Prepare for Week 4 Hearings on Boston’s FY25 Budget
2 freshmen Councilors get a chance to hear from their former boss, BPD goes in front of Council as debate over Mayor's handling of pro-Palestinian Emerson students continues, and more
This is the fourth week of budget hearings, and BPI is continuing our short preview of each hearing this week, including:
Which departments and offices are appearing at each hearing;
Where to find each hearing’s focus in the 1,194 page budget book;
The FY25 vs FY24 numbers from the budget book for that hearing;
Highlight which spending priorities laid out in the budget letter on pages 3 to 6 are for that hearing’s topic; and
What BPI is watching for in each hearing.
In this week’s budget hearings, this is what BPI is watching - read more below:
The Boston Police Department has their hearing on Monday, where questions about their role in breaking up Emerson College students’ pro-Palestinian encampment and the pieces of BPD’s budget that the Council tried to cut in last year’s budget battle are both expected.
Boston Public Health Commission hearing will be a chance to hear about two things that appear to be going right: whether non-police interventions are playing a role in the City’s historically low murder rate; and how the City’s on-going efforts to combat homelessness since clearing the encampments at Mass & Cass in March is proceeding.
Thursday has three stories going on in the 10 am hearing: a chance to rehash last year’s budget battle over Veterans Services; Community Engagement Chief Brianna Millor, who the Globe reported last fall was accused by a subordinate of “fostering a toxic work environment;” and how two current Councilors who ran offices for Chief Millor this time a year ago - Enrique Pepen and Henry Santana - handle being on the other side of the table from their former boss.
WEEK 4: BOSTON POLICE DEPARTMENT; BOSTON PUBLIC HEALTH COMMISSION; THURSDAY GRAB-BAG OF VETERANS, COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, & WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
MONDAY, MAY 13 AT 10 AM IN THE IANNELLA CHAMBER
Boston Police Department (BPD): Mental Health & Substance Abuse Response; Firearm; Homicides; Surveillance Equipment; and Cold Cases - Canine Revolving Fund and Fitness Center Revolving Fund
Where to find in the budget book:
Boston Police Department is from page 985 to 1019
Operating Budget Numbers in FY25 and FY24:
Boston Police Department - $454,893,962 in FY25 vs $444,109,789 in FY24
From the Mayor’s Letter:
BPD is not mentioned in the letter.
What BPI is watching for:
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With Homicide on the agenda, BPI is looking for a conversation about Boston’s record low murder rate: so far this year the City has only had three murders, when the number in past years is in double digits by this time of the year. This is part of a nation-wide fall in murder rates, but unlike many other large American cities, Boston never saw a huge uptick in violence during and immediately after COVID. This marks Boston out from other American cities, and can be seen in the poll BPI recently commissioned which showed public safety is a top priority that residents think the City is doing a good job with - check out the graphic above on page 8 of the presentation & read the toplines here.
At this hearing there will be a chance to hear about why this drop in murders has occurred - this will be particularly interesting because neither BPD leadership or their civilian boss at City Hall has talked much about why the murder rate has been so low.
MONDAY, MAY 13 AT 3 PM IN THE IANNELLA CHAMBER
Boston Police Department: Overtime; Detail System; Officer Mental Health; Central Booking
Where to find in the budget book:
Boston Police Department is from page 985 to 1019
Operating Budget Numbers in FY25 and FY24:
Boston Police Department - $454,893,962 in FY25 vs $444,109,789 in FY24
From the Mayor’s Letter:
BPD is not mentioned in the letter.
What BPI is watching for:
With the focus on overtime and the detail system, this hearing is an opportunity for Councilors and the public to learn more about the reforms that the Wu administration won in the contract with the Boston Police Patrolmen Association. That contract was settled back in December, which between the holidays and the end of the Council term meant that this extremely important contract did not receive a lot of notice. This is a chance to correct that and dive more deeply into the changes this contract makes.
This hearing is also going to focus on a piece of the budget that played a role in last year’s budget fight between the Council and the Mayor: the Boston Police Department. The Council supported a budget last year that cut $31M from the BPD’s budget, which ultimately failed to stick in the face of a successful mayoral veto. BPI will be watching if Councilors ask about the items they tried to cut last year.
