MINUTES OF THE OCTOBER 20, 2025 TAX RATE CLASSIFICATION PUBLIC MEETING

CAMBRIDGE CITY COUNCIL MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS, CHAIR TAX RATE CLASSIFICATION PUBLIC MEETING TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS OCTOBER 20, 2025 6:30 PM, SULLIVAN CHAMBER

1 MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: On the vote of nine members, we have recessed the Regular Meeting to go into the Tax Rate Classification Meeting. And the call of the meeting is as follows: The Cambridge City Council will conduct a Public Meeting on Monday, October 20th, 2025, for the purpose of the meeting being to discuss the Property Tax Rate Classification. Our first order of business is to call the role of the members present. Would someone please close the door? Thank you. Madam Clerk? INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Councillor Azeem? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: Present. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Present. Vice Mayor McGovern? VICE MAYOR MARC MCGOVERN: Present. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Present. Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Present. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Present. Councillor Siddiqui? COUNCILLOR SUMBUL SIDDIQUI: Present. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Present. Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler? COUNCILLOR JIVAN SOBRINHO-WHEELER: Present. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Present. Councillor Toner? COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: Present. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Present. Councillor Wilson? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Present. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Present. Councillor Zusy? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: Present. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Present. Mayor Simmons? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Present. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Present. You have nine members recorded in the affirmative. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: The roll having been called, our role here is to take up a meeting -- have a Public Hearing. The Cambridge City Council will conduct a Public Meeting on Monday, October 20th, 2025, at 6:30. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss the Property Tax Rate Classification. We have now called the roll. We'll move now to Public Comment. Public Comment is made in accordance with Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 38, Section 20G and the City Council Rules 23D and 37. Once you've finished speaking, the next speaker will be called. Individuals are not permitted to allocate the remainder of their time to other speakers. Is there anyone that is signed up for Public Comment? If so, I'm going to turn it over to Ms. Stephen. Ms. Stephen, Public Comment is in your hands. ( EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE CITY COUNCIL NAOMIE STEPHEN: Our first speaker is Denise Jillson. Denise has not joined. We'll go to speaker number two, Kieran Kelly. Kieran, you have three minutes. Please go ahead. MR. KIERAN KELLY: Hello there. My name's Kieran Kelly, and I'm the Associate Director of Cambridge Local First, representing over 400 small businesses city wide. I'm here in opposition to the unprecedented 22 percent increase in the commercial property tax rate for Fiscal Year 2026. Between Fiscal Year 2020 and 2023, the commercial rate -- commercial tax rate declined slightly each year. It rose by less than one percent in 2024, and then by more than 10 percent in 2025. The proposed 22

2 percent hike more than doubles last year's already drastic increase. The City attributes this declining off -- the City attributes this to declining office and lab values. But raising rates at precisely the moment when these sectors are struggling adds burden where resilience is weakest, penalizing small businesses for economic trends that are beyond their control. Cambridge businesses already shoulder an unusually high share of the tax burden. The current 66 percent commercial and 34 percent residential split far exceeds nearby cities. Boston, for instance, draws only 58 percent of its property taxes from commercial sources, and other neighboring municipalities even less than Boston. Yet, at the October 15th meeting, officials defended the proposal by noting that Cambridge's rate remains -- rate itself, dollar value, remains below Boston's, and that residential owners are, quote unquote, “house rich and cash poor”. But that misses the point because our tax levy is pegged at $6,634 businesses will always pay two-thirds of the total. Comparing nominal rates without addressing that structural imbalance ignores the inequity faced by small businesses especially, and particularly when preserving that ratio requires a 22 percent increase just to maintain it. And we recognize this City's fiscal pressures, and we want to collaborate on responsible solutions going forward. And with that in mind, we respectfully request two actions as we move forward. First, we request the delay of the adoption of this increase until a full economic impact assessment is completed, including a serious consideration of the small commercial exemption, a State policy allowing lower taxes, a potential 10 percent decrease in commercial property taxes rates for commercial parcels that are valued under $1 million and that house businesses with 10 or less employees. About 40 percent, according to Cambridge's own data, of its commercial properties are valued at less than $1 million, meaning that there could be a substantial impact on the most vulnerable small businesses. And second, we hope that the City will want to establish a permanent communication channel, like quarterly meetings between the City and business associations, to ensure further transparency in the future. Our businesses are not asking for special treatment, just fairness and a seat at the table. Thank you very much. EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE CITY COUNCIL NAOMIE STEPHEN: Thank you. We're going to go back to Denise Jillson, followed by Heather Hoffman. Denise, you have three minutes. Please go ahead. MS. DENISE JILLSON: Good evening. Good evening, Madam Mayor, Vice Mayor McGovern and Councillors. Denise Jilson, Executive Director for the Harvard Square Business Association. We understand that commercial and residential tax rates for FY26 are probably locked in, and at this point, any adjustment would require this Council to impose deep budget cuts or shift a greater tax burden to residential owners. You have heard over these last week or so, probably including today, from colleagues at my -- my colleagues in the Business Association, certainly CLF, property owners, small business owners, and hotels. And we can only imagine how difficult this is, given the kind of disappointment and frustration that we have as a business community, knowing the burden that our small businesses in particular are going to feel. So, what we're asking as we move forward into the development of the FY27 budget is that you have continued engagement and communication with the Council, and really that we meet frequently, particularly as the budget process unfolds. We could have done that, and probably should have done more of that, last time around, and I don't think any one of us really anticipated this kind of a burden, but I really feel like we're -- you know, we are where we are, and the only thing that we can ask for is, as we move forward, that we can -- we have continued engagement and that there will be budget cuts, and those cuts will hurt, but if we don't do that, I can't imagine having another year next year the way we've had this year. And I really, you know, look forward to working with you, and making sure that the budget is carefully constructed, knowing that the business community cannot take this kind of increase next year, and thank you very much for listening. EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE CITY COUNCIL NAOMIE STEPHEN: Thank you. Our next

