DeLeo aide: Prop 2 1/2 provision won’t survive in House

State House News ServiceBOSTON -A controversial House committee proposal to treat certain tax abatement revenues outside of the voter approval requirements of Proposition 2 1/2 won’t be included in the final House municipal relief bill, a top aide to Speaker Robert DeLeo said Monday morning.
“That provision will be struck down with the start of House action today,” said Seth Gitell, a DeLeo spokesman. “The Speaker has always said he doesn’t expect any new taxes in this budget and he doesn’t support whatsoever any weakening of Proposition 2 1/2.”
It’s unclear whether the House will consider alternative language. Candidates for governor Tim Cahill and Swampscott’s Charles Baker ripped the House Ways and Means Committee proposal last week, and Gov. Deval Patrick said he would not agree to it.
An amendment sponsored by House Minority Leader Brad Jones would strike the provision. Jones told said prior to Monday’s session he was very happy to hear the provision would be dropped, adding, “Who says the minority can’t be effective around here?” He said that his colleagues had expressed opposition to the provision. “That sounds about what I expected, based on the debate and the feedback of members. It doesn’t explain why it got there in the first place.”
In a memo last week, Ways and Means chairman Charles Murphy said his plan does not call for a permanent increase in taxes associated with property tax overlay accounts and treats the accounts like an exclusion outside of the levy limit base without factoring into levy limits in ensuing years. Communities raised $164.4 million this fiscal year in overlay revenues, “significantly less than the alleged $500M,” the size of the threatened tax increase cited by Citizens for Limited Taxation. Jones said last week that Murphy’s own figures meant that lawmakers who approved the changes are supporting a property tax increase of $164.4 million next fiscal year.