。
在长达数月的努力中，吴弭投入了政治资本来团结居民、地方和州政府官员支持该提案，同时对抗商业和房地产集团的反对。
该措施遭遇了几次挫折和修改，直到 10 月，吴弭与知名商业组织达成妥协。但本月早些时候，州参议院最终让她败北，因为参议院议员拒绝推进该法案。一些州参议员质疑该措施的必要性，指出新认证的房地产估值数据显示住宅税的增长幅度比市政府官员此前预测的要小。
现在，住宅业主将面临平均 10% 的同比增幅，这是自 2010 年以来住宅税率的第二大增幅。吴弭此前曾表示，大幅削减本财年预算以避免即将到来的增税是不现实的。
不过，吴弭告诉《波士顿环球报》，她打算每年将该市从所有房地产税来源征收的总金额增加 2.5%，这是州法律允许的最高金额。她认为，不这样做会危及该市的财政健康，并导致大幅削减城市服务。该市 70% 以上的预算由财产税提供资金，而州法律限制了该市增加新收入来源的能力。
“这不是一个选择，”吴弭说。“如果我们不拿出我们设定的上限收入，我们将远远落后于通货膨胀，仅仅为了维持相同的服务水平，并满足城市劳动力、医疗保健和福利不断上涨的成本，以及维持城市运转所需的一切。”
然而，吴弭指出，下一个预算周期不会有那么多昂贵的一次性增加，例如更新后的工会合同，这推动了本财年的大部分支出增加。
波士顿市政研究局临时主席马蒂·沃尔兹表示，吴弭在她的政府为下一财年准备城市预算时放弃了这个想法，这“令人失望”。
“州法律赋予城市、赋予每个市政当局低于最高税率的选择权，”沃尔兹说。
住宅税单的大幅上涨正值波士顿人本已艰难的经济环境，他们正努力应对飞涨的生活成本。全国各地的选民，包括马萨诸塞州的选民，都指出通货膨胀和财务问题是他们决定让当选总统特朗普在 11 月连任的关键因素。
吴弭承认，在特朗普第二届政府执政的情况下，明年领导波士顿市将面临更多挑战。
“未来四年，我们将面临许多不可预测的因素……但我认为，与此同时，我们的任务很明确，”她说。“无论外界和各级政府发生什么，我们都会专注于支持社区成员。但当许多支持被撤走时，情况会变得更加困难。”
尽管关于谁可能在 2025 年与吴弭竞争的谣言不断流传，但没有任何对手正式宣布向她发起挑战。
与任何连任竞选一样，吴弭打算展示她认为最伟大的成就。创纪录的低犯罪率位居榜首。
“波士顿是美国最安全的大城市，”吴弭说。“过去几年，波士顿的枪支暴力事件处于历史最低水平，我们打算继续保持这种压力。”
她认为，这些指标不仅反映了她所在政府对公共安全的投入，也是让波士顿更适合家庭居住的众多努力的结果。
例如，今年夏天，近 10,500 名儿童和年轻人参加了该市的带薪青年暑期工作计划，这是有史以来的最高数字。吴弭还提到了最近推出的“波士顿家庭日”计划，该计划扩大了她之前的倡议，让所有学龄儿童及其家人每月两次免费进入波士顿周边的九家博物馆和文化机构。
吴弭还为她的政府解决住房负担能力问题的努力进行了辩护，居民普遍认为这是他们最关心的问题。
今年秋天，吴弭表示，她将从该市的“应急资金”中拿出 1.1 亿美元，向停滞的住房项目提供低息贷款，以启动开发并增加该市的住房供应。另一笔资金将用于资助购买市场价单位，以增加该市的经济适用房存量。
“在住房负担能力方面，这确实是前所未有的投资和成果，而且由于这是该市面临的最大挑战，显然还有很多工作要做，”吴弭说。
吴弭可能会因她调整波士顿公立学校规模的方法而受到选民的批评和审查。在吴弭勉强阻止该学区被州政府接管两年多后，波士顿公立学校仍然在努力应对看似棘手的挑战，包括入学率下降、学生成绩不佳以及校车持续晚点。尽管该市是全国同等规模学区中人均学生成本最高的城市之一。
吴弭在接受《波士顿环球报》采访时表示，在她的领导下，学区在过去三年中一直在收集数据和广泛的社区反馈，为实现重大变革奠定基础和基础设施。
当被问及传闻要挑战她的两个人——长期慈善家、新英格兰爱国者队亿万富翁老板乔什·克拉夫特的小儿子和议员埃德·弗林——吴弭拒绝直接置评。尽管如此，她似乎对自己的信息和对选民的吸引力充满信心。
“我现在专注于做好我当选后要做的工作，”吴弭说，但她补充说，她期待着向居民说明她为什么值得连任。“我们一直专注于以人为本，做必要的事情，确保家庭能够在波士顿茁壮成长，无论这有多难，政治风险有多大。”
连任竞选并不是吴弭在新年期待的唯一重大事件，因为她距离第三个孩子的预产期还有三周左右。
她说，她的新年决心是“在孩子出生前收拾好医院的行李”。
她的两个儿子，10 岁的 Blaise 和 7 岁的 Cass 特别期待 1 月 20 日波士顿儿童合唱团一年一度的马丁·路德·金纪念音乐会，他们希望音乐会能早点到来。
“他们一直很担心预产期，希望宝宝能早点出生，这样我们就可以一起去听音乐会了，”她笑着说。
题图：吴弭市长在 12 月的一次活动中庆祝该市住房办公室计划，该计划为 235 名居民提供了财政支持，使他们能够购买第一套住房。Jonathan Wiggs/Globe 工作人员
附原英文报道：
Smarting from property tax defeat, Wu is gearing up for her reelection campaign
By Niki Griswold Globe Staff,Updated December 21, 2024
Mayor Michelle Wu at a December event celebrating the city’s Office of Housing program, which provided financial support to 235 residents, allowing them to purchase their first homes.Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff
With homeowners set for a big hike in their property tax bills in January, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu threw cold water on a push by the business community to consider raising property taxes by less than the maximum amount allowed by state law in the coming years.