3 speaker is Heather Hoffman. Heather, you have three minutes. Please go ahead. MS. HEATHER HOFFMAN: Hello, Heather Hoffman, 213 Hurley Street. I'd like to build on what you’ve heard from prior speakers, and also what City officials said at the last hearing on this. I am well aware that you did in fact signal that this kind of an increase was coming months ago when you discussed and then adopted the budget. But people are human, and people don't necessarily hear that. People also, even people who are very intelligent, who do not -- are not scared of numbers and all of that, don't necessarily understand how the City budget works, how Proposition 2½, and the things that have gone into getting us to this point. Now, setting aside any budget cuts that I might recommend, or that anybody else might recommend, what I can say is that there are people working for the City who have done a very good job explaining how all of this works. But a lot of people can't read these memos and understand all of the implications. So, really, if we don't want to have this keep happening, because I don't think times are going to be getting better anytime soon, then you owe yourselves and us real education about how this all gets put together. And you might also think about some ways that you can do reasonable belt tightening so that people who are paying the taxes will not feel as beleaguered, as I think so many of us are right now. So, I'm going to agree that this tax rate is going to go through, most likely. But you have created problems for yourself by how you have acted to not educate people, and you need to improve that because you have people who can do it. Thank you. EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE CITY COUNCIL NAOMIE STEPHEN: Our next speaker is Luke Smith, followed by James Williamson. Luke, if you can unmute yourself. (Pause) Luke, you have the floor. Please unmute yourself. (Pause) Luke is unable to unmute. We will go to James Williamson. James, you have three minutes. Please go ahead. MR. JAMES WILLIAMSON: Can you hear me? EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE CITY COUNCIL NAOMIE STEPHEN: Yes, we can. Please go ahead. MR. JAMES WILLIAMSON: Thank you. The former Clerk used -- told me that she appreciated my asking that question. First of all, I'm kind of shocked. I don't know, shocked, nobody's shocked about anything these days. I'm surprised, dismayed to hear that apparently there's nothing -- people seem to think there's nothing that can be done about the tax rate. What's the point of having a Public Hearing about anything if the decisions have already been made? So, I would like to believe that a Tax Rate Hearing is tied to whether or not the City Council, in their wisdom, will adopt recommendations or not. It seems to me that small businesses -- we hear about it all the time, about people worried about businesses closing, losing parking, going out of business, and here's an opportunity to do something about it. I mean, it -- I mean, I haven't studied it carefully, as others have, but 22 percent certainly sounds like a lot when applied to smaller businesses. I don't really care if big biotech companies that have, because of irresponsible development policies, ended up with a lot of vacancies. Why is that our problem? You know, I guess Cambridge -- people in Cambridge got used to the idea that big companies, big real estate companies, or biotech companies would pick up the tab, and politically it was seen as an easy way to keep residential property taxes low, and now the chickens are coming home to roost. But if we care about -- all right. So, the big companies, they're the ones that really should have to bear this burden. The small businesses, and I thought the idea that was mentioned by an earlier speaker makes a lot of sense. I'm not sure what the details are, but to allow there to be a differentiation between smaller businesses, defining what that line, or maybe there -- maybe there are two -- maybe there are three tiers, so that smaller businesses can prosper in this city, and we don't have just, you know, big biotech and IT and companies and the university. Harvard's endowment jumped to $57 billion, despite all their whining.

4 So, I really urge the Council to be conscientious and tough about a tax rate, and a Tax Rate Public Hearing, and really evaluate whether there isn't a way to ease the burden on the small businesses, which of course only gets passed on to the consumer or the customer, you know, and we are end up paying this higher tax, and I don't think we should. And I appreciate your consideration for mitigation of that burden. Thank you. EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE CITY COUNCIL NAOMIE STEPHEN: Madam Mayor, that is all that we're signed up for this Public Comment. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: This concludes Public Comment. Pleasure of the Council? On a motion by Councillor Zusy to close Public Comment, please call the roll. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Councillor Azeem? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Vice Mayor McGovern? VICE MAYOR MARC MCGOVERN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Siddiqui? COUNCILLOR SUMBUL SIDDIQUI: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler? COUNCILLOR JIVAN SOBRINHO-WHEELER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Toner? COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Wilson? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Zusy? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Mayor Simmons? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. And you have nine members recorded in the affirmative. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Public Comment is now closed on the affirmative vote of nine members. I will now invite the City Manager and his team forward to take up the discussion on the Tax Classification Rate. Don't run to the table. Assistant City Manager, if you will, before opening -- your opening remarks, introduce those that are at the table for those that are viewing in and may not know who's with you, and then the floor is yours. CITY MANAGER YI-AN HUANG: Thank you. Through you, Mayor Simmons. We have Claire Spinner, our Assistant City Manager of Finance; Gayle Willett, who is our Director of Assessing; and Taha Jennings, who is our Budget Director. So, thank you all. I think Claire, did we want to open with anything? Or I suppose I would say we have, since the last meeting two weeks ago, -- MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Mm-hmm. CITY MANAGER YI-AN HUANG: -- had a meeting where we invited the business associations, and some of the small businesses that they represent, to ask questions and have their voices heard. I think it was a productive conversation. Some of the information out there, I think we tried to clarify, but certainly a lot of the message that we heard is pretty similar to what we're hearing today. And a lot of, I think, what we were sharing two weeks ago remains true, that -- that, you know, this is

