City officials are lining up an arsenal of new tax penalties and stronger regulations to help rid the Hub of the abandoned and foreclosed properties that are blighting neighborhoods as a result of the national mortgage crisis.
“It is a real scam and it’s happening in so many cities throughout America,” said Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who was updated yesterday on efforts to revive the foreclosure-ravaged Hendry Street area in Dorchester during a revved-up meeting with 20 city officials in a new “war room” at City Hall. “All the predictions are that the worse is yet to come.”
Menino yesterday filed a home-rule petition with the state Legislature that would slap a new levy on homeowners, mortgage lenders and mortgage servicers who leave properties vacant and abandoned for more than one year. The so-called “non-utilization” tax would be set at 10 percent of the property’s assessed value, said corporation counsel William F. Sinnott.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Boston aims to tax owners of abandoned homes
The Boston Herald reports:
