OUR OPINION: If Blame Was Taxable, Quincy Would Be Set

If you have to scrape up another $600 a year or more to pay your property taxes in Quincy this year, is pinning the blame on the current mayor or his predecessor really going to make it any easier to write the check?
Because the truth of the matter is there is plenty of blame to spread around, not just in the mayors office past and present but also to the city council, which has to accept its share of the responsibility for the budget woes facing the city.
Mayor Thomas Koch this week presented a plan that would hike the average homeowners tax bill by 15 percent, double the total amount of tax hikes under former Mayor William Phelan before factoring in new growth.
But before pining for the good old days under the former three-term mayor, it appears many of the minimal tax hikes during the Phelan administration came at the expense of shell game accounting and present progressive lesson plan shifting of funds as well as using the citys so-called rainy day fund to artificially deflate the burden on taxpayers.
Koch is pointing the finger squarely at Phelan, but the former parks department head has to shoulder his portion of the blame pie for the proposed $22 million tax hike.
Despite being in office for nearly a year, Koch has failed to make substantive cuts in the budget, instead increasing it by 8 percent; agreed to contracts and raises that are higher than the city can afford without corresponding cuts; and, while successfully moving the citys health insurance coverage to the states Group Insurance Commission beginning in July, agreed to hand out $300 raises and newborn baby girl present a lower share of the premium to city workers, mitigating some of the savings.
As for the city council, they overwhelmingly approved Phelans tax cuts year in and year out while also minimally reducing the growing budget, including when they made substantial cuts only through a symbolic vote this year, knowing the money would be restored for raises with 14 unsettled contracts.
Three years ago, the council made a short-sighted decision that allowed the city to raise business property taxes from a cap of 75 percent to 89 percent more than residential if everyone was taxed equally.
But the 2004 state law that permitted the change only allows the rate increase for five years when it must return to just 70 percent and stay there permanently. The business rate declines each year until the 70 percent mark is reached and stays there permanently.
While that has since been repealed, it shows the haphazard and inconsistent manner in which property taxes have been dealt with in Quincy.
All of this is on top of a declining housing market, the removal of several businesses from the tax rolls to make way for the Concourse and america past and present 6th edition spiraling health insurance costs.
There is also a perception of obstructionism emanating from City Hall in approving new businesses and holding up the construction of others, actions that will make future developers think twice about coming to Quincy and adding their dollars to the tax rolls.
The politics of blame has to stop. Clearly no ones hands are clean in this and it does little to help struggling homeowners, especially those on fixed incomes, to pay their taxes.
We hope Koch and the council take a long hard look at the budget before setting the new tax rate. Wed also urge them to find relief for single-family and owner-occupied homes as well as for seniors for whom the increase can mean the difference between a warm home and food, or staying in their homes at all.
There will be plenty of time during the election season to take creditdeflect blame. Now is the time for responsible leadership.