5 really part of the broader budget process in that the decisions we have before us are not really related to how high or low the tax rate is. That's really driven by the budget that we set. And so, we ultimately make decisions about the overall operating budget, and then as part of that budget, we are setting where the revenues end up landing. A lot of that, given the economic conditions, is landing on the tax levy, which is why over these last cycles, we are seeing the tax levy increase higher than the budget increase. So, it has been a lot of these conversations where we have been sharing the need for us to moderate our operating budget growth during these economic times. Our budget for this Fiscal Year is 3.8 percent in terms of operating budget growth, which is much lower than previous years. That resulted in an 8 percent tax levy increase. And then as part of that process, we approved the budget in June, and then we -- assessing works to understand where the values land, and then we have the Tax Rate Hearing, which is in the fall. And at that Tax Rate Hearing, based on where the values are, the rates get set to raise the total amount of dollars in the levy that the budget requires. So, I think before us today continues to be mostly the vote to affirm the split between the commercial rate and residential rate, and then the residential exemption that we have. But I think these are good moments, and I've said this in the meeting we had with the business associations, but these are good moments for us, once we understand where the rates land, to have a conversation about the budget and to ensure that we continue to get input and engagement, especially as we move into the next budget process. So, I appreciate that we've been able to have more of this conversation, and I certainly would be happy for myself and the team to clarify any additional questions about some of the dynamics that are at play, what kind of possibilities we have in terms of how we think about different -- you know, different ways we can approach this. Anything to add, Claire or Gayle or Taha? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Does Ms. Spinner or Director Jennings want to add anything, or Ms. Willett? Not particularly in that order, but --. ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER FOR FISCAL AFFAIRS CLAIRE SPINNER: No, I don't have anything further to say. Happy to answer any questions. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Mr. Jennings, anything you'd like to add? BUDGET DIRECTOR TAHA JENNINGS: Through you, Madam Mayor. No, as well, ready to answer any questions people may have. Thanks. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Ms. Willett, this is your chance to talk or run. ASSESSING DIRECTOR GAYLE WILLETT: I'll talk a little. No, I don't have anything either. I think we're ready for questions. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Very good. Okay, I'll open the floor to my colleagues. In the first round, Councillor Toner, Councillor Azeem, because he's online, and then Councillor Nolan, and then anyone else that wants to be -- the Vice Mayor. So, Councillor Toner? COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: Thank you, Madam Mayor. I chartered this issue at the last meeting. Also fully knowing from the staff that we need to vote on this tonight because they have to be able to put the tax bills out because as we were apprised, you know, we're already a quarter into the budget, and, you know, there's -- money needs to be coming in. So, we cannot delay this vote this evening. I'm prepared to vote for it. I only asked -- I only chartered it so that there would be two weeks to better inform people and answer their questions so that people have a better understanding. And I just -- you know, the only statement I want to make to the general public, both residents and the business community, is, you know, the budget process, I think for the last three years, I don't know what it was like before I was on the Council, but over the last three years, I believe we've had extensive meetings about the

6 budget, and the staff have made themselves completely available to answer every question that people want asked. And it's been very clear for the past -- at least the past year, if not even a little earlier, that the economy of Cambridge is changing. Again, we're not in some sort of economic freefall, but the days of being able to just say yes, and do anything, and add it to the tab are kind of coming to an end, and I want to applaud the City Manager and the staff, because I know that Councillor Nolan and I -- I think last year, when we were having this very same meeting, said we can't keep doing 8 percent residential tax increases, and, you know, weren't even talking about the business side of things at that particular point in time. So, I felt the staff did a good job of trying to hold increase in budget to 3.4 percent, I think that was the number. But unfortunately, because of prior spending on big projects, like schools and fire stations and universal pre-K and other things, the budget -- the tax rate is going up faster. And the only way to get that under control is, again, to aggressively focus on the budget going forward. And I won't be here for that, but my message to the residents of Cambridge is to start really thinking, you know, we provide a lot of services, and I don't begrudge those services at all, but we already provide a lot of things that other cities and towns do not do. And if people are serious about saying they don't want to pay increases in taxes, or at least not more than 3 percent or 4 percent per year, then they need to understand that there's going to come a day when we have to say, we're going to have to start making some cuts. We definitely can't add any more. Even at a 3.4 percent growth, and I guess this would be a question for Ms. Spinner at this point, just trying to keep it at 3.4 percent, it was an 8 percent increase. So, even if we had a zero percent increase in the operating budget in the next round of budget next year, there's still going to be an increase in the tax rate to sustain things. Am I correct? If you'd like to just take a -- you don't have to make any wild predictions, but I'm assuming that there'd still be a tax increase, even if we kept budget growth at zero percent. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Ms. Spinner? ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER FOR FISCAL AFFAIRS CLAIRE SPINNER: Yeah. Through you, Mayor Simmons. I think if we had a zero change in our budget, so that we -- and as long as non-property tax revenues stayed flat, we would not need an increase in the -- COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: Oh. ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER FOR FISCAL AFFAIRS CLAIRE SPINNER: -- property tax levy, there would -- because we would just need the same amount of revenues. However, I don't think it is actually possible for us to have 1a zero growth because as you know, there are just normal increases to budget. And one of the ways we were actually able to achieve the 3.8 percent budget growth this past year is we extended our pension costs. So, you know, we will have to all apply ourselves, you know, for the FY27 budget to be able to continue to focus on moderating our budget growth. It won't be easy, but I think it's something that we jointly have to work on. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Toner? COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: Thank you. Just for the follow-up, I mean, As you said, there's inflation, there's contract negotiations, there's health insurance costs, etcetera. So, keeping it at complete zero -- the only way to keep it at complete zero is to start making cuts. And I think people just have to understand, if that's what they want -- I mean, I've always used the example, my children played hockey at the high school for free. There's so many things that we do in our public schools for free that we all love and appreciate. I love the fact that, on a weekly basis, the trash comes and picks up the recycling and the trash. Other towns, you have to pay for that, or maybe it's every other week. You know, there are all sorts of things that we do as a city, social programs, education programs, DPW, etcetera, all things that we do in Cambridge that many other cities and towns don't do. And I just -- I want to alert the public that today's the day they need to start paying attention. And, hopefully, we'll continue to be a generous community. But if people do have ideas, legitimate ideas on how we

