This is the 10th and final week of the Boston City Council’s budget process, and this season is ending with a showdown between Mayor Michelle Wu and Council leadership - Council President Ruthzee Louijeune and her Vice President and Ways & Means Chair Brian Worrell. At issue is Mayor Wu’s decision to veto most of the $15.3M in changes that the Council made to the Mayor’s $4.3B budget. While a fight about 0.33% of the total budget might not seem high-stakes, the vote this week is seen as a major test for the three freshmen Boston City Councilors who worked for Mayor Wu and were then endorsed by her in their 2023 elections: District 8’s Sharon Durkan, District 6’s Enrique Pepen, and At-Large Henry Santana.
All three voted in favor of the budget that Mayor Wu vetoed, so the question is: will they stick with their orginial vote and override her veto, or flip to Mayor Wu and sustain her veto?
Before the vote on Wednesday, there are two more City Council meetings focused exclusively on the budget:
Monday at 6 PM in the Iannella Chamber Based on the loud calls for public participation on social media and in email inboxes from Councilors, this meeting will focus exclusively on public feedback about Mayor Wu’s budget vetoes. Here is one example of a subject line from an email Councilor Worrell’s office sennt out on Thursday, June 20: “Urgent: Your Voice Needed for Public Testimony on June 24th”.
Tuesday at 10 AM in the Piemonte Room This is the first and only working session devoted to the Mayor’s vetoes of the Council’s budget changes. This meeting may shed light on where Councilors stand the day before Wednesday’s budget vote - BPI will have someone in attendance.
READ MORE FROM BPI ABOUT BOSTON’S BUDGET: Two weeks ago BPI released this instant analysis of Mayor Wu’s budget veto message looking at what it included, and Councilors to watch in the budget debate.
In addition to the regular Council meeting on Wednesday at 12 PM there are also a School Committee meeting and a number of City Council hearings scheduled for Thursday and Friday. Councilors are trying to get some non-budget work done before the July 4th holiday and the much lighter summer schedule:
Tuesday at 4 PM in a virtual meeting Boston School Committee is holding a meeting focused on two important topics: the opportunity gap and the opportunity gap task force; and working groups for the 2024-25 school year. This is an important meeting because there was an attempt by BPS leadership earlier this year to make policy-area task forces work much less public, in what was largely seen as a reaction to the public resignation of 9 of 13 members of the English Learners Task Force back in October.
Thursday at 2 PM in the Iannella Chamber The Council’s Civil Rights And Immigrant Advancement Committee, chaired by District 7 Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson, is holding “A hearing to discuss the alignment of the Reparations Task Force process, its request for proposals, and community inclusion efforts with civil rights.” This hearing is being held the same week that a cancelled Repartions Task Force meeting was to be held. A note that accompanied the Reparations Task Force meeting cancellation is likely to be part of the hearing on Thursday, and it reads in part: “We have heard concerns from the broader community that the functioning of the Task Force is not as tight as it needs to be. As a result, we have done the following things,” with a list of actions- read the note here.
Friday at 10 AM in a virtual meeting The Council’s Environmental Justice, Resiliency, and Parks Committee, chaired by District 1 Councilor Gabriella Zapata Coletta, is holding “a hearing to discuss ways to equitably fight climate displacement in District Seven.” The docket was filed by the Committee’s vice-chair, Councilor Fernandes Anderson, who represents District 7.
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Prepare for Week 10 of Boston's FY25 Budget Season: Veto Override Edition