TUESDAY, MAY 14 AT 10 AM IN THE IANNELLA CHAMBER
Boston Public Health Commission: BPHC Overview; Infectious Disease; Child Adolescent & Family Health; Violence Prevention (including the Neighborhood Trauma Team); Behavioral Health & Wellness
Where to find in the budget book:
Boston Public Health Commission is from page 853 to 891
Numbers in FY25 and FY24:
Boston Public Health Commission - $138,777,013 in FY25 vs $130,309,496 in FY24
From the Mayor’s Letter:
The letter touted an investment in maternal and infant health, but did not include a dollar figure.
What BPI is watching for:
There are two issues that we are looking for:
BPHC runs Boston’s violence prevention programs, with SOAR, one of the City’s previous major anti-violence that was outside BPHC getting shut down back in 2022.
BPHC has $14M in capital projects in their budget, most of which are being managed by Public Facilities. At this hearing, there is a chance for the Council and the public have learn even more about the role that the new Planning Advisory Council played in creating this year’s capital budget. As a reminder, at a hearing earlier this month the Commissioner of Property Management told the Council that PAC played a significant role in creating this year’s capital budget
TUESDAY, MAY 14 AT 2 PM IN THE IANNELLA CHAMBER
Boston Public Health Commission: Boston EMS; Recovery Services; Homeless Services
Where to find in the budget book:
Boston Public Health Commission is from page 853 to 891
Numbers in FY25 and FY24:
Boston Public Health Commission - $138,777,013 in FY25 vs $130,309,496 in FY24
From the Mayor’s Letter:
The letter includes $1M for managing substance use and homelessness through low-threshold housing, and $1.3M for twelve new EMTs.
What BPI is watching for:
Boston’s homelessness efforts have gone through major changes since last year’s budget, and all three of these changes could be discussed on Tuesday:
The encampments in Mass & Cass were taken down in March 2024 and while they have not returned to that neighborhood, unhoused people continue to live in encampments across Boston and its immediate suburbs, as GBH reported at the time: “Mass. and Cass dwellers now spread across the city, moving into new encampments hidden in state-owned parks, under bridges, tunnels and highway underpasses, or just beyond city limits in Cambridge or Somerville.”
The current work of the Coordinated Response Team for the City of Boston. That team led the public response to the situation on Mass & Cass and was led in turn by Tania Del Rio until she was tapped by Mayor Wu to lead the Inspectional Services Department. Del Rio’s deputies were installed as co-directors back in February, and this is a chance to hear more about on-going efforts to create more permanent solutions to homelessness through projects at Shattuck Hospital, Long Island, and other locations across the City.
Just a few weeks ago the Council-passed anti-camping ordinance that was intended to be used to give the City more tools to deal with the situation at Mass & Cass and other homeless encampments was invoked by Mayor Michelle Wu to use BPD officiers to break up a pro-Palestinian protest encampment set up by Emerson Students.
THURSDAY, MAY 16 AT 10 AM IN THE IANNELLA CHAMBER
Veteran Services and Office of Neighborhood Services: 311; Office of Civic Organizing
Where to find in the budget book:
Veteran Services is from pages 805 to 809
Office of Neighborhood Services is from pages 364 to 373
Numbers in FY25 and FY24:
Veteran Services - $4,831,969 in FY25 vs $4,799,866 in FY24
Office of Neighborhood Services - $5,492,294 in FY25 vs $4,604,596 in FY24
From the Mayor’s Letter:
Neither of these offices are mentioned in the letter.
What BPI is watching for:
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There are four things to watch in this year - two issues and three people. The two issues are last year’s cuts to Veterans Services and the on-going effort to better fund participatory budgeting, a project which the Office of Civic Organizing under now-At-Large Councilor Henry Santana was involved in:
During last year’s budget process, the City Council voted 7 to 5 - District 8 did not have a Councilor due to Kenzie Bok’s resignation - for a budget that cut money from a variety of departments, including $900,000 from Veterans Service - read the transcript of the meeting where this vote occurred. The cut was ultimately not in the final budget due to Mayor Wu vetoing the move, but it has remained a point of contention.
