Prepare for Week 8 of Boston's FY25 Budget Season
Mayor Wu's vetoes set up action-packed Wednesday Council meeting; Boylston St Bus & Bike Lane Construction starts; Eyes on Beacon Hill for next steps on Boston's CRE Tax Hike
This week does not have a lot of City Council meetings - only three, including the Council’s regular Wednesday meeting, is scheduled - but it is still set to be a busy week.
That is because of action happening outside the Council, with a home rule petition that would raise taxes on commercial property owners set to go to the State House and reporting from the Boston Herald on Sunday that Mayor Michelle said she is vetoing cuts the Council made to the Boston Police and Fire Department made as part of their $15.3M in changes to the Mayor’s $4.6B budget.
Also this week, construction started over the weekend on the Boylston St bus and bike lanes. There was a flurry of press coverage about this project last week, with two Councilors and an administration official all wading into the issue:
District 2 City Councilor Ed Flynn held a community meeting on Wednesday, June 5 - you can watch a video of the meeting here and read the Herald’s coverage of the response here.
District 8 City Councilor Sharon Durkan, who represents the section of Boylston St where the work is taking place, wrote a post on her Substack about the issue on Friday.
Boston’s Chief of Streets made an appearance on GBH’s Morning Edition promoting the plan.
Check out the City’s plans for Boylston St, including a construction timeline, here.
NEXT STEPS FOR TAX HIKE HOME RULE PETITION & COUNCIL’S FY25 BUDGET CHANGES
The Council’s passage of their version of the FY25 budget last week put Mayor Wu on the clock with seven days following the Council vote to act on the City Council’s budget. Mayor Wu had the option to approve the changes, veto them, or return budget with line item amendments, and it appears she will veto cuts to the Boston Police and Fire Departments’ budgets. To override those vetoes the Council needs a 2/3 majority - 9 votes - which the Council’s version of the budget got last week when it was approved in a 10-3 vote. Put another way, in order for the Mayor to sustain her vetoes, she needs last week’s three no’s to stick with their vote, and persaude two more Councilors to join them in opposition. This situation is a big contrast from last year, when the Council’s budget passed 7-5, but not as strong as 2022, when the Council’s budget was passed unanimously.
The next steps for the tax hike that the Council passed last week which would allow Boston to increase taxes on commercial property is much less clear that the budget. Since announcing this tax hike in March, Wu administration officials and supportive Councilors have argued that passing the tax hike before the end of Beacon Hill’s formal session meant the tax hike could be included in the flurry of late-session action.
This would require urgent action by Boston’s Beacon Hill delegation, plus both chambers of the legislature and the Governor, with the tax hike being filed and passed before the end formal session on July 31. It is not clear whether this action is forth-coming, with Speaker Ron Mariano and Governor Maura Healey refusing to take a position on the tax hike and WBUR reporting: “House Ways and Means Committee Chair Aaron Michlewitz, who represents Boston's North End, has avoided taking a stance on the topic.”
THIS WEEK’S CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS
This week is currently an extremely light one for formal City Council business, with only three City Council meetings currently scheduled:
Public Safety Committee meeting on grants administered by the Boston Fire Department on Tuesday, June 11 at 2 PM;
The Council’s regular meeting on Wednesday, June 12 at 12 PM - the agenda is expected to include votes on Mayor Wu’s vetoes of the Council’s changes to her FY25, and may also include a vote on the Boston Public Schools’ $1.3B FY25 budget, which was not voted on in last week’s Council meeting; and
Government Operations Committee meeting on Friday, June 14 at 10 AM that will look at an amendment that would require Boston to measure racial equity in affordable housing.
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I am surprised that the Herald article took the biking community's perspective on the Ed Flynn meeting. It is not an accurate depiction yet everyone is running with the Herald's headline.