On Feb. 7, the D.C. Council will vote on emergency legislation, introduced by Harold Brazil (D-Ward 6) and designed to roll back an annual property tax increase that would generate $40.1 million in revenue. Brazil, who believes that raising taxes would accelerate middle-class flight and send the wrong message to Wall Street and Congress, needs eight votes. He only had seven when he tried to stop the increase last December. That same month, 340 Ward 3 homeowners, led by ANC representative Anne Renshaw, signed a petition that declared that property owners should not be taxed “one penny more” until the council made “serious and sizable reductions in programs and expenditures.” Despite the petition drive, then-Ward 3 Councilmember Jim Nathanson voted to allow the increase to go into effect; another example, said many constituents, of why he has been replaced by Kathy Patterson. But both Brazil and Renshaw were shocked last week when Patterson announced that she would oppose the rollback, citing the city’s fiscal crisis. “The neighbors are furious,” says Renshaw, who is still collecting signatures and vows to keep the pressure on Patterson. Brazil and the other councilmembers who support the rollback aren’t likely to let up either. They claim that if the measure fails to pass this time, they will reintroduce it before the Committee of the Whole, which has jurisdiction over non-emergency tax matters. However, since that body is headed by Chairman Dave Clarke, who is opposed to the legislation, its chances of passing are slim.