The Boston Globe reported on Sunday that New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell could derail the long-awaited South Coast Rail project by threatening to file a lawsuit challenging the legality of an MBTA eminent domain taking of five pieces of property in the city.

According to the Globe, New Bedford officials even sent a draft legal complaint to the MBTA making a number of allegations, including the assertion that the transit authority’s seizure of the land was invalid because, when the takings occurred in 2020, the city was not part of the MBTA’s service territory.

Outrage ensued, as lawmakers and transit advocates slammed Mitchell for throwing a wrench in the works just as South Coast Rail is scheduled to begin service later this year. Rep. Chris Markey from Dartmouth told the Globe he was shocked. Rep. William Straus of Mattapoisett, the House chair of the Legislature’s Transportation Committee, was even more worked up.

“If you’re threatening a lawsuit, it’s hard to see how that benefits New Bedford’s long-sought goal — and I’m talking 30, 40 years — to reconnect to the commuter rail,” he told the Globe. “I hope [the T] does not entertain this as a serious demand.”

Mitchell has not commented, but New Bedford City Solicitor Eric Jaikes issued a statement on Monday suggesting the dispute is all about money. He indicated New Bedford believes the T’s eminent domain payments are way too low, and says the city is not alone in that belief. Jaikes said four property owners, including two in New Bedford, have sued the T, challenging the compensation they received when the transit authority seized their land for the South Coast Rail project.

In one case, according to a February report in South Coast Today, a Michigan company that paid $2.1 million for a four-acre property on Church Street in 2018 received a $2.32 million eminent domain payment from the T in late 2019, a gain of a little over $200,000. The company challenged the payment, and a jury last year awarded the company nearly $1.2 million more than it was originally paid.

Jaikes said another property owner settled with the T, presumably for a higher payment. He said two other property owners are still in litigation.

In New Bedford’s case, the transit authority acquired three parcels and two easements for $486,627. The MBTA said in a statement that it “appropriately exercised its eminent domain powers as provided by the Legislature and paid fair market value for all the properties taken.”

New Bedford officials had an appraisal done of most of the property the T took by eminent domain and came to the conclusion that the property was worth at least several million dollars more than what the T paid.

Sources say New Bedford officials shared the appraisal with the MBTA and tried to reach a settlement to no avail. With the statute of limitations running out for a legal challenge, the T shared its draft complaint with the T and again asked for more compensation. The sources say the T agreed to suspend the statute of limitations and extend negotiations, but then someone leaked the draft complaint to the Globe.

In his statement, Jaikes dismissed any suggestion that New Bedford was trying to undermine South Coast Rail. “The Mitchell administration has long advocated for the South Coast Rail Project and remains unwavering in its support for it,” Jaikes said. “Like the other property owners, the administration believes the taxpayers of New Bedford should be fairly compensated for city land taken by the MBTA. We are hopeful that ongoing discussions with the MBTA concerning the city land ultimately will secure their interests.”

BRUCE MOHL

FROM COMMONWEALTH

Performance-based regulation: Connecticut’s plan to change the way utilities are regulated – linking economic compensation to performance on a variety of metrics – is raising concern among the companies being regulated and prompting recalibration by investors.

– The Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority set the tone in March when it held a full hearing on a rate request from a water company owned by Eversource rather than negotiate a settlement. The water company came into the hearing process seeking annual revenues of $236 million, a return on equity of 10.35 percent, and an average $61 increase in customer bills. Instead, the authority voted 2-1 for annual revenues of $196 million, a return on equity of 8;7 percent, and an average $67 rate decrease.

– Investment analysts are scaling back their earnings projections for utilities in Connecticut. On an earnings call last week with Avangrid, which owns a major utility in Connecticut, one analyst called the public comments of the chair of the regulatory authority “really scary and highly punitive.” Read more.

Tax cap challenge: The Massachusetts High Technology Council calls the House move to change the way tax cap refunds are issued unconstitutional. The House proposal would return equal amounts to every taxpayer rather than returning funds proportional to how much the taxpayer actually paid in taxes. The state returned $3 billion to taxpayers last year. Read more.

OPINION

Smokescreen: Paul A. Hattis, a senior fellow at the Lown Institute,  suspects the call by a top hospital association executive for doing away with the state’s cost growth benchmark is a smokescreen to protect his members. Read more.

FROM AROUND THE WEB             

BEACON HILL

Rent control seems radioactive on Beacon Hill, with the city of Boston’s legislation attracting no support beyond the rep who filed it, first-year lawmaker Sam Montaño of Jamaica Plain. (WBUR)

The House budget proposal to move state Lottery games online would direct the revenues to state grants for early education providers. (Salem News)

MUNICIPAL MATTERS

Cambridge is launching a guaranteed income program, offering $500 a month to income-eligible families. (WBUR)

At Marblehead’s town meeting, the debate veered sideways after an attempt was made to fix an error in an article limiting how much could be spent by revolving funds. The article put the limit at $500,000, but it was supposed to be $20,000. (Daily Item)

Some municipal officials are complaining about a state conservation law that ends up giving a big property tax break to high-end, private golf clubs. (Boston Globe)

WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL

Treasury Secretary Janet Yelen warns that the US could run short of money to pay its bill as early as June 1 if the nation’s debt ceiling is not raised. (NPR)

ELECTIONS

The chairs of the state Democratic and Republican parties participate in a joint interview and mix it up on abortion. (GBH)

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Massachusetts saw the outward migration of wealth and taxpayers jump in 2021, according to data from the Internal Revenue Service. (Eagle-Tribune)

TRANSPORTATION

A support brace fell and injured a woman at the Harvard MBTA Station two months after a ceiling panel fell at the same station, narrowly missing a passenger. (Boston Globe)

CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS

Three Massachusetts police officers were arraigned or indicted in three unrelated incidents this week. Former Hopkinton Deputy Chief John “Jay” Porter was indicted on three charges of rape of a child, Stoneham Police Officer Joel Salituri was arraigned on a charge of assault with a dangerous weapon, and Acton Police Officer Steven Stalzer was charged with domestic assault and battery and assault and battery on a pregnant person. (MassLive)

Massachusetts district attorneys are more closely scrutinizing the record of complaints against police officers who are testifying in cases. (Boston Globe)

Worcester is ordered to pay nearly $27 million to Holden in the latest ruling of a long-running lawsuit regarding sewer transport charges. (Worcester Telegram)

A jury has found a Hudson man guilty of second-degree murder for shouting a racial slur at a Black man before running him over with his truck in a fatal road rage incident more than two years ago in Belmont. (MetroWest Daily News)

MEDIA

A Danish company is suing Boston Globe Media Partners over a sports betting deal gone bad, but the Globe says the suit is “meritless” and vows to file a counterclaim against the company. (Boston Herald)

PASSINGS

Canadian folk singer Gordon Lightfoot dies at 84. (Associated Press)