City Passes Property Tax, Could Help Harvard Tenants

The Cambridge City Council last night passed new property taxes which may give both Harvard and its real estate tenants a break.

The council voted 5-4 for a residential property tax rate below last year's and a commercial rate above last year's rate. Councilors and a Harvard tenant activist said after the decision the Cambridge Rent Board could pass on Harvard's residential tax savings on in the form of lower rents.

Although Harvard will have to dig deeper than in past years to pay a tax of 34.7 percent of assessed value on its commercial holdings to the city, Councilor David L. Sullivan said he thought Harvard would benefit overall from the new rates.

Sullivan and the other three councilors in the liberal Cambridge Civic Association (CCA) teamed with self-proclaimed swing vote Alfred e. Vellucci to reject a tax plan recommended by City Manager Robert W. Healy.

Healy had suggested a lower commercial rate, designed to let Cambridge better compose with Boston for business firms, coupled with a lighter residential tax.

In addition, Healy's proposal, which was supported by the four were conservative Independent councilors, included a residential exemption which would have penalized absents landlords like the University.

Michael H. Turk, spokesman for the Cambridge Rent Control Coalition, said this larger rate would likely have lead directly to higher rents and applauded the Council's decison.

The new residential rate of 15.26 percent of assessed value takes effect October 1.