Boston City Council President Steve Murphy spoke candidly today with Left Ahead about the pending at-large elections and where he sees money troubles for the city. As the acknowledged fiscal expert on Council, he is key to all the money decisions, but said that does not mean voters know his skills.
Murphy spoke of what loss of revenue from the feds and state have meant, how City Hall and Council have tried to compensate, and how tough it is to raise money without being able to change taxes and fees. He shares the frustration of many over the home-rule process that means Boston has to beg to get more of the money the state extracts from its businesses and citizens.
He spoke of the capital city’s PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) program for getting funds from colleges and non-profits who are tax exempt by law. He has long been a leader in restructuring this. We did not mention and probably should have that the commonwealth occupies vast amounts of Boston real estate tax free as well.That tax burden falls ever increasingly on residents in property taxes to compensate.
The introduction of former Councilor and President Michael Flaherty into the race means what we might expect to Murphy. With seven in the race, including the four incumbents, there are at least five possible winners for the quartet of desks.
Murphy discusses how the incumbents work better together than any set he has seen since he joined in 1997. He notes too that so far no one is trying to run down anyone else for an advantage. He’s not sure that collegiality will continue until November.
Seemingly as an afterthought, he speaks of his own accomplishments on Council. He figures he’ll be doing a lot of that, as he reminds voters of what he’s done, what he wants to do and what his skill set is.
Click the player below for the half-hour show.