7 can do things more efficiently, save money or something, I think this Council, or any future Council, is all ears to hear those ideas. But I don't want anybody living in a fantasy world that there's not going to be no tax increase, short of major cuts. And as Vice Mayor McGovern has said many times, I don't think we've laid off -- well, I don't think we had a major layoff or any type of layoff in the City of Cambridge since the beginning of Prop 2½ in 1980. We've been very lucky to not have to make cuts to our Fire department, our Police Department, our School Department, over the years. And that's -- you know, that’s when you have -- to achieve a zero percent tax increase, it sounds like you would have to start cutting it to the meat. There's not a whole lot of fat to go around. Some people might think some programs are unnecessary, and they are things that we do because we're Cambridge. But, you know, it's going to be real pain for people, in one way or another, going forward if we take that approach. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I yield. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Toner yields the floor. Vice Mayor? VICE MAYOR MARC MCGOVERN: Thank you, Madam Mayor. Yeah, I agree a lot with what Councillor Toner was saying. I think, you know, we're all out there talking to folks, and we talk about the things that people like that we're doing. And that stuff all costs money, right? It costs money. That's what taxes are for. Now, I'm sure that there are things that we -- where we could make some cuts, or there are some programs that maybe have outlived their usefulness and they're still going on because we haven't been in a position where we've had to cut things, right? But I do -- you know, I do remember when we were voting -- when I was on the School Committee, and we voted the Innovation Agenda through, and some of the -- so some of the K to eight schools lost their middle schools, right? Their middle schools, they moved out and moved up to the upper schools. And we were -- the Superintendent at the time came forward with a plan around curriculum coaches. Now curriculum coaches are -- go with the teachers. They're there for the teachers. So, if you have fewer teachers, you have smaller caseloads for those curriculum coaches. And he was going to -- we were going to lose like one curriculum coach. And people turned out to the School Committee meeting as if we were -- we just said we're going to start going back to corporal punishment in the classroom. People were outraged. And I pointed out that Newton's Public Schools, who had twice the enrollment of Cambridge, had eight -- at the time, had eight curriculum coaches for their District. We had 33, for half the kids, right? So, it just goes to this point. I mean, we're talking about after school tomorrow, right? Tell me another City that will pick your -- will take your kid from, you know, an East Cambridge school, where they go during the day, and bus them for free across to a West Cambridge afterschool program because it's more convenient for the parents to pick their kid up at that afterschool, right? That's free. Right, this stuff. So, as we talk about these cuts, I think it's easy and we're hearing this a lot out there, well, you know, they're not fiscally responsible. I just want to point out the school budget is 30 percent of the City's budget, roughly, 29 point something. So, where are we talking about cutting? Are we talking about cutting the public schools budget? Okay. Where do you want to make those cuts? You know, public safety is a big part of our budget. Okay, where do you want to cut in public safety? DHSP, that pays for those programs like preschool and after school, what do you want to cut there? And so, it's really easy to talk about we have to be more fiscally responsible, until you actually get to the point where you have to make those decisions. So, I'm with Councillor Toner in agreeing that I think we're going to have some challenging conversations moving forward. And people are going to have -- you know, there may be a little bit of pain that we haven't felt here in 40 years, practically. And so, I do hope that we continue to have these public conversations. I encourage people who call into Public Comment. I hope that they stay for the conversations, because some of these things we've discussed before. And tell me if I'm wrong, Mr. Manager, and I don't know if the City Solicitor is here, but my

8 understanding is that we can't set different tax rates for different sized businesses. I believe, and maybe I'm misremembering, as they now say, that we have asked, and you have answered this question several times. And yet we continue to hear people say, do this. And so, we just -- you know, we have to make -- we have to keep repeating these things all the time so that people -- because a lot of times people don't hear it because they're, you know --. So, we can't do that, right? So, we can't say if you're a business of 10 employees, you pay this rate. If you're a business of 100 employees, you -- right? Is that -- am I correct in that? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Mr. City Manager? CITY MANAGER YI-AN HUANG: Through you, Mayor Simmons. That is correct. I think there are very few flexibilities in terms of how we charge different commercial properties, different rates. Really, the way that we do it, where there are these different classes and then the valuations are driving the differential rates, that is the way every city and town essentially does it. And there's not a lot of provisions that allow for something different to happen. I'd also just note, you know, there is a challenge where what we're hearing from are small businesses, and those are the folks that are sometimes impacted because of the lease arrangements where some of those taxes are passing through. But the taxes are not on small businesses, they're on commercial property. And so, there is an indirect nature to this that makes it a little bit harder to do some of that targeting. Where really I think the ask is to say how do we insulate small businesses from taxes, but they're not actually the ones that are being taxed. I do know there's been some conversation about some specific provisions that we've reviewed, and we don't think really apply that well within the City of Cambridge. But I think we could either get into that or have the conversation separately. VICE MAYOR MARC MCGOVERN: I don't think we need to get into it now. But through you, Madam Mayor, I am also -- you know, I -- we heard a couple of property owners get up at the last -- two weeks ago and say, you know, they are concerned about passing these expenses on to the -- their tenants, and they're afraid that their tenants might leave, and then they'll have a vacancy. Well, don't pass it on. Right? If you are a large property owner that owns multiple properties in Cambridge that has comer- -- you know, small businesses in them, and you're afraid that those businesses are going to leave, and you're going to end up with a vacancy that's going to end up costing you more money in the long run because it's hard to find a tenant, amend your lease. Help them. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Hmm. VICE MAYOR MARC MCGOVERN: Right? Be part of the community in solving this problem. The property owners have a hell of a lot more money than the person who owns -- who's running the little frozen yogurt store. So, there's no -- they're not forced to pass this on, or at least all of it on. So, be part of the solution. And I'll yield because I think we -- you know, I know we ha- -- we're going to have to do this. I certainly do support better and more communication. But at the end of the day, we do a lot of incredibly wonderful things in this city that people, I think, over the last 40 years have grown to expect and take for granted, and now they don't realize that these things cost money, and where that money comes from, and that conversation is going to be real tough on everybody over the next few years. Thank you. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Vice Chair yields the floor. Councillor Azeem, do you want to speak on this? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: I do, Madam Mayor. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: The floor is yours. COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: Thank you. I had only brief comments, which is I think that we've tried to bring forward for the community that we're going to have slower budget growth, and we've talked about that a lot this year. I think that still has filtered down into the community in tough conversations, and that I think everyone on this Body and in this call

9 in general have heard that, and yet we still get a lot of questions about why you're not funding X program, you know, why you're not doing this other new thing. And so, I think that just going from where we were, where it was very easy to expand to new programs, to be where we are now has been a big change. And hopefully this will be another point that will make it an easier conversation next year. I don't have much more to add for today, except I did want to just say that, you know, I know that there was a lot done in prior administrations about like making sure we did have healthy commercial growth as well, and I think that that's always a tough conversation because new jobs means more people want to live here. But I think that that is something that I would be excited to revisit and talk about as we are closer to the next budget cycle as well and try to see if there is interest in having new commercial properties in Cambridge, and what that might look like, and if there's anything that we need to do on the City side to encourage that. Thank you. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Azeem yields the floor. Councillor Nolan, would you like to speak on this item? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Yes, thank you. (INDISCERNIBLE 1:36:29) MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: The floor is yours. COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Thank you. Can you hear me? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Yes. COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Yeah, thank you. Yes. I think as my colleagues have pointed out, we have been in a position in the last probably decade, or even longer due, to mostly new development. The property -- commercial, and also values in residential, have gone up so significantly that as we added more and more programs, expanded programs, there was not the same level of appreciation and growth in the tax rate. But even the last few years, it's been significant. We heard it not just this year for residential, but the last few years. It's been around, you know, 7 percent or 8 percent every year. That's higher than inflation. And what's particularly difficult this year, which we all understand and have heard, is that we have focused typically, and as the Finance Chair, I -- as all of these meetings and my colleagues are at it, we have typically focused more on the residential rate, what impact it will have on condos, on single family, two family. And this year, what -- when we saw that there was a very, very different impact on the commercial tax rate, it was something that I think has taught all of us that the kind of communication that happened in the couple weeks since we had this discussion delayed in order to communicate, is something we need to include. And I know the staff is aware, and will include in future discussion, that when we do the Tax Rate Hearing, we need to ensure that we have the same level of detail on the impact on commercial -- which, if folks haven't had a chance to review, I think the memo that went out, and if the staff wants to talk some about that, it really laid out for all of us the fact that for some commercial tax properties, their taxes aren't even going up in dollar terms because their valuation went down so much that a 22 percent raise in the rate has meant that their actual bill is very similar to what it was last year. However, there's others, where if their valuation went up on top of it a 22 percent rate increase, it means that their actual dollars being paid is more than 22 percent. It could be, I think, as high as, you know, 27 or 30 percent for a few properties. And that is something very challenging for people to sustain, as we heard in Public Comment. It's also something we have to remember that we still do have lower tax rates on both the residential side and the commercial side compared to almost every other community around. Just a couple of points. I think all of us are very sensitive to the burden this places. Again, eight percent overall for residential is not insignificant. Eight percent overall, which we need on commercial is not insignificant. It's difficult for many people to pay that, and we knew this when we passed the budget. Last May, it was a very clear graph that this was going to happen. We didn't know exactly how it would land, but we knew for sure everything was having to go up eight percent on the property tax side in order to fund a budget that we passed, that even though it was only a few percent higher, it included an incredible amount of spending, closing in on a billion dollars. I want to have all of us be clear that since the -- the idea raised in Public Comment about whether we

10 could have different tax rates for commercial property based on size or number of employees, as the Vice Mayor asked, it's clear from a legal perspective, we may not, we cannot do that. It's just not within our power. That's something only the -- the State dictates that, and we must follow, obviously, the State law. It's not just that other communities do the same. They do it because it's the only legal pathway forward. So, right now, if we were to decide that it was a primary goal to lower the 22 percent tax rate on commercial, the only two options available to us are to shift the burden or shift that dollar amount to residences and raise the rates there; or cut our budget a quarter of the way into the year, and that would mean likely some programs being cut or some salaries being cut. So, right now, I think we all understand, and Denise Jillson, I think, resignedly understands the budget enough to know that those two options are not something I'm willing to entertain right now, to either shift to residences and make the rates higher or cut our City budget. I do think going forward we need to understand that this is not sustainable, and that means, as several people have already said, next year's budget conversations -- which, by the way, will be starting next month in December, we're not going to wait until next spring, they're already starting on some of them on the City now -- are really going to include, as ACM Spinner noted, conversations about how we can work smarter, because we are going to have to do that in order to avoid this kind of rate increase next year. You know, the lab space vacancies, the assessments are not going away. So, I will end with one question, which is it would be helpful to hear a little more detail from the -- through you, Mayor Simmons, and the staff of I'm very glad the meeting happened, even though it was not good news for those small businesses. I think just having some time to adjust, we know is really important. Is there a report, basically, on some of the questions raised, or some of the ideas that those small businesses or business associations had at the meeting that was held by the City in order to explain how it is that we got to this situation? If there's any learnings from that, or anything that we should know about, it would be really good to hear about now. Again, I really appreciate everyone understanding this a little more, and coming to us with concerns, because it is something that really needed to be out in the public, and to understand, as the Vice Mayor said, it's because we passed a budget that included all the spending that we have and there's no way around it. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Mr. City Manager, do you want you or someone from your staff want to respond? Ms. Spinner? ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER FOR FISCAL AFFAIRS CLAIRE SPINNER: Yes, thank you, Mayor, through you. I think I would say, primarily, I think the meeting was a very good conversation and a good opportunity for us to hear some of the concerns. Gayle Willett and her staff actually put together a very helpful presentation that we shared with the Business Association and their members, as well as we shared also with the City Council, trying to explain a little bit more, you know, the sort of intersection between rates, overall levy increase, and actual values. Because, as you said, as we've all said, that 22 percent increase in the commercial tax rate is not because we were looking for 22 percent more revenue. It was just that intersection of needing to raise eight percent more, and what happened to values within the class. So, I think, you know, we had some learning really to hear about some of the concerns, some of the communication concerns. I think, you know, as we look forward to next year when we're doing this, in terms of what information we've put out through our -- the memo that goes to the City Council explaining the tax rate, and other informational material we put out, we'll put some more focus into more information about impacts on various classifications within the commercial sector, as we have -- typically, as we've all explained, focused a lot on our residential taxpayers. So, I think that is really -- you know, and I think also just encouraging ongoing, you know, sort of engagement and communication, you know, with our small business assoc- -- and business associations, I think, as we all embark on the work to put the FY27 budget together. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Ms. Spinner yields the floor.

