The shadowy think tank fighting Boston City Hall

THE HEADLINES carried dire alarms about the post-pandemic rise of remote work and its effect on office towers. “Boston Faces $1 Billion Tax Deficit From Faltering Office Market,” Bloomberg blared. “As office real estate slumps, Boston budget could take a hit,” the Boston Globe warned.

The jarring news, which has been met with strong pushback from Mayor Michelle Wu and city budget officials, was based on a report from a new public policy think tank that is suddenly driving the conversation about what could end up being the biggest budget predicament facing City Hall in years.

The Boston Policy Institute, launched in December by two 37-year-old Democratic insiders, says its goal is to shine a light on the city budgeting process, development policy, and other top issues. But the organization’s refusal to make public its sources of funding – coupled with the not altogether happy history one of its founders shares with Wu – has prompted whispers of grudge-settling and rumors of who could be behind an effort to bring fresh scrutiny of City Hall as Wu readies for a 2025 reelection campaign.

At the center of what has become a high-profile dust-up is the group’s effort to gauge the impact high office vacancy rates could have on city finances. Boston is unusually reliant on commercial property taxes – they account for nearly 60 percent of all city property tax revenue. The Boston Policy Institute report estimated that long-term vacancy rates from new hybrid work patterns will mean a 20 to 30 percent decline in office building values, a fiscal shock that the report said would translate to a “cumulative revenue shortfall of more than $1 billion in the next five years.”


https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/shadowy-think-tank-fighting-boston-city-hall