The 21/2 Straitjacket

"This is going to be a year spent dealing with Proposition 2 1/2." --city manager James L. Sullivan

The Cambridge City Council began its fight to win relief from Proposition 2 1/2-induced cuts in local property taxes Monday, sending a raft of requests for new taxes and exemptions to the state legislature.

But even the most vigorous proponents of the legislative package--which includes a pair of bills aimed largely at Harvard--said privately they expect little immediate help from the state, which must approve all new taxes and any local elections to override the bill.

"The legislature will not allow a different tax system for each of the state's 351 cities and towns," councilor Saundra Graham, who is also a state representative, said, adding that without massive public pressure the legislature would probably take no action for months.

Reluctance to approve new taxes in the face of overwhelming voter support for proposition 2 1/2, the continuing lobbying efforts of groups like Citizens for Limited Taxation, and the nonchalance of suburban legislators about helping older, poorer cities stave off the effects of big tax cuts will all slow action, perhaps until later April or May, Graham and others said.

And when some action is finally taken, it will likely be a statewide tax reform of some sort--perhaps an increase in the sales tax--and probably not the more "progressive" reforms Cambridge councilors demanded Monday.

The package approved by the council Monday and sent to the legislature would raise new funds by taxing city payrolls (including Harvard's, the largest in Cambridge) and by ending the exemptions from local property taxes long enjoyed by Harvard, MIT and Lesley.

While those proposals--all vigorously backed by city employee unions who fear Sullivan's prediction of 1000 layoffs citywide by June 1--passed fairly easily, another plan, for a city sales tax piggybacked on the existing state tax, was not approved.

But the council legislation represents a model for statewide action at the very best, Graham said, adding "It's going to be an interesting year--a long, interesting year."