11 Does anyone else from your side of the table? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Mayor Simmons, just one -- one more point. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Hold on, Councillor. I wanted to see if anyone from the table --. COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Just one --. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Hold on, Councillor Nolan, I wanted to see if anyone else wanted to say anything. COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Okay, sorry. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Anything else? Okay, very good. Back to you, Councillor Nolan. COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Just one quick point to make -- and thank you. I apologize for interrupting, Mayor Simmons. The timing of this was also something that we need to reiterate, which is it's not that we were hiding it. We knew about the eight percent in May and June. We could not know about the differential rates until some other processes had happened. And I think that was part of the frustration and confusion and also concern expressed is that, why didn't you tell us this, you know, when -- before? Well, we couldn't know. So, if we could just confirm that and make sure we all understand the timeline is that we don't even get that information, as I understand it, until September or early October, and that's why -- that's when the Tax Rate Hearing comes out. So, thank you, and with that, if there's any response from the staff, fine, but otherwise I yield, Mayor Simmons MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Any response from the floor? Ms. Willett? ASSESSING DIRECTOR GAYLE WILLETT: Sure. Thank you, Mayor Simmons. Yes, it is we are collecting data. We are analyzing data in the Assessing Department. So, we do not understand what the tax rate is, nor do we understand the value implications on the different classes of property until much later. We actually didn't know the tax rate until the Monday the week before, because we were still doing analysis and still looking at different options. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Ms. Willett yields the floor. Councillor Nolan yields the floors. Pleasure of the City Council? Councillor Zusy, Councillor Siddiqui. COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: Thank you, Madam Mayor. I will be short. I just wanted to thank you for all of your work. I felt like you prepared us for -- you prepared us to understand that our financial circumstances had changed. We had five meetings about that last year, and I think it was just maybe more of a surprise to our neighborhood associations and businesses. So, again, going forward, we'll need to communicate better with them. And I wonder if some town meetings around town might be helpful too, because I think if the residents realize -- they sort of see what's going on too, but I think if they're more informed, they might have ideas also about places we can do cost cutting. I think the only thing I was surprised by last year, my first year on the Council, was that we didn't cut more from the budget, anticipating the uncertainties ahead. And I think the public might have some great ideas about places that we might consider cutting back. Anyway, I'm so appreciative to all of you for keeping us in great fiscal strength. We still have that AAA bond rating. And please hold on to the free cash for us. I think especially during uncertain financial times, it's just nice to have a little extra cash around. Thank you so much, and I yield. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Zusy yields the floor. Council Siddiqui, the floor is yours. COUNCILLOR SUMBUL SIDDIQUI: Thank you, through you. I agree with a lot of what my colleagues have said. I know that the City usually mails out that one pager,

12 but I was wondering if, in the Daily Update, maybe something could be sent now that we've done this. And I felt that the presentation was really -- what you had sent to us was really helpful. And if there's somewhere -- some section of the Daily Update in the next week, some kind of summary explaining this, reiterating, you know, the fact -- basically, what's -- everything that’s been said, would be helpful. Even as we get these questions, the more, you know, information, the more explanation, I think is really helpful. So, that's just an ask, and a suggestion. So, I'll leave it there. Thank you. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Siddiqui yields the floor. Councillor Sobrinho-Wheel, do you want to be heard? COUNCILLOR JIVAN SOBRINHO-WHEELER: Thanks Madam Mayor, through you. I think -- as others have noted, I think it's important to clarify that the amount of the City budget was decided back in June when we voted on it. So, the only thing we're talking about tonight is the split between the commercial and the residential rate. The only choice before this Council this evening is if we want to move forward with the commercial- residential split that staff have put forward, or if we want to increase taxes on Cambridge homeowners in order to reduce the tax rate on businesses in the City. To be clear, I do not think that makes sense. I would not support that. When we were discussing in the budget in the spring, I think City staff made it clear we were going to see local impacts as a result of the national economic climate on property valuations. We did pass that budget on a unanimous vote in the spring. I think that Councillors were, you know, concerned, myself included, about the size of the budget. That was the time to raise those concerns and put forward specific reductions to spending. You know, don't -- don’t -- hearing anyone tonight saying, you know, I made a mistake, I didn't understand what I was voting for. So, I hope we can all move forward with this tonight. I will point out that, you know, I -- I, and some other Councillors, spent a lot of time during those budget discussions in the spring talking about parts of the budget that were maybe not, you know, currently priorities. I supported reducing spending on new equipment requested by CPD. It didn't have the votes to pass at that time. I think that was the only specific spending reduction that was proposed. You know, and just when we were talking about the budget, we didn't hear a lot of advocacy around reducing parts of it from the community. We heard a lot of advocacy about things people wanted in the budget, about things we wanted to make sure were in there, did not hear, you know, big concerns about the size of the budget or pieces of it. I think we can always, you know, improve the public education process around the budget, and, you know, help explain how the size of the budget translates into the tax rate, make -- help make sure folks understand, you know, what the tax implications are of the budget process. I will note that I'm glad to have put forward Charter amendments about starting the budget process earlier, just so we can start that budget conversation earlier. We don't start the budget process -- you know, have it before us until the spring. Hopefully starting that earlier gives people more chance to raise those concerns or just have that discussion. And would flag that, you know, I hope anyone with concerns about the budget, or the tax rate, will vote yes on the Charter, and will spread that to their network to, you know, improve the budget process and bring that out earlier. I think that’s -- if that's a -- you know, a takeaway, if you have questions or concerns about this, let's have the budget process start earlier and let's make sure we do these Charter changes that are some of the first we've done in 80 years. That's all I had to say for this for now, and I yield back. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler yields the floor. Councillor Wilson, the floor is yours. COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Thank you, Madam Mayor, and through you. Thank you again for the presentation and for the work that you all have done. I really want to appreciate the level of transparency and just how we are able to kind of engage in these conversations right now.

