Ed Flynn does his part to scuttle property-tax changes in time for tax bills to go out in January

City Councilor Ed Flynn (South Boston, South End, Chinatown, Downtown) today single-handedly blocked immediate action on a deal on shifting around property-tax burdens that is aimed at shielding homeowners from some potentially large increases in tax bills starting in January.

Under council rules, last-minute requests to add something to the day's agenda - such as Wu's request to ask the state legislature to let Boston temporarily increase the tax rate charged commercial property - have to be approved unanimously.

Flynn voted no, which means the mayor will have to refile the request for next week's council meeting - at which Flynn could then vote against approving it immediately without the normally required committee hearing and study.

The council - and the state House of Representatives - had earlier approved a proposal that would let the city increase the commercial tax rate to protect, to some extent, residential property owners from having to pick up more of the overall city tax levy because of an expected large decrease in the valuation of commercial property downtown due to continued high office vacancy rates following the peaks of the Covid-19 pandemic.

But business leaders objected to the maximum rate increase and number of years in which the city would gradually decrease the commercial tax rate. Over the weekend, Wu and business groups reached an agreement to increase the commercial tax rate from 175% of the residential rate at present to as much as 181.5% next year, with that rate then decreasing back to 175% in steps over the following two years - and to have the city set aside $15 million for each of the three years to cushion the blow on small business owners.

A new home-rule request to the legislature is needed because of the changes agreed to by Wu and the business groups this weekend.

City officials say timing is critical, because state approval would have to come before the council has to set tax rates in November - in time for tax bills to go out as scheduled in January.

Flynn has long objected to Wu's proposed temporary tax-rate changes and was one of four councilors who voted against the earlier proposal in June. He called it the start of a "urban doom loop" that would send businesses fleeing from the city - and also blasted businesses that let their workers continue to work from home instead of helping support the city and its tax levy by forcing them back to their downtown offices.

Flynn called for a blue-ribbon commission to study how to raise revenue without meddling with the tax rates, but like his ongoing demand for appointment of a city rat czar, no action was taken on that idea.

Flynn did not explain his vote today, nor did Council President Ruthzee Louijeune allow any discussion of the matter.

Flynn has become an adroit wielder of the unanimous-vote requirement.

In February, Flynn used the single-nay rule to block an immediate vote on acceptance of a relatively small public-safety grant, ostensibly so four newly elected councilors could first get up to speed on the measure, and over the objections of its sponsor, Councilor Brian Worrell (Dorchester), who said it was needed immediately to help support critical work being done by the city's Emergency Operations Center.

That vote came just a week after Flynn demanded and got an immediate vote on a much larger public-safety grant that had been defeated in a tie vote in December over concerns about the impact of surveillance and counter-terrorism efforts on Black and Brown communities. The vote to accept that grant without a hearing was not unanimous, but two councilors voted "present" rather than no.

Watch - or listen - to Flynn's no vote: