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Council members are struggling to find agreement on how to move forward with a property tax proposal.

Council members are struggling to find agreement on how to move forward with a property tax proposal.

Confusion and frustration swept through the ranks Friday as Boston City Council members struggled to understand how Mayor Michelle Wu’s recently revised tax proposal would make it through the House approval process.

Wu unveiled the revision plan two days earlier after months of public advocacy and negotiations between her office and leaders in the Greater Boston business community. It aims to spare Boston homeowners from skyrocketing property taxes by taxing commercial properties above current legal limits for three years.

The Boston City Council had already approved an older version of the plan with a higher commercial property tax for a longer period of time, but that project has stalled in the Legislature. Now the council is again the first hurdle in a multi-step approval process that Wu said must be completed by the end of November to ensure relief for Boston taxpayers.

“We are pressed for time,” City Council President Ruthzi Luijen said as she confirmed the approval timeline during an emergency meeting Friday to formally present the revised proposal to the council and committee.

Board presidents may call emergency meetings at their discretion, subject to board rules. Friday marked the first time the council met virtually under Luigin’s leadership and the first time it held an emergency meeting under Luigin’s leadership.

“I’m trying to get us to act as quickly as possible without wanting any further undue delay so we can get this matter sorted out,” she said.

Luigin immediately moved to adjourn the meeting after the city clerk read the new tax measure into the minutes. During the vote, council members seemed unhappy that they were not privy to the negotiations that led to the vote and were unsure of what to do next.

“I had a point of order, too,” South Boston Councilman Ed Flynn interjected during his turn to vote. Flynn has repeatedly said he is mulling a run for mayor next year.

“We are in the middle of a roll call vote on the adjournment issue,” Louisean responded. “I don’t like disrupting the vote. In the end I will listen to your order.

“I want to know if there is already a plan for the meeting,” At-Large Councilor Erin Murphy said. “Will there be an expectation that we will vote on Wednesday. And is there an expectation that this body will hold hearings to discuss this new tax proposal? Because it seems like a lot of other people in the city have had, I would say, the pleasure (or) the opportunity to really participate in this conversation, but we haven’t been on the council.”

When the council voted unanimously to recess, more questions emerged.

“If we’re just going to have a special meeting to table this issue and then just put it up for a vote on Wednesday, I’d like to know the protocols, policies and procedures because you haven’t stated that,” Councilor At-Luigenou said. Large Julia Mejia. “So it felt like a rush.”

“It was an emergency meeting and obviously my first time participating,” said Dorchester Councilman John Fitzgerald, one of five council members elected just a year ago. “What constitutes an emergency and, you know, who decides it?”

“I would rather ask all these questions now so we can work through them,” Flynn said. “Looks like we’re rushing to get the meeting over with.”

“Thank you, and I appreciate it,” Luigin replied. “Usually when matters come before a committee … if we treat it like a regular meeting, there’s usually no discussion and I didn’t see any hands before we (voted for) a recess.”

Ultimately, East Boston Councilwoman Gabriela Coletta Zapata, chairwoman of the council’s Government Operations Committee, said hearings would be held to allow for public testimony.

Luigin abruptly adjourned the meeting after an unsuccessful attempt to reconsider the decision to adjourn the meeting.