Weekly Transcript Round-Up: June 7, 2024
A "misinformation" accusation, an approved tax hike, a 10 hour meeting, and ignored budget recommendations from Boston's Chamber & fiscal watchdog all featured in this week's transcripts.
There was a lot of City Council action this week, behind the scenes and in public, as Councilors put the finishing touches on their own version of the FY25 budget and wrestled with how to respond to Mayor Wu’s tax hike on commercial real estate. On Wednesday, Councilors voted on both proposals at their regular meeting, with each proposal passing with slightly different coalitions:
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The biggest news this week outside those two major votes was a powerful Councilor’s response to them, with Ways & Means Chair & District 4 Councilor Brian Worrell saying this to Politico Massachusetts about his colleagues:
“When people provide misinformation to the public — for whatever gains they have to gain off of it — it is disconcerting,” Worrell said, noting the police, fire and public works departments will still see year-over-year increases in the council’s amended budget. “I don’t think our constituents, our residents, should be lied to.”
This rhetoric is out of character for the Council’s leadership team, which has been trying to shed the Council’s reputation for in-fighting and chaos developed over a tumultuous 2022-23 term. The 2024-25 leadership team is composed of Councilor Worrell, who is also the Vice President of the Council, along with Council President & Councilor At-Large Louijeune and Government Operations Chair & District 1 Councilor Coletta Zapata. The previous Council term term saw its redistricting map rejected by a federal court, its budget rejected by Mayor Michelle Wu, two incumbents lose their seats to challengers, and three more councilors opt out of running for re-election. Councilor Worrell’s choice to pursue a far less ambitious set of budget changes than his predecessor as Ways & Means Chair, District 7 Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson, seemed to be part of that image-repairing effort.
The FY25 budget season will continue until the end of June, so it remains to be seen if this interview signals a new tack from President Louijeune’s leadership team. Keep reading for more on Wednesday’s Council debates, including where in the transcript Councilor Worrell may believe the “misinformation” occurred.
BEHIND THE SCENES ON MONDAY & TUESDAY
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The behind the scenes work took place at three working sessions - public meetings that aren’t televised where Councilors make changes to the documents they are working on:
On Monday, a 10 hour budget session;
On Tuesday, an under 2 hour budget working session; and
Also on Tuesday, a 2 hour working session on Mayor Wu’s tax hike.
Above, you can watch the short video that District 5 Councilor Enrique Pepen posted on Monday night that captured the mood of the Council as they reached a major decision point in the budget after weeks of work.
CITY COUNCIL PASSES MAYOR WU’S CRE TAX HIKE
While the budget is important, the CRE tax hike proposed by Mayor Wu has big long-term implications for Boston, both on its own, and as a signal of where the Wu administration and City Council stand on the declining values of office buildings. are on was the major issue being voted on this week. BPI’s ED Gregory Maynard was on WBZ this week talking about the proposal - watch a clip here and the whole segement on WBZ’s website.
The debate over this issue starts at the 54:05 mark in the transcript, and the first person to speak is Government Operation Chair & District 1 Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata, who is Speaker 3. In addition to Council Coletta Zapata, these other Councilors also spoke:
District 2 City Council Ed Flynn is Speaker 15 and starts at the 1:04:11 mark in the transcript;
City Councilor At-Large Erin Murphy is Speaker 2 and starts at the 1:08:20 mark in the transcript;
District 8 City Council Sharon Durkan is Speaker 7 and starts at the 1:16:55 mark in the transcript;
District 4 City Council John FitzGerald is Speaker 17 and starts at the 1:19:30 mark in the transcript; and
District 9 City Council Liz Breadon is Speaker 8 and starts at the 1:26:19 mark in the transcript.
The one no vote on the tax hike who did not speak on the docket at Wednesday meeting was Councilor Brian Worrell, who also serves as the Chair of the Ways & Means Committee.
Here is what he told Politico Massachusetts about that vote:
Why did you vote no on the mayor’s property tax proposal?
I don’t think we have enough information on this to see what it does down the road. I also think it needs to be coupled with more economic driving tools. We need more of a long-term plan opposed to a short, temporary fix that just softens the blow.
As can be seen in this analysis from the Greater Boston Real Estate Board, a “temporary fix” is exactly what this proposal is. Even if it the tax hike is approved by the State House, residential property tax payers can expect to see their taxes rise significantly over the next five years:
COUNCIL’S FY25 BUDGET IGNORES BUSINESS GROUPS, PASSES AMID ACCUSATION OF ‘MISINFORMATION’
The budget debate starts at the 1:32:38 mark in the transcript, when Ways & Means Chair Brian Worrell, who is Speaker 14, lays out the changes that were made, which total $15.3M out of a $4.6B total budget.
The budget approved by the City Council on Wednesday ignores the specific asks made by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and the Boston Municipal Research Bureau. Here is what each of them recommended:
GBCoC had a specific target for budget growth, “Given current revenue and economic uncertainty, all levels of government should maintain budgeted spending levels in line with inflation or limited to 3-4% growth for the coming fiscal year.”
BMRB did not provide a similar target for the budget, instead laying out a laundry list of possibilities, which they summarized as, “Prioritizing prudent financial management, exploring alternative revenue sources, and implementing targeted cost-saving measures are essential steps in these uncertain times and will ensure Boston's long-term financial health.”
In terms of the “misinformation” accusation from Councilor Worrell, reading through the transcript from Wednesday it seems to center on these lines:
We were able to achieve all this while making sure all of our top 10 city departments are seeing increased funding from fiscal year 2024, including the police department, fire department, and BCYF. The Council has maintained mayor's rule increases in investments in public safety personnel, veterans, and our seniors.
Clear disagreements over the budget emerge when that statement from Councilor Worrell is compared to the two speeches against the budget from Councilors Flynn and Murphy. Below, are the highlights from each speech where the Councilors got into specifics about the budget. The first was from Councilor Flynn, who is Speaker 15 and starts at the 1:41:32 mark,
I believe that providing public safety and basic city services are are the most critical functions of city government. At this time or any time, we should not cut the budgets of departments that provide critical services or reallocate funds from a budget that provide critical services to the presidents of Boston, such as Boston Police, the Fire Department, the Transportation Department, the Public Library System, Public Works, Snow Management Fund, especially, as we face uncertain economic times in the years ahead.
The other from Councilor Murphy, who is Speaker 2 and starts at the 1:48:38 mark:
So unfortunately, we're about to vote on a budget that I believe will do harm to core city services. Make no mistake, across the board, our constituents' quality of life and the return on investment they get from the taxes they pay will decline as a result of this fiscal plan that is about to pass this body. Even as the budget figures bottom line increased by 8%, and we debate whether we want to hit up commercial or residential for more property taxes . . . Last year, we couldn't even open pools for our own kids, many of them in the neighborhoods that could have used them the most. We underspent by a $193,000,000 in this current fiscal year.
The budget now goes to Mayor Wu.
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