Wu has been under pressure from business interests to focus more on tightening up on city spending over time, but in a wide-ranging interview with the Globe, the mayor noted she already expects slower growth in next year’s budget. Taking anything less than the maximum property tax increase every year, she added, would result in damaging cuts to city services.
The mayor also reflected on her administration’s successes and failures over the past three years and gave a preview of her pitch to voters as she prepares to launch her reelection campaign in 2025.
“A lot of the areas that we’ve tackled have been long-standing, hard problems, and I’m really proud of the progress that we’ve made, while also recognizing that there’s still a lot of work to do,” Wu said.
Wu is closing out the year having suffered a major loss after the death of her property tax proposal, which would have mitigated a sharp increase in residential tax bills by temporarily shifting more of the city’s property tax burden onto commercial real estate.
In a monthslong effort, Wu poured political capital into rallying residents and local and state officials to support the proposal, while fighting opposition from business and real estate groups.
The measure suffered several setbacks and revisions until, in October, Wu struck a compromise with prominent business organizations. But the state Senate ultimately handed her a defeat earlier this month when lawmakers in the upper chamber refused to advance the legislation. Some state Senators questioned the necessity of the measure, pointing to newly certified property valuation data that showed a more modest increase in residential taxes than city officials had previously projected.
Now, residential property owners are set to face an average 10 percent year-over-year increase in their taxes, the second-steepest jump in the residential rate since 2010. Wu has previously said implementing steep spending cuts to the current fiscal year’s budget to avoid the upcoming tax increase would be unrealistic.
Still, Wu told the Globe she intends to increase the total amount the city collects from all property tax sources by 2.5 percent, the maximum amount allowed by state law, each year. Not doing so, she argued, would jeopardize the city’s financial health, and lead to dramatic cuts to city services. More than 70 percent of the city’s budget is funded by property taxes, and state law limits the city’s ability to add new sources of revenue.
