Boston’s mayor and city council fight over budget proposal
Misty Severi
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Progressive Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is engaged in a fight with her city council over its proposed 2024 operating budget, which included substantial cuts to the city’s police and veteran services departments.
Wu, who is in her first term as the city’s mayor, vetoed the budget on Friday. It would have cut $31 million from the city’s police force and $900,000 from the city’s veteran services. It would also have given an $8 million increase in funding for participatory budgeting, which allows more input from city residents on how tax dollars are spent.
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Wu released her own budget proposal in April, which the city council used as a blueprint for its proposal. However, the council’s version included $52 million in amendments to Wu’s proposal.
“The scale and scope of amendments passed by the Council would result in reductions to the core City services that our residents depend on and deserve,” Wu told the council members in a letter obtained by the Washington Examiner.
“Our budget must be responsive to the needs of our constituents, fiscally responsible, and built on a foundation of effective delivery of City services that are central to our residents’ quality of life.”
The $4.2 billion operating budget will now be returned to the city council, where the veto is not expected to be overturned. The city passed the budget on Wednesday in a 7-5 vote. In order to override the veto, eight council members would need to support the override.
One item that has drawn vocal backlash is the cut to veteran services. Council President Ed Flynn, who did not vote in favor of the budget on Wednesday, said he has received hundreds of calls from veterans nationwide who felt the city was turning its back on its military community.
“Cutting veterans programs shows the public and our military families that we don’t keep our promises to veterans and military families,” Flynn told the Boston Herald. “That’s a solemn oath that government has made to support veterans when we put them in harm’s way, and we broke that promise.”
Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson, who did vote to pass the budget, admitted that she regretted the proposed cut to veteran services.
The other hot-button topic in the budget was the cut in funding for the police department. Wu claimed the $31 million cut was “illusory” because the city was obligated to pay for the salaries and overtime incurred by the department.
Councilor Michael Flaherty also slammed the substantial decrease in law enforcement funding, stating the cut would be “decimating.”
“We’ve got the best police department in the country,” Flaherty said. “We’ve got the best community policing model in the country. We are the envy of cities our size and bigger across this country and we’re all seeing it daily as to what’s happening to cities that are defunding the police. This cut of $30 million would be decimating to our Boston Police Department.”
The overall crime rate in Boston was down by 1.5% in 2022 compared to 2021. But there was a rise in homicides, with 15 reported as of May, compared to 10 as of May 2022.
Cuts to the public works and transportation departments, which Wu claimed would delay critical infrastructure in the city, were also included in the budget, and there were cuts to the Boston Public Library.
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“Our team is eager to engage in the specifics of these returned amendments and look forward to the continued partnership of the City Council in this operating budget process and with the final approval of the FY24-FY28 Capital Plan,” Wu said.
In response to the mayor’s veto, the city council has scheduled a special meeting for June 21 to accept the rejection. However, a vote on a final budget will not take place until June 28.