BOSTON — Boston Mayor Michelle Wu wants opponents of her White Stadium plan to roll over and go away but she’s refusing to listen to lawmakers who have rejected numerous times her contentious tax shift bill.

Wu said twice this week that she intends to stick with her bill to override the state’s property tax law despite continued opposition.

The mayor defended her proposal to shift more of the city’s tax burden from the residential to commercial sector during a Tuesday radio appearance where she elaborated on criticism she had lobbed at the state Senate a day earlier for formally killing her legislation for a second time last week.

Wu first indicated Monday at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day breakfast that she was not backing away from her pitch to raise commercial tax rates, despite being dealt a 33-5 loss for her proposal in the state Senate.

“We cannot let it be that our state and our community can find the funds to host the World Cup but not get worked up about our seniors not being able to stay in their homes,” Wu said at the event.

On Tuesday, she elaborated on her remarks on GBH’s Boston Public Radio, likening what she saw as the differing approaches from the state Legislature as a “moment of split screen in so many ways in our daily lives.”

“We’re in a system where the state chooses and is often influenced by the Chamber of Commerce more than the conscience of their own communities,” Wu said.

The mayor said she is “so excited we’re hosting the World Cup,” and that while she sees it as an important economic opportunity and way to showcase the city, she urged the Legislature not to lose sight of the other side of the screen, and act on housing affordability measures that have been proposed by Boston and other cities.

Wu has said that her legislation would lower the projected 13% tax increase homeowners are facing this year in Boston. She said her bill has support throughout the city, while pointing to favorable votes from four of six Boston senators, all 16 of the city’s state representatives, and 12 of 13 city councilors.

The vote in the Senate last week, however, appeared decisive.

“I hope we can move on past this issue to work with our municipal partners on all the goals we truly share,” said state Sen. William Brownsberger, a Belmont Democrat who represents parts of Boston, after the bill went down last week.

The mayor’s refusal to back away from her defeated legislation has created a different split screen.

In October, Wu’s office urged opponents of the city’s $200 million public-private plan to rehab White Stadium for a professional women’s soccer team to abandon their appeal effort, due to a prior court ruling against their lawsuit, which seeks to block the project over unlawful privatization claims.

“The Emerald Necklace Conservancy has spent millions to stop the renovation of a Boston Public Schools athletics facility that is well underway,” a city spokesperson said in a statement at the time. “Their meritless claims have been repeatedly rejected by the courts, and this appeal should be abandoned.”

Opponents of the city and Boston Unity Soccer Partners’ plan for White Stadium have criticized the ballooning price tag that has taxpayers on the hook for at least $91 million of the city’s half of the project, and favor a scaled-down high-school only rehab they say can be built for just $64.6 million.

Wu has said the $91 million figure provided by the city in December 2024 will likely increase due to federal tariffs that are driving up the cost of construction materials, but has repeatedly pushed back her timeline for providing a final cost estimate.

On Tuesday, the mayor said final construction bids are being evaluated by the city and she expects to share an updated cost estimate by the end of the month.

Taking a page from the mayor’s playbook of dismissing the stadium opponents’ claims as “meritless,” state Sen. Nick Collins, a South Boston Democrat, said Wu’s framing of last week’s Senate action is “patently false.”

“When the mayor says the Senate rejected property tax relief for seniors last week, it is patently false,” Collins said in a statement to the Herald. “While an amendment representing a tax increase on small businesses was voted down overwhelmingly, the Senate voted 37–1 to pass property tax relief for seniors, homeowners, and small businesses. That is undeniable.

“In particular, the senior property tax exemption language that passed in the Senate last week came from a home rule petition authored by Councilor Brian Worrell in partnership with the Mass Senior Action Council,” Collins said. “It was passed unanimously by the City Council and signed by the mayor.”

“Before the Senate voted to approve these tax relief measures, the mayor supported them. Taken together, they make up two-thirds of the home rule petition,” Collins added.

Worrell, whose bid for the Council presidency was upended by Wu-aligned councilors in a last-minute shocker earlier this month, appeared to take a veiled shot at the mayor while expressing support for Collins’ amendment.

“While we might not always agree on all the tax solutions for Boston homeowners, I thank (Nick Collins) for putting people above politics and introducing this amendment,” Worrell said on X a day after last week’s Senate vote.

“This is much needed relief for our seniors and will help more of those on a fixed income stay in their community, which is why the City Council also passed it unanimously last year as a standalone measure and has included it in other legislation,” Worrell added Tuesday in a statement provided by Collins’ office.

The state Senate passed two alternative tax relief bills last week — led by two Boston senators who oppose the mayor’s plan, Collins and Brownsberger — which included amendments to provide senior and personal property tax relief.

Collins’ bill would allow the city to use surplus funds to issue tax rebates, which was a back-up element the mayor included in her tax shift legislation last year. The senior and personal property tax relief provisions were also elements of the mayor’s bill, the senator pointed out.

“These policies largely align with the mayor’s own proposals for Boston,” Collins said. “We disagree over specific components, but the broader goal of providing relief to residents is something we definitely agree on.”

As the bills head to the more Wu-aligned House of Representatives for consideration, Collins said, “I hope the mayor will consider putting her support behind these proposals.”

--------------

©2026 MediaNews Group, Inc. Visit at bostonherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.