Holyoke City Council fail to override mayor's veto on tax rate

HOLYOKE ? The City Council Saturday failed to override Mayor Elaine A. Pluta?s veto of a proposal to raise the residential tax rate by 11 percent.

The City Council had to set the tax rate quickly so bills can be mailed by the state Jan. 1 deadline. If they were not, the city would face cash-flow problems.

With many councilors having scheduled vacations after Christmas, they decided to meet at 12:45 p.m. Christmas Eve. Despite the timing, all 15 members attended.

The dispute was about the division of how much of a tax burden homeowners and business owners should each shoulder. After the override failed, the council voted to keep the burden the same as it is this year.

The City Council voted to increase the tax levy of the city by legally-allowed maximum of 2.5 percent when it set the budget months ago.

Last week the council shifted the rate more towards residential taxpayers. That 9-6 vote would have raised homeowners rates from the existing $15.78 per $1,000 valuation to $17.50 per valuation and increase the bill for the average homeowner from $2,919 to $3,237.

Saturday?s decision kept the split the same, but will increase rates for both. In the next year homeowners will pay $16.85 per $1,000 valuation while the commercial rate will be $38.52 per $1,000.

Pluta said she supports shifting a small amount of the burden to residential property, but vetoed the change the council adopted because it was too much.

?To those people who say we lost businesses because of the tax rate, I would say we had 85 new businesses come into the city of Holyoke? in two years, she said.

Mayor-elect Alex B. Morse was also invited to speak. He encouraged one of the six City Councilors who voted against the shift to switch their support to override the veto.

?We need to make Holyoke more competitive for business. We are the second-highest rate in the state,? he said.

Instead four reversed their votes and rejected the bigger shift toward homeowners, so the attempt at an override failed 10-5.

Members then voted 8-7 to keep the same shift for next year between commercial and residential. James Leahy, Rebecca Lisi, Diosdado Lopez, Todd A. McGee, Brenna E. Murphy, Peter R. Tallman, Donald R. Welch and Kevin A. Jourdain supported the proposal. Anthony M. Keane, John J. O?Neill, Timothy W. Purington, Aaron M. Vega, Patricia C. Devine, Linda L. Vacon and McGiverin voted against.

?We are supposed to be progressive and help poor people,? Jourdain said, adding the city is still competitive in attracting businesses because its assessments are lower.

But O?Neill said the rates don?t make sense. He said he has a two-family home and a business building which are each assessed at about $200,000. He pays about $3,000 a year for the residential property and $7,000 in taxes for the business.

Source: http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/12/holyoke_city_council_fail_to_o.html

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