Creating a participatory budgeting process was part of the 2021 ballot question that gave the Council more budget powers and now-Councilor Santana was a panelist in the 2022 Council hearing on the Wu administration crafted ordinance that created the current participatory budgeting process. More funding for participatory budgeting was part of the same budget proposal passed on June 14 that cut money from Veterans Services and the BPD. For more on the years-long fight between the Wu administration and community advocates over what participatory budgeting should look like, read this column by BPI’s Executive Director Gregory Maynard wrote for the Dorchester Reporter - check it out here.
The three people are two freshmen Councilors, and one Cabinet Chief, all of whom should be at Thursday’s hearing:
District 6 City Councilor Enrique Pepen served as the Executive Director of the Office of Neighborhood Services, part of the Community Engagement Cabinet, from January 2022 until he left that position to run for City Council.*
At-Large Councilor Henry Santana also ran an office in the Community Engagement Cabinet as the inaugural Director of the Office of Civic Organizing starting in April 2022 until he left that position to run for City Council.**
Brianna Millor managed both Councilors Pepen and Santana when they worked for the city in her capacity as Chief of Community Engagement, running the Community Engagement Cabinet and at ONS’ last budget hearing in 2023, she, the head of 311, and Councilor Pepen in his then-capacity as ONS director were all panelists.
If Chief Millor appears at this budget hearing, it will be the first time she has been in front of the Council since an October 2023 report from the Boston Globe that Chief Millor’s chief of staff accused her of “fostering a toxic work environment and threatened to sue for discrimination and retaliation,” and was paid $40,000 in severance by the City.
Watch this hearing to see if the wounds inflicted in last year’s budget fight have healed, and whether Chief Millor can hang on as focus on sexual harassment in City Hall takes center stage with the lawsuit of Felix Arroyo against the City of Boston going to trail.
* and ** Prior to founding BPI, our executive director Gregory Maynard wrote a column about the campaigns of Enrique Pepen and Henry Santana in the Dorchester Reporter ‘Challengers to City Council campaigns are coming from inside City Hall’ in June 2023.
THURSDAY, MAY 16 AT 6 PM IN THE LILLA G. FREDERICK PILOT MIDDLE SCHOOL
Office of Human Services: Youth Engagement & Advancement, Age Strong Commission, and Office of Workforce Development: Youth Employment and Opportunity
Where to find in the budget book:
Office of Human Services is from pages 833 to 847
Age Strong Commission is from pages 769 to 781
Office of Workforce Development is from pages 443 to 456
Numbers in FY25 and FY24:
Office of Human Services - $9,577,209 in FY25 vs $13,352,312 in FY24
Age Strong Commission - $8,042,734 in FY25 vs $7,990,563 in FY24
Office of Workforce Development - $ 6,875,543 in FY25 vs $0 in FY24
From the Mayor’s Letter:
The letter highlights $6.8M to the Office of Workforce Development.
What BPI is watching for:
Earlier this year the Boston City Council passed an ordinance to create a Planning Department by bringing staffers from the Boston Planning & Development Agency over to the City of Boston. But long-time observers of Boston’s government know that the BPDA was a sprawling agency that handled many tasks outside planning or development. This hearing features one of those, the Office of Workforce Development. OWD was part of the BPDA, which accounts for the lack of an FY24 budget. As the announcement back in September 2022 about the launch of the Worker Empowerment Cabinet mentions:
Trinh Nguyen is the current Director of the Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development (OWD), an affiliated division of the Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA). As Director of OWD, she has launched such initiatives as the Tuition-Free Community College Program, the Greater Boston American Apprenticeships, and various career pathways for the healthcare, clean energy and construction sectors.
In the hearing on the Planning Department last week, there was little discussion of how preparation was going in anticipation of hundreds of BPDA employees going over to the City of Boston starting July 1, 2024. At this hearing, there is another opportunity to ask about how that process is going, with a particular eye on the non-planning and development focused BPDA staffers in roles like those at OWD.
Is there something you are watching for in a budget hearing either this week or in the coming weeks? Email BPI at info@bostonpolicyinstitute.org to let us know!
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