13 What I was kind of noting to myself was just like, you know, I totally agree with all my colleagues here with like we were talking about this for some time about the financial responsibilities, and knowing that we can't, you know, expend outside of our means, if you would, and we have to be tighter with our pockets. But on the same token, we were increasing the cost of -- to repair -- to do repairs, say even to the Firehouse, right? Or to other projects, or even Police firearms, or just other things that we had to tap into free cash, and stuff. So, I really think like the shock wasn't that we would need to be increasing. I think it's the amount in which we need to increase. And, you know, by 22 percent, and however that kind of plays out, is not a small number. And so, regardless, like I think for our commercial businesses, for our commercial folks, it's important that we are thinking about what that impact would be, right? And I think those are the -- I don't want to say unintended consequences, but that's just the area. I mean, we know that it takes our small businesses to also help our community thrive. So, if perhaps a small business may -- because a commercial landlord, right, is actually possibly going to put the dollars onto the tenant. And if it is a small business owner, and that can impact their ability to remain, those are the things I want us to be able to capture in terms of data, like what does that actually look like, because we don't want to see a business not be able to maintain their livability or vi- -- their ability to stay in Cambridge because of a tax increase. So, I don't know how we could be intentional around understanding what that looks like for small businesses. I think you all are -- you know, I think to have it Chartered, and be able to have the two weeks to even engage with our commercial district folks, our associations, was good, so that we can actually know on the ground. And I want to see that that kind of conversations are -- that those conversations are happening more frequently because those are the folks who are on the ground with our businesses and can really inform how we move forward. And, again, with tax increases, that this will probably not be the last of it, right? That we want to make sure that we're engaging folks across the board more intentionally. And even if it was to come at some point down the line, even back to resident increases, we want to engage as soon -- you know, as possible in these conversations. You know, I think, again, and many people have already said it, in Cambridge, we are super privileged, right, in that respect, that we have -- we still will have the lowest tax rates across the Commonwealth. And so, with that -- or within the region. And so, with that being said, it's like, that's great -- and the impact of even increases could hurt individuals. And, you know, I think somebody said it in Public Comment. Again, while we don't want to push it on residentials, who are living maybe house rich but income poor, we want to -- that can be the same for our businesses as well, right, who are trying to really make it day by day with selling the goods that they have in our community. So, I'm just curious if there's any feedback or any thoughts that are going into just how we're thinking, long-term thinking, about how we're engaging with folks around our taxes, but also understanding the moment that we're in right now, we're going to be here for a little bit. So, like as we even jump into our next Fiscal Year and move forward even over the next three to five years, what are the conversations that we're having, and how can we be more -- I guess I want to be -- I don't want us to be reactive. I want us to really be thinking proactively on how we can be preparing our community across the board for what increases will be looking like. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Mr. City Manager? Assistant City Manager Spinner, do you want to speak to this? Mr. Jennings? Or Ms. -- I'm sorry, you know, I know your name, but I can't think of it right now - - CITY MANAGER YI-AN HUANG: Ms. Willett. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Ms. Willett. Thank you. CITY MANAGER YI-AN HUANG: Through you, Mayor Simmons. You know, thank you for the question, Councillor Wilson.

14 A lot of the message, I think, that was coming out of the conversation with the small businesses and business association is to remain engaged, especially as we go into this next budget process. I think that's really where the decisions are being made about how quickly the budget is growing and how we think about the allocation of resources. In terms of getting in front of it, I mean, I would say one of the challenges is also we don't know exactly when there will be a lot of feedback coming, especially on something like this. I would say residential rates have been going up for some time and it's been pretty quiet, but that would be where I could see we need more engagement as we move forward. Some of the conversation we have been having about the budget and the trends we're seeing, particularly as it relates to the residential-commercial shift, is the chance that we will max out on how much we can continue to shift to commercial. And so, as much as we're having this conversation where a lot of the small businesses are saying, well, there's a 22 percent increase in the tax rate on commercial. A lot of that is being driven by how, similar to every other city, we are protecting residential taxpayers. And so, the split between commercial and residential as part of this year's budget increased from 140 percent commercial rate to 152 percent. When you get to 175 percent, that's it, you can't increase it anymore. At which point more and more of the total increase, especially if commercial values continue to decline and residential values either stay flat or increase, you could see a really significant spike in residential tax rates. So, that'll be some of the conversation we're having, depending on the economic conditions, both for this upcoming budget and the following one. And so, I would probably note, you know, we want to continue to engage with the small business community, but it may be the case that we should be engaging more with residents, especially as we're thinking about how some of these levy increases could end up more on the residential side, depending on how the values shift. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Thank you. And through you, Madam Mayor, to the panel. Yeah, I appreciate that. And I think it will be intentional. It will be purposeful for us to be engaging in those conversations, sooner versus later, but also to really think about -- because it's not just homeowners, right? It would be property owners, right, for residentials. And so -- and you all can correct me, please, through you, Madam Mayor, if it's -- like if we're looking at affordable housing units versus luxury units, like how -- what does -- and I'm talking about rentals, specifically, can you just break down kind of what that looks like? And -- because as we are increasing our conversations around zoning and, you know, building out more units, if there's going to be this, you know, larger tax amounts, you know, larger tax things on people, I think it's just something, again, for folks to be mindful of as they're engaging in, oh, wow, there's this new piece of property, but residential is like about to be taxed even higher, what does this look like in terms of the long term? And again, thinking about the affordability for rents as we're -- that's what we're really trying to combat is like the affordability. And if it's possible that the residential taxes are going to be going up, and it's going to end up being going back onto the tenants. So, I just want to be mindful of that cycle. And again, how we're having those conversations sooner versus later. So, not something you have to answer now, but I just want us to be super, super mindful of how we engage in it, so that next year when we're talking about this and having to pass a budget, that it's not this, we just had this conversation in October and we didn't touch it again, or we didn't engage the community or developers, or whomever. So, I want us to really think about what we're doing across, you know, short term and long term to engage individuals throughout our community on this. Thank you. I yield. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Wilson yields the floor. Councillor Azeem? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: Thank you, Madam Mayor. I just had one question. There was an earlier response that you gave to Councillor Toner's point that, you