“It’s not an option,” Wu said. “If we don’t take the revenue that we are capped at, we are falling even further behind inflation just to maintain the same level of services, and meet the rising costs for city workforce and health care and benefits, and all that it takes to keep the city running.”
However, Wu noted the next budget cycle won’t have as many costly one-time increases, such as the updated union contracts that drove much of the higher spending in the fiscal year.
Marty Walz, interim president of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, said it is “disappointing” Wu is taking the idea off the table as her administration prepares the city budget for the next fiscal year.
“State law gives the city, gives every municipality, the option of taxing less than the maximum,” Walz said.
The jump in residential tax bills comes amid an already difficult economic environment for Bostonians struggling with skyrocketing cost of living. Voters across the country, including in Massachusetts, pointed to inflation and financial concerns as key factors in their decision to hand President-elect Trump another term in the White House in November.
Wu acknowledged the added challenge of leading the city next year with a second Trump administration in office.
“We’re headed into a lot of unpredictability over the next four years … but I think, at the same time, our charge is clear,” she said. “We’re focused on the same work of supporting our community members, no matter what’s happening in the outside world and at every other level of government. But it does get harder when many of those supports get pulled away.”
Though rumors continue to swirl over who, if anyone, might run against Wu in 2025, no opponent has formally announced a challenge to her.
As with any reelection campaign, Wu intends to run a highlight reel of what she considers to be her greatest accomplishments. Record-low crime rates are at the top of the list.
“Boston is the safest major city in the country,” said Wu. “Gun violence has been at the lowest ever levels for Boston in our history here over the last several years, and we intend to keep the pressure on that.”
She argued those metrics are not only a reflection of her administration’s investment in public safety, but also the results of numerous efforts to make Boston more welcoming for families.
This past summer, for instance, nearly 10,500 kids and young adults participated in the city’s paid youth summer jobs program, the highest number ever. Wu also pointed to the recently launched “Boston Family Days” program, which expanded her earlier initiative to give all school-aged children and their families free access to nine museums and cultural institutions around Boston twice a month.
Wu also defended her administration’s efforts to address housing affordability, which residents widely report as their top concern.
This fall, Wu said she would use $110 million from the city’s “rainy day” dollars to offer low-interest loans to stalled housing projects, in order to jump-start development and grow the city’s housing supply. Another fund will help finance the purchasing of market-rate units to add to the city’s affordable housing stock.
“It’s really been an unprecedented level of investment and results when it comes to housing affordability, and because this is the biggest challenge that the city is facing, it’s very clear that there’s still a lot more work [to do],” Wu said.
Wu will likely face criticism and scrutiny from voters over her approach to right-sizing Boston Public Schools. More than two years after Wu narrowly kept the district from being taken into state receivership, BPS still struggles with seemingly intractable challenges, including declining enrollment, poor student performance, and persistently late buses. That’s despite the city having one of the highest per-student costs out of all districts of comparable size in the country.
Speaking to the Globe, Wu made the case that under her leadership, the school district has spent the past three years collecting data and extensive community feedback, building the foundation and infrastructure necessary to make significant changes.
When asked about the two people rumored to be eyeing a challenge to her — longtime philanthropist and the younger son of the billionaire New England Patriots owner, Josh Kraft, and Councilor Ed Flynn — Wu declined to comment directly. She nonetheless seemed confident in her message and appeal to voters.
“I am focused on doing the job that I was elected to do now,” Wu said, but added she is looking forward to making her case to residents on why she deserves a second term. “We’ve always focused on putting people first and doing the things that are needed to make sure that families can thrive in Boston, regardless of how hard it might be or how politically risky it might be.”
A reelection campaign is not the only major event Wu is looking forward to in the New Year, as she is about three weeks out from her due date with her third child.
Her New Year’s resolution is “to have the hospital bag packed before the baby comes,” she said.
Her two sons, 10-year-old Blaise and 7-year-old Cass, who are particularly excited about The Boston Children’s Chorus’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. tribute concert on Jan. 20, are hoping that’s sooner rather than later.
“They’ve been very concerned about the due date and hoping that the baby can come early, so that we can all go to the concert together,” she said laughing.