15 know, the budget increased 3.4 percent, if I remember correctly, and that if it that had not been there, we would not have seen a tax increase. My understanding is that because the commercial property value still went down, even though we would not have collected more tax revenue because the budget would have stayed the same, we would likely still have seen a shift to commercial, to retail and hotel use, so that, you know, those uses in particular would probably still see, you know, somewhere around like maybe 14 percent tax increase, even if the budget did not grow at all. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Ms. Spinner, -- ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER FOR FISCAL AFFAIRS CLAIRE SPINNER: Through you, Mayor. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Assistant City Manager for Finance Spinner? ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER FOR FISCAL AFFAIRS CLAIRE SPINNER: Thank you, Mayor, through you. Yes, I was really responding to the overall levy increase. You’re completely correct that each and every year, when the Assessing Department goes through and confirms new values, even if we did not raise additional money from year to year, there would be changes within the classes, both on the residential side and the commercial side, really based on what happened to the values. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Azeem? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: Thank you. I yield. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Azeem yields the floor. Does anyone else want to be heard on this item? Hearing none. Let's take -- we'll move to the vote. So, the first -- I'm going to read the Communication Item, a communication transmitted from Yi-An Huang, City Manager, relative to votes necessary to seek approval from the Massachusetts Department of Revenue of the tax rate for 2026. I'd like to entertain a motion to approve the tax rate for fiscal 2026. COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: So, moved. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: So, moved. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: On a motion by Councillor Wilson. Roll call. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Councillor Azeem? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Vice Mayor McGovern? VICE MAYOR MARC MCGOVERN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Siddiqui? COUNCILLOR SUMBUL SIDDIQUI: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler? COUNCILLOR JIVAN SOBRINHO-WHEELER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Toner? COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Wilson? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Zusy? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Mayor Simmons?

16 MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. And you have nine members recorded in the affirmative. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: And the tax rate is approved on the affirmative vote of nine members. We move now to Order 1A, that the City Council classifies property within the City of Cambridge into five property classes allowed for the purpose of allocating the property tax levy. Additionally, that the City Council hereby adopts a minimum residential factor of 0.600298 for the purpose of distributing the property tax levy. I'll entertain a motion. COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: So, moved. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: On a motion by Councillor Nolan to adopt Order 1A, please call the roll. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Councillor Azeem? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Vice Mayor McGovern? VICE MAYOR MARC MCGOVERN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Siddiqui? COUNCILLOR SUMBUL SIDDIQUI: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler? COUNCILLOR JIVAN SOBRINHO-WHEELER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Toner? COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Wilson? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Zusy? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Mayor Simmons? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. And you have nine members recorded in the affirmative. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: And order 1A is adopted by the affirmative vote of nine members. We move now to Order 1B that the City Council approve a 30 percent residential exemption for owner occupied homes. Moved by --. COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: So, moved. COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: (INDISCERNIBLE 2:03:47) MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Moved by Councillor Toner. On the motion? INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Councillor Azeem? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Vice Mayor McGovern? VICE MAYOR MARC MCGOVERN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Yes.

17 INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Siddiqui? COUNCILLOR SUMBUL SIDDIQUI: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler? COUNCILLOR JIVAN SOBRINHO-WHEELER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Toner? COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Wilson? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Zusy? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Mayor Simmons? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. And you have nine members recorded in the affirmative. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: And Order 1B is adopted on the affirmative vote of nine members. Councillor Wilson, do you move -- would you put forward a motion to place this matter on file? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Yes, Madam Mayor. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: On a motion by Councillor Wilson to place the matter on file, roll call, please. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Councillor Azeem? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Vice Mayor McGovern? VICE MAYOR MARC MCGOVERN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Siddiqui? COUNCILLOR SUMBUL SIDDIQUI: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler? COUNCILLOR JIVAN SOBRINHO-WHEELER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Toner? COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Wilson? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Zusy? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Mayor Simmons? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. And you have nine members recorded in the affirmative. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Thank you. This con- --. COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Mayor Simmons? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Nolan, yes? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: At some point, I would like to move reconsideration. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Nolan moves reconsideration, hoping the same will not

18 prevail. Well, first on --. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Suspension. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Thank you. On suspension, roll call. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Councillor Azeem? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Vice Mayor McGovern? VICE MAYOR MARC MCGOVERN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Siddiqui? COUNCILLOR SUMBUL SIDDIQUI: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler? COUNCILLOR JIVAN SOBRINHO-WHEELER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Toner? COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Wilson? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Zusy? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Mayor Simmons? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. And you have nine members recorded in the affirmative. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: And the rules are suspended to take up reconsideration. On reconsideration, hoping the same will not prevail, roll call. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Councillor Azeem? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: No. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: No. Vice Mayor McGovern? VICE MAYOR MARC MCGOVERN: No. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: No. Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: No. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: No. Councillor Siddiqui? COUNCILLOR SUMBUL SIDDIQUI: No. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: No. Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler? COUNCILLOR JIVAN SOBRINHO-WHEELER: No. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: No. Councillor Toner? COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: No. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: No. Councillor Wilson? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: No. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: No. Councillor Zusy? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: No. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: No. Mayor Simmons? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: No. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: No. And you have nine members recorded in the

19 negative. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: And reconsideration fails on the affirmative vote of nine members. On adjournment, is there a motion -- on a motion by Councillor Wilson to adjourn the Tax Rate Classification Meeting, roll call. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Councillor Azeem? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Vice Mayor McGovern? VICE MAYOR MARC MCGOVERN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Siddiqui? COUNCILLOR SUMBUL SIDDIQUI: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler? COUNCILLOR JIVAN SOBRINHO-WHEELER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Toner? COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Wilson? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Zusy? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Mayor Simmons? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. And you have nine members recorded in the affirmative. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: And the Tax Rate Classification Meeting is adjourned on the affirmative vote of nine members. (The Cambridge City Council Tax Rate Classification Public Meeting Adjourned At Approximately 7:34 P.M.)

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20 C E R T I F I C A T E I, Kanchan Mutreja, a transcriber for Datagain, do hereby certify: That said proceedings were listened to and transcribed by me and were prepared using standard electronic transcription equipment under my direction and supervision; and I hereby certify that the foregoing transcript of the proceedings is a full, true, and accurate transcript to the best of my ability. In witness whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 7th day of February 2026. Signature